2025-12-01 08:28:14
The Dallas Mavericks set a miserable task for No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg. They constructed a tall, unwieldy roster without enough shooting or ball-handling, then told a power forward-sized 18-year-old to play the point. For the first fifth of the season, that went about as well as one might expect. Even a player of Flagg's obvious and immense talents looked overmatched, and for reasons beyond him, the Mavericks started the season at 5-15. But in every individual game, Flagg was still playing keen defense and doing lots of cool stuff that eluded the box score. In Saturday's game against the Los Angeles Clippers, he finally broke out on those terms, too: 35 points, eight rebounds, two assists, and just three turnovers while running the offense. Flagg became the youngest player ever to score 35, beating LeBron James to the mark by five days.
Scanning the injury report before yesterday's game, I would not have picked Flagg to pop on that particular night. The Mavs were down Anthony Davis (left calf injury management), Dereck Lively (right foot), and Daniel Gafford (right foot). P.J. Washington was a late scratch after rolling his ankle on a loose basketball during warmups. Klay Thompson was initially on the injury report too, with a sore left knee, but changed his mind after taking a dip in the Pacific Ocean. ("Anytime you touch the earth, it gives you energy," he said after the game. I would argue that the ocean is not the earth, but I don't want to further derail this post.) Down two of their top three scorers and much of their depth, these were hardly ideal conditions for a career night from a rookie. But maybe it simplified the task at hand. No one else was going to make anything happen but him.
At least one other factor was playing in his favor: The opponent was the 5-14 Clippers, who looked totally dry-aged and disengaged by comparison. Flagg notched his 35 points without a single made three-pointer, mostly rocking in isolation against various depleted uncs: James Harden (hands limp at waist level as he slowly wheels around to watch his man blow by), Kawhi Leonard (I'm still adjusting to the reality of a Kawhi with no defensive motor who closes out at waltz tempo), and even sometimes Chris Paul (looked like a baby that was somehow also old). John Collins is (somehow) only 28, but he didn't stand a chance either. Flagg was too strong, balanced, and hellbent on getting to his spots.
2025-12-01 07:12:41
After absorbing as much attention as he possibly could, college football coach Lane Kiffin has made a decision: He will leave Ole Miss after six seasons and fill the vacancy at LSU. In response to Kiffin's departure, Ole Miss has named defensive coordinator Pete Golding the next head coach. Kiffin shared his official statement Sunday afternoon:
After a lot of prayer and time spent with family, I made the difficult decision to accept the head coaching position at LSU.
I was hoping to complete a historic six season run with this year's team by leading Ole Miss through the playoffs, capitalizing on the team's incredible success and their commitment to finish strong, and investing everything into a playoff run with guardrails in place to protect the program in any areas of concern. My request to do so was denied by Keith Carter despite the team also asking him to allow me to keep coaching them so they could better maintain their high level of performance. Unfortunately, that means Friday's Egg Bowl was my last game coaching the Rebels.
While I am looking forward to a new start with a unique opportunity at LSU, I will forever cherish the incredible six years I spent at Ole Miss and will be rooting hard for the team to complete their mission and bring a championship to Oxford.
2025-12-01 02:50:04
As a publication, we haven't felt the need to check in with Bill Belichick and North Carolina since October. There are only so many jokes to make about a mediocre college football team as it plays out the string, and how much more is there to say, really? Let's give it a try anyway. It could be the last chance.
The string has been officially played out: The Tar Heels were trampled on Saturday by NC State, 42-19. UNC finished the season with a 4-8 record, and will not be bowl-eligible for the first time since 2018, which was Larry Fedora's final season. Here's a brutal series of stats about this year's team, via the Raleigh News & Observer:
2025-12-01 01:01:09
Steph Curry's mere presence can mask so much mediocrity. As long as he's on court, the Golden State Warriors' offense crackles with possibility. The threat of Curry getting the ball with a few inches of space keeps any defense in permanent panic, and he is masterful at using his teammates as screeners and passers to pry open what little space he needs. The threes splash, and the offense looks like a dream.
As soon as the greatest shooter ever walks to the bench, that illusion dissipates. It quickly becomes clear that the other Warriors on the floor have a collective vertical leap of 80 inches and 1.5 functional jump shots, and cannot actually pool together their skills to make the ball go into the hoop. Curry made magic with them, but without him, they are totally inert. They might as well be Easter Island statues plunked on the court for him to use as screens. It's a testament to Curry's singularity, and how far from contention the rest of Golden State's roster is. Perhaps there is no greater stylistic divergence in the NBA, depending on whether a given player is on or off the floor.
When Curry hurt his right quad during Wednesday's loss to the Houston Rockets, it guaranteed that we were going to see a lot more of that second, uglier Warriors team. The severity of the Curry on-off is borne out not just stylistically, but statistically. Before Saturday night's game against the New Orleans Pelicans, ESPN's Anthony Slater observed that the Warriors had an offensive rating of 118.2 with Curry on the floor, and 105.2 with him off the floor. That would be the difference between an offense ranked sixth or 30th in the NBA. Though Curry's injury was reportedly less severe than it initially seemed, he'll be sitting out at least a week. When asked in press how they'd cope in his absence, head coach Steve Kerr said that they'd have to play fast, get stops, and hunt easy buckets in transition.
2025-11-30 23:42:59
The Detroit Lions and their fans have been on an emotional roller coaster over the past few days. Actually, the better amusement park ride for this metaphor might be a drop tower—it would more accurately convey how jarring and abrupt the changes in mood have been with this week's news. Lions great Lem Barney was erroneously reported to be dead for a few hours on Saturday, and in a broader context that's somehow more of a below-the-fold item.
The ride began Wednesday when former Lions center Frank Ragnow, who retired this past summer, declared he was returning to football. The team's announcement of the news, featuring a totally sick archive photo of Ragnow running out of the tunnel, provided an instant shot of energy. The Lions' 29-year-old Pro Bowl center would be coming back to protect Jared Goff and improve an already-fierce run game, in the final stretch of the regular season. It wasn't Thanksgiving yet, but already this felt like a victory.
2025-11-29 00:11:07
For years, a rumor has floated around about the length of Willem Dafoe’s penis. Willem Dafoe’s penis is said to be extra-large. It is allegedly so big, in fact, that after filming nude scenes in the 2009 film Antichrist, Lars von Trier reported that he needed to re-shoot them using a different actor. “He has an enormous dick,” the director told The Boston Phoenix while promoting the film. “We had to take those scenes out of the film.” Here came the kicker: When Dafoe’s penis was on screen, said von Trier, “everybody got very confused when they saw it”.
What this means is that somewhere out there lives a humble man whose penis stood in for Willem Dafoe’s. Who is he?
