South African revolutionary, prisoner, politician, and icon Nelson Mandela died today at age 95. Before he did so much else, he was something of a boxer. Here's what Mandela had to say on the sport in his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom: "Boxing is egalitarian. In the ring, rank, age, color, and wealth are irrelevant. When you are circling around your opponent, testing his strengths and weaknesses, you do not think about his skin color or social status." "I never did any real fighting after I entered politics. My main interest was in training; I found the rigorous exercise to be an excellent outlet for tension and stress. After a strenuous workout, I felt both mentally and physically lighter. It was a way of losing myself in something that was not the struggle.…

Some people are fans of the Philadelphia Eagles. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the Philadelphia Eagles. This 2012 Deadspin NFL team preview is for those in the latter group. Read the other Why Your Team Sucks 2012 previews here 1. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting Andy Reid to win a Super Bowl. The Eagles had their chance last January to rid themselves of Andy Reid forever. They could have kicked him the curb and no one—not even Reid—would have put up much of a fuss. They could have replaced him with a more dynamic personality—such as a chair, or the corpse of a dog, or even an oscillating fan—and finally gotten something out of a talented roster. Instead, owner Jeff Lurie took a gigantic DUMP all over Philadelphia and let Reid stay.…

There are several key storylines that will be beaten into the ground by everyone who covers the Super Bowl over the next week. We will beat them down even further. Larry Darnell Fitzgerald Jr. may be the greatest football player—perhaps the greatest human—to ever wear cleats. If any one man can single-handedly take over this Sunday's Super Bowl, throw his entire team on his broad shoulders and carry them to the championship, it's this guy. Never before and never again have we seen his like. Standing just a hair over 6'10" and weighing approximately 375 pounds (pure muscle, btw), his 87-inch vertical leap allows him to rise up and hover above the most tenacious defenders. His large, yet gentle hands—he has eight fingers on each one—allow him to seize the …

data-mm-id=”_h1e48cbz0″>Moments after the Giants surprised everyone by selecting offensive tackle Andrew Thomas with the No. 4 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, ESPN turned the broadcast to NFL Draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah for his take on the move. Long story short, Jeremiah said Thomas was his fourth-rated tackle in this year's class and not even a Top-10 pick. Right after that, respected NFL analyst Louis Riddick said he agreed with Jeremiah. Beyond them, Mel Kiper had Thomas as his fourth offensive tackle taken in his final mock and Todd McShay had Thomas as the 16th-ranked prospect in this draft. You know who clearly doesn't agree with those four experts? Giants GM Dave Gettleman, who picked Thomas No. 4 and attached his employment with the Giants to a lineman seemingly everyo…

data-mm-id=”_r4jidmtvv”>The world has changed in nearly incomprehensible ways over the last month, and will continue to do so in the future. Therefore, despite the conjectures of the Dabo Swinneys of the world, nobody has a damn clue if college football will be on our televisions come fall. We all hope it is, but that's all we can do. On Golic and Wingo this morning, Greg McElroy took a different tact to explain why he thinks college football will be held. He explained that it's such a massive revenue driver for colleges of all shapes and sizes that, without college football, schools will have trouble finding enough money to fund other sports in their program: “Football has to be played, it literally HAS to be played. So they are going to play it come hell or high water… …

data-mm-id=”_thzd2tpdj”>On Friday afternoon, Deion Sanders uncorked one of the worst takes of 2020 so far. And boy, is that saying something. Sanders took to Twitter to rip NFL players (and any athletes) who are opting out of the 2020 season. Yes, he actually took a shot at players who made the devastating choice to sit out. Those same players have decided to surrender huge paychecks in order to protect themselves and their families from potential exposure to a virus that has killed more than 160,000 Americans. Here's the tweet:All Players OPTING out in all sports PLEASE BELIEVE the game will go on without u. This is a business & don’t u EVER forget that. There’s NO ONE that’s bigger than the game itself. Only the ref,umps & officials are that important that u can’…

data-mm-id=”_9eamcl0m5″>James Harden is looking for a way out of Houston. He has not yet "demanded" a trade. The wording in Adrian Wojnarowski and Tim MacMahon's latest information is softer than that; the pair write that Harden is "open" to a trade to the Philadelphia 76ers and other contenders in their most recent ESPN report. Coupled with Harden's absence from the start of training camp and everybody's attitude when asked about it, his time in Houston appears nearing an end. The issue for the franchise is the circumstances have developed to a point where they're going to have to settle in any trade for Harden. As Woj points out in a follow-up tweet to his above report, any team who could trade for Harden is loathed to give up the haul we usual…

data-mm-id=”_xq5paj2p7″>The Los Angeles Dodgers placed righty Dustin May on the IL Thursday due to pain in his right elbow. That's the same elbow he had Tommy John surgery on back in May of 2021. He missed most of the 2021 and 2022 seasons as a result. After 15 appearances between 2022 and this season, his arm is injured again. The Dodgers should be very worried. While LA says the injury is just a right forearm strain — specifically to the flexor pronator, there has to be a ton of concern. May will be sidelined at least a month but it could be longer. Given that Walker Buehler is already on the shelf recovering from Tommy John surgery, losing May could be devastating to the Dodgers. May was dominant in nine starts this season. He was 4-1 with a 2.63 ERA, a 0.94 WHIP and 34 strike…