Month: October 2024

Some people are fans of the Los Angeles Rams. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the Los Angeles Rams. This 2018 Deadspin NFL team preview is for those in the latter group. Read all the previews so far here. Your team: Los Angeles Rams. Your 2017 record: 11-5. This was the Rams’ first winning season in 14 years. Not only did they wash the stink of Jeff Fisher off themselves, they also stumbled bass ackwards into a good head coach, one who turned one of the most moribund offenses in football into something genuinely fun and exciting. And THIS is how Los Angeles reacted… Meanwhile, a new MLS team set up shop right next door and people FLOODED the gates. It’s not even the first MLS team in that city, mind you. And yet, the instant LAFC arrived, there were crowds on han…

Time to take a look back at our most popular posts of 2015. We have our own thoughts about what our best posts were, but these are the ones that brought in the most readers. This Is Why NFL Star Greg Hardy Was Arrested For Assaulting His Ex-Girlfriend Barefoot and frightened, Nicole Holder walked as fast as she could through the darkness, and the moment she saw the cops she ran. She headed west on Fifth Street toward North Church, away from the Charlotte., N.C., apartment of Greg Hardy, a star defensive end then with the NFL’s Carolina Panthers. Minutes earlier he had, she said, thrown her against a tile bathtub wall, tossed her on a futon covered in assault rifles, and choked her until she told him to “kill me so I don’t have to.” This Is What It Would Look Like If American P…

A lie I tell myself with dismal regularity is Ugh, fuck, I am too tired and burned out to tidy up tonight, I’ll do it in the morning. That is not how it works. In my more caffeinated moments, this is obvious. What happens, what always happens, is: Leaving it for the morning turns into Bleary-Eyed Morning Me leaving it for the afternoon, which then turns into Frantic, Overloaded Afternoon Me loading the dishwasher and wiping down the countertops literally right before I cook dinner, filling the kitchen with more dirty dishes and soiling the countertops I just cleaned. Then, after dinner, the dishwasher is still running with the load I put in right before cooking, so I can’t load it with the dishes from dinner, so I leave them for the morning. And so on. The result is the persistent ba…

Fine. I admit, this is selfish. No one else on the staff was ever as excited about the prospect of a Music Week featuring Pearl Jam as the unifying theme, even though this band's sports-music connection is more obvious than most. They'll deal. So, yes, most of the music content will be devoted to Pearl Jam to help commemorate the band's 20th anniversary, but I promise to not let my fanboy tendencies completely dominate the site. Once, maybe. Twice, tops. We'll have some special guests contributing this week that I think you'll enjoy regardless if you hate the band or not. We'll also have other music content that won't have anything to do with Pearl Jam, Temple of the Dog, Soundgarden, Mother Love Bone, or Mookie Blaylock. We'll also be giving awa…

data-mm-id=”_s7cksf7a6″>The 2019 MLB Postseason officially starts today. The Wild Card games are in the books and now three legitimate World Series contenders and five solid playoff teams can play actual series. Which team will be left standing in November? 8. St. Louis CardinalsThe Cardinals won their division, but finished with the 10th-most wins in baseball this season. 18 teams scored more runs than the Cardinals. If baseball didn't have a 1,000 year history, people would look at the Cardinals and say MLB needs to change their playoff format. 7. Washington NationalsThe Nationals had the second-most quality starts in baseball this season. If Max Scherzer is better than he was in the Wild Card game and Stephen Strasburg is as good as he was, then the Nationals have a shot in any…

data-mm-id=”_evf9ein3r”>Not long ago, Michigan was in free fall. Gone were the days of being the hottest, fastest-rising team in college basketball. The blistering 7-0 start and unprecedented poll ascension were in the rearview. Losers of nine of the last 13, the Wolverines were in serious jeopardy of missing the NCAA Tournament entirely if some form of stabilization couldn't be found. With backs against the wall, first-year coach Juwan Howard was under the gun to find answers and find them fast. And he did. Time after time. The Wolverines responded. They cruised past rival Michigan State before destroying Northwestern and Indiana. Then on Tuesday they did something no other team in the country had done this year: Go to Rutgers and emerge with a victory. Without Isaiah Livers, who…

data-mm-id=”_6slvfly3u”>Spring training has begun for Major League Baseball, and we're all ready to put an offseason of controversy and finger-pointing behind us once and for all. While much is expected of the teams on this list this season, keep in mind that the defending world champion came from out of nowhere to take the trophy.Here are five teams that will exceed their projected win totals:Philadelphia Phillies (Projection: 85.5 wins)For the past two seasons, the Phillies started hot before fading down the stretch to finish just below .500. Ultimately, manager Gabe Kapler was the one held accountable for the Phillies' "phailures" and was given the boot. Reinforcements have arrived in the form of two former Yankees: new manager Joe Girardi and shortstop Didi Greg…

data-mm-id=”_lzrfzjigx”>The Premier League has been given the go-ahead by the British government to resume operations on June 1st. Clubs met on Monday to discuss "Project Restart" as coronavirus restrictions begin to loosen in the UK. Unfortunately, it's not quite as easy rolling the ball out and saying, "Play futbol."The EPL faces a number of hurdles before actual matches resume. Teams will have to train together and then play games in empty, neutral stadiums. Testing will be extensive and costly. Players, especially black players, have concerns about their personal risk. Bottom tier teams want to scrap relegation if they have to play at neutral sites. Then there is the complication of UK broadcast rights. If the NBA started tomorrow we'd probably have ac…

data-mm-id=”_itzuzhmwr”>The Players Coalition, a charity and advocacy organization founded by Anquan Boldin and Malcolm Jenkins in 2017, has collected the signatures of 1,400 athletes and coaches in support of a bill that would end qualified immunity for police officers across America. Qualified immunity currently protects police from being held personally responsible when they are accused of brutality. Among those who have signed in support of the bill are Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Dak Prescott, Carson Wentz, Gregg Popovich and Steve Kerr. You can read the letter and look through the signatures here. Via ESPN:”Qualified immunity has shielded some of the worst law enforcement officials in America. The 8th Circuit applied it to an officer who wrapped a woman in a bear hug, slammed her to t…