Some people are fans of the San Francisco 49ers. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the San Francisco 49ers. This 2012 Deadspin NFL team preview is for those in the latter group. Read the other Why Your Team Sucks 2012 previews here. 1. Deep down, you know that NFC Title Game Alex Smith is the REAL Alex Smith. Goddamn, the Niners are loaded. The front seven is arguably the best in football, AND they get to play six games against the Rams, Cardinals and Seahawks, all of whom ranked in the top 4 of sacks allowed last season (as we noted here before, the NFC West is where offensive line play goes to die). They also upgraded the receiving corps, added touchdown vulture and professional helmet-putter Brandon Jacobs to the backfield, drafted LaMichael James to become Darren Sproles Jr…
Though 25-year-old youngins like myself didn't get to see much of him in his heyday, seeing only swatches of memorable moments like his work at the 1972 Munich Olympics and on the Wide World of Sports, it's been nice reading through the various tributes to the man, further tinged with sadness that he passed away on one of the biggest days of the horse racing calendar, a sport for which he has a clear passion. "Jim would have been is his glory here today," said racing journalist Bill Nack, among the more than 100,000 people at Belmont Park. "To see a dominant 3-year-old run for the Triple Crown would have been something he would have savored."
McKay's first TV broadcast assignment was a horse race at Pimlico in 1947, and it was the start of a love a…
data-mm-id=”_4cfcbj5ld”>The PGA Tour released a revised schedule today for the 2020 season, which was shut down because of coronavirus on March 13. The new scheduled start date is June 11-14 and the season continues through the winter tour. As the first mainstream/major sports organization to announce it is reopening (sorry MMA/WWE, you don't count), it's huge news around the world and also a massive opportunity for the Tour. All eyes will be on golf when the season kicks off because, frankly, nothing else will be on and people have been clamoring for some form of live sports since this pandemic shut down America a little over a month ago. With that in mind, the PGA Tour has to nail the presentation of the tournaments to hopefully build a larger fan base that will stick with …
data-mm-id=”_wlgacxkp7″>Floyd Mayweather has decided to follow in his late uncle Roger's footsteps. Roger Mayweather trained his nephew for years during Floyd's rise to the top of the boxing world. After Roger's death a few weeks ago, Floyd has now decided he wants to become a trainer just like his uncle.Mayweather took to Instagram on Friday to announce his intentions and included a video where he's working the mits with his 14-year-old nephew. Check it out: View this post on Instagram This is my first day working with my 14yr old nephew @slugboi.chris who has absolutely NO boxing experience at all, and this is my second time doing mitt work. The first time was with my oldest son @kingkoraun which you may have seen I recently posted. As many of yo…
data-mm-id=”_umt8gitcb”>The XFL was a fun thing that happened this year before COVID-19 caused it, and any hope of its success, to shut down before it really even got started. Which was too bad for people who like football. It wasn't great football, but it was good enough, which is more than any other startup league has managed since the original XFL of the early 2000s. After what appeared to be some questionable business practices by Vince McMahon, the XFL was slated to go up for auction today. Until a certain former McMahon employee-turned-Hollywood-mogul swooped in with a venture capital partner and purchased the league hours before it was supposed to hit the market. Say hello to one of your new XFL owners, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Per Sportico: “The XFL has been so…
data-mm-id=”_9y2zowviz”>The Houston Rockets continued their teardown on Wednesday, shipping Russell Westbrook to the Washington Wizards in exchange for John Wall and a protected first-round pick in 2023. The deal is a swap of max contracts for the two sides and paves the way for Houston to fully tear down the Daryl Morey-Mike D'Antoni experiment. Westbrook has three years and $132.5 million left on his contract — the third year is a player option for $47 million he'd be crazy not to opt-in to. Wall has three years and $132.8 million left and similarly has a massive player option for the 2022-23 season he'll almost certainly accept. This wasn't about cutting costs or that first-round pick for Houston, this was all about a reset.Wall is 30 and a former five-time All-…
data-mm-id=”_p263rct5t”>The 2023 NBA Finals between the Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat tips off on ABC on Thursday night. ESPN's Mike Breen will call the games alongside Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson, with Lisa Salters rounding out the broadcast. During a media conference call on Tuesday morning, Van Gundy and Jackson talked about a number of things, including the Denver fans, disrespect and Mike Malone's complaints about the narrative. Asked about the reaction to his leaving Nikola Jokic off his MVP ballot, Jackson downplayed the backlash in Denver where he, Breen and Van Gundy called Game 1 and Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals. "I've had no issues at all," Jackson told the media over Zoom. "And I don't expect any, you know, other than, one o…