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Give right-backs a chance
Full-backs don’t often grab the headlines, and sure enough they didn’t at Old Trafford as Rodrigo Bentancur, Rasmus Højlund and Marcus Rashford all scored classy goals. But the best player on either side, according to the WhoScored.com ratings, was the right-back. For Spurs, Pedro Porro earned 8.1 out of 10 for a fearless attacking display that included an assist when his pinpoint corner picked out the peroxide head of Richarlison. Ange Postecoglou says he wants his players to stop thinking of themselves as defenders or attackers, and Porro is both at once. For Manchester United, Diogo Dalot did even better with a rating of 8.2. If he was less buccaneering than Porro, he …
In the nation's Second City this weekend, standout road racer Shane van Gisbergen will be seeking his own second — another NASCAR Cup Series win. When the Grant Park 165 takes the green flag Sunday for the second running of the Chicago Street Race, all eyes will be on the New Zealander's return engagement in the Windy City. van Gisbergen, 35, is the +200 favorite to do so at BetMGM, where he has been backed by the most total bets (13.8%) and money (27.5%) to win since opening at +550. That makes him the book's biggest liability this week despite his short odds as the favorite. The Trackhouse Motorsports driver shocked the NASCAR world one year ago when he won the inaugural Chicago race, locking down the victory as street lamps came to life and darkness descended on the …
Reliever Jordan Hicks, who plays for some crummy team, threw record-setting gas Tuesday night against White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson. Five of the six pitches in that plate appearance were above 101 mph, and the pitch at the top of this post came in at 102.0 mph, the fastest this season. Anderson couldn’t handle it, and neither could catcher Yadier Molina. Hicks unwittingly brushed back Anderson with another pitch, at 101.9 mph the second-fastest pitch of the season: Although Anderson looked hilariously overmatched in these highlights from the Cardinals’ 3-2 win, he won the battle by drawing a walk. Hicks had the speed, but his control was a little iffy in the matchup: Hicks’s radar-gun readings supplanted Marlins righty Tayron Guerrero, who threw a 101.8-mph four-seamer jus…
Some people are fans of the Los Angeles Rams. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the Los Angeles Rams. This 2019 Deadspin NFL team preview is for those in the latter group. Read all the previews so far here. Your team: GUHHHHHHHHHHH Your 2018 record: 13-3. NFC Champions. Huh. That 13-3 reminds me of ANOTHER 13-3 somewhere out there. What 13-3 could that be? Oh yes, right… Three points. Three fucking points. The 12th-highest scoring team in NFL HISTORY, and they end up playing offense like the fucking Jaguars with a title on the line. You complete pieces of shit. The Philadelphia Eagles had the common courtesy to swat down the Pats dynasty the season before, and you chumps had to go letting it right back in through the front door. As my colleague Luis Paez-Pumar noted, the R…
Hey, this is cool as hell: I haven’t seen a kicker pull this off since the Colts did it three years ago during a Thursday night game. Cody Parkey, everybody! (Or: Oakland’s kick return team, everybody!) [NBC] …
Like we do every year, we called a lot of people a lot of really mean names in 2013. Here's a collection of many of the mean things we called people this year. BuzzFeeᴅ: "Former collegiate a cappella group members" Ashley Fox: "Reads like a First Take producer's brainstorming session" Damon Bruce: "Fucking nutjob" Dan Snyder: "Synonymous with evil, waste, dishonesty, petulance, litigiousness, churlishness, entitlement, vulgarianism, moral rot, snuff porn, rapacious capitalism, illegal deforestation, American Indian minstrelsy, general shitbaggery, the Lollipop Guild, Tom Cruise, heedless body modification, a lordly disdain for the underclass, the systematic commodification of human experience, and horsefucking." James Dolan: &…
This is a regular feature breaking down, minute-by-minute, the content that appears on ESPN's 11 p.m. edition of SportsCenter throughout the week. Total time: 480.5 minutes
Time (minus commercials): 364.25 TIME DEVOTED TO INDIVIDUAL SPORTS
NFL: 200.25 minutes (55%) (last week: 40.8%)
MLB: 58 (15.9%) (last week: 25.1%)
College football: 46 (12.6%) (last week: 10.5%)
SportsCenter staples*: 43.5 (11.9%) (last week: 11.5%)
Golf: 10 (2.8%) (last week: 2.4%)
NASCAR: 5.5 (1.5%) (last week: 4.8%)
Other sports: 1 (0.3%) (last week: 2.3%)
NBA: 0 (0%) (last week: 1.5%)
NHL: 0 (0%) (last week: 0.6%)
College basketball: 0 (0%) (last week: 0.4%) *-Includes things like the "Top 10," "Encore," "What 2 Watch 4," etc. MOST-COVERED TEAMS BY SPORT
Green Bay Packers (NFL…
Pictured is UNC freshmore John Henson with two girls who are likely in his statistics study group. At least they appear to be having as much — if not more — fun as stuntman-to-be Tyler Hansbrough. [ COED Magazine, via] …
data-mm-id=”_olvhintu9″>This year's first College Football Playoff rankings will be revealed Tuesday, and there will be no shortage of headaches for the committee, as the 2019 season has produced perhaps the closest CFP race since the inception of the four-team format. While LSU, Ohio State, Alabama, Clemson and Penn State all have legit claims to a top-4 spot, the teams behind them are all jostling for position. Here are the teams with one loss in position to make the CFP. 1. GeorgiaThe Bulldogs have recovered well from their unexpected loss to South Carolina, beating up on Kentucky and holding off Florida in their most important test of the season thus far. While they hold the advantage in the SEC East, the road ahead will not be any easier for Kirby Smart's team, as they s…
data-mm-id=”_o2iajywfw”>Super Bowl LIV on Sunday will mark the first time in 50 years — 18,284 days, to be exact — since the Kansas City Chiefs last participated in pro football's ultimate game. Their last appearance (and win) came in Super Bowl IV on January 11, 1970. Since then, the league has undergone a drastic transformation, with new rules, new teams, and old teams popping up in new places.1. The AFL-NFL Merger Hadn't Quite Happened YetThe first four Super Bowls were a World Series-type clash between the champions of the National Football League and the American Football League, dueling for pro football supremacy. The Green Bay Packers had claimed the first two Super Bowls for the NFL, before the New York Jets famously backed up Joe Namath's "guarantee"…