The year begins sadly. Franz Beckenbauer has died. He gave more to German football than anyone else and embodied his country in the best possible way. With wit, charisma, expertise, charm and optimism. The world bows before this shining light.

Beckenbauer always instilled enormous confidence in Germans. First as a player, then as a coach and finally as the man behind the 2006 summer fairytale. It was always true: if Franz takes care of things, nothing can happen to us.

Franz Beckenbauer was a player out of time who made football evolve with him | Jonathan WilsonRead more

I didn’t experience Franz Beckenbauer as a player; the last time he was on the pitch was shortly before I was born. But I did experience the rever…

The first weekend of July has arrived. Enjoy this slate of baseball while you can. Before you know it, we’ll reach the MLB All-Star break and hit that dead zone of sports where the only stuff to watch will be the ESPYs and maybe the Tour de France, if you’re one of those people.We’re going to play a baseball doubleheader with a WNBA upset for our nightcap. On with the picks:Boston Red Sox at New York YankeesYes, we’re going to open with the Yanks and the Sox for the second straight day. And yes, it’s a home run prop pick again. But you’ll forgive the repetition when you hear more.The Yankees look horrendous right now. With losses in nine of their last 11 and 15 of their last 20, they may be the coldest team in baseball. After the way the Red Sox rallied to win in 10 innings F…

Two games into the season, the Saints’ defense performed down to expectations: New Orleans yielded 777 passing yards and 32.5 points per game in a pair of double-digit losses. But the Saints have since won six straight, and that beleaguered D has surrendered more than 200 yards through the air just once. This from a unit that had finished last or next-to-last in DVOA each of the last three seasons. Pigs really can grow wings, apparently. The Saints’ improvement can be chalked up to some stellar play on the back end of their defense—the result of some early-round draft investments that so far appear to be paying off. That, in turn, has allowed a defense that continues to be as blitz-happy as any in the league to tee off with abandon. It’s helped, too, that the Saints have gotten …

Some people are fans of the New Orleans Saints. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the New Orleans Saints. This 2019 Deadspin NFL team preview is for those in the latter group. Read all the previews so far here. Your team: Your 2018 record: ROLL THE TAPE! While the Saints and their fans spend the rest of eternity wallowing in their own victimhood, let’s quickly take note of all the ways New Orleans very much deserved to lose the NFC title to the Rams in January. First of all, head coach and way-too-strict lifeguard Sean Payton called two pass plays when the clock was under two minutes and the Rams only had two timeouts left. The Saints were already in position to easily kick the winning field goal at that point, but Payton elected to gift the Rams extra time on the back end …

During an especially heated Sunday for the NFL, one fight late in the Cardinals-49ers game ended with one of my personal favorite NFL sights: an official, out of flags, throwing his hat in the air in order to call an additional penalty. The fight started after Cardinals safety Antoine Bethea hit 49ers QB C.J. Beathard late on a slide. Three players were ejected in the aftermath of the fight: 49ers running back Carlos Hyde, as well as Cardinals defensive end Frostee Rucker and linebacker Haason Reddick. …

Here are the best longish stories we published this year. You probably didn't have time to read them the first time around, so take a a few moments now to dive into some of our best stuff. Manti Te'o's Dead Girlfriend, The Most Heartbreaking And Inspirational Story Of The College Football Season, Is A Hoax Did you enjoy the uplifiting story, the tale of a man who responded to adversity by becoming one of the top players of the game? If so, stop reading. Read… Jameis Winston Isn't The Only Problem Here: An FSU Teacher's Lament One of Derek's better-adjusted athletes said it wasn't the practices or the physical abuse that bothered him, but how the coaches force-fed him and his teammates. "They watch me clean the plate," the player told Der…

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To: Tommy Craggs, Stefan Fatsis, Nate Jackson, Chris Kluwe Now Art Modell is dead. Good. He didn't die friendless and in pain, like Robert Irsay did, but at least he's just as dead. I hope Irsay gave him a friendly wave, one thief to another, as Modell plunged past him to an even deeper level of Hell. Deeper? Oh, yes. Bob Irsay, the man who stole the Baltimore Colts, was a vicious, incompetent drunk. But he wore the nastiness right up on his shiny, booze-reddened surface. He didn't try to make anybody like or respect him. For the second year in a row, Slate and Deadspin are teaming up for a season-long NFL roundtable. Check back here each week as a rotating cast of football watchers discusses the weekend's key plays, coachi…

One of Australia's top rugby teams was caught secretly exceeding the league salary cap by $1.7 million over five years. The penalty? They have to return two championships, forfeit every game this season and the cops have been called. Yikes. Local papers are calling this " The biggest scandal in Australian sporting history," which is pretty bold considering the last one involved a guy pooping in a hallway. Basically, the Melbourne Storm kept a separate set of accounting books that they used to pay some players under the table. Guess they didn't understand the literal meaning of "under the table." Granted, that is pretty shady—and something Jerry Jones probably wishes he'd thought of years ago—but the reaction is almost hard to fathom. The club ha…

data-mm-id=”_nc2rp1jme”>For all intents and purposes, the Andy Dalton era in Cincinnati is over. Despite his best efforts, the quarterback and his aging roster remain winless into the start of November. Needing a spark, new head coach Zac Taylor has benched Dalton for backup Ryan Finley – but much to Dalton's disgust, held onto him instead of trading him away. The bridge between quarterback and team has been burned, and it seems that next year, Dalton will be in another jersey.Fortunately, quarterbacks are in higher demand than ever, and Dalton will be no exception come this offseason. Here's where he could end up. Tampa Bay BuccaneersAnother team with a first-year head coach and a less-than-ideal situation at quarterback. Despite Bruce Arians' best efforts to defend him…

data-mm-id=”_l8drqbvpl”>The Los Angeles Lakers reportedly rejected a trade offer from the Sacramento Kings that would have shipped Kyle Kuzma out of town. The Lakers were right to reject the deal. The Ringer's Kevin O'Connor reported the Kings offered Nemanja Bjelica and a draft pick in exchange for Kuzma. That's simply should not be enough to land a 24-year-old forward with Kuzma's skills. Bjelica is having a really nice season for the Kings. The problem is that he's 31 and playing on an awful team, which could be driving up those numbers. The 6-foot-10 forward is averaging career-highs in points (12.3), rebounds (6.4), assists (2.7) and minutes (28.2) per game. He's also notched career-bests in field goal percentage (48.6), 3-point percentage (43.4) and …