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 …

data-mm-id=”_cb6zzuq9u”>Russell Westbrook will finally be making his return to the court on Saturday as he recovered enough from his quad injury to be activated for Houston's Game 5 matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Westbrook, playing on a minutes restriction, will obviously be a positive presence on the floor for the Rockets as the playmaking burden is no longer entirely on James Harden's shoulders. But Westbrook's presence on the fast break and off turnovers will be the biggest benefit against this Thunder team. The Rockets, despite being known for their offense, are a very active defense. They've forced an average of 15 turnovers a game against OKC this playoff series, an impressive number in any regard and especially so considering Chris Paul is orchest…

data-mm-id=”_dugkvino6″>The time of reckoning appears to have come for college football. On Monday morning, many college-athletes (including high-profile names like Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields) posted unified messages to social media that demanded the players have a say in how the season might go forward, if there's to be one at all. Dan Patrick brought some big news this morning on his show, where he reported the Big 10 and the Pac-12 are going to cancel their seasons tomorrow. The SEC, meanwhile, is trying to see if other teams or conferences will join them in an attempt to put on a football season, regardless of what the other conferences might do. DP was told an hour ago that the Big 10 and Pac 12 will cancel their football seasons tomorrow… The ACC and the Big 12 are …

data-mm-id=”_1aqt34h2g”>I read a comment made by FOX CFO Steve Tomsic this morning stating if FOX had to choose between broadcasting Thursday Night Football or the Sunday package, they would go with the latter. “The heritage of the company was built on Sunday afternoon football,” Tomsic said. That's an accurate point. It's how Rupert Murdoch built his media empire. He spent $1.6 billion in 1993 to broadcast NFL games on Sundays and FOX engrained itself within the fabric of American life because of it. In 2018, FOX doubled down on its NFL broadcast rights by paying (some called it overpaying) $3.25 billion over five years to broadcast Thursday Night Football. Two years into the deal, and with NFL rights costs expected to double or triple in the next negotiating period, it …

data-mm-id=”_tq9f24w9f”>The Miami Heat are down 2-1 in the NBA Finals and Jimmy Butler has been a big reason why. The superstar who reached another plane of existence against the Milwaukee Bucks earlier in the playoffs is nowhere to be found. It is not a recent development; Butler's scoring has taken a nosedive since he hurt his ankle against the New York Knicks in the second round. Once Miami reached the Finals his teammates stopped shooting an ungodly percentage from deep to cover for him. His struggles have become that much more apparent and his team is suffering as a result. Regardless of context, if a guy like Butler doesn't play well on the biggest stage, he's going to become a prime target for blame afterwards. Jay Williams is of a similar mind, but didn't fo…