Jack Grealish: from vital and colourful member of Manchester City’s treble winners to being dropped a year later for England’s tilt at Euro 2024 glory is a sobering trajectory for a footballer whose bubbly personality and talent for making mugs of defenders give him an X-factor Gareth Southgate may regret leaving behind.

The manager’s exclusion of the wide man makes Grealish the biggest casualty for form reasons as England head for Germany next week. Harry Maguire has been a mainstay of the Southgate era but the Manchester United defender misses out owing to a persistent calf injury.

Euro 2024: Gareth Southgate’s England squad – in picturesRead more

Grealish, though, can and should feel unlucky because the …

To kick off the patriotic pageantry of Super Bowl LI, three stars of the original cast of Hamilton sang “America The Beautiful”—and ad libbed a little for equality, making a nice contrast to more or less everything else that happened leading into the game. Renee Elise Goldberry, Phillipa Soo, and Jasmne Cephas Jones, who played the Schuyler sisters on Broadway, added “and sisterhood” to the line “God shed his grace on thee/And crown thy good with brotherhood/From sea to shining sea!” The crowd in the stadium cheered instantly, and Falcons head coach Dan Quinn beamed. Most of the major reactions on Twitter have been positive so far, but surely someone will find a way to blame the unsportsmanlike liberal agenda if anything goes wrong later in the game. …

The Cavaliers and Celtics have reportedly come to an agreement to tie up last week’s blockbuster deal, with Boston throwing in a 2020 second-round pick to soothe Cleveland’s concerns about Isaiah Thomas’s hip. The draft pick rounds out a return for the Cavs that remains pretty hefty, even if Thomas’s health is something of a question mark. The news was broken by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN: In its original form last week, the deal sent Kyrie Irving to the Celtics in exchange for Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic and a 2018 first-round pick. But after putting Thomas through a physical, the Cavaliers raised concerns about the point guard’s injured hip, which sidelined him in the Eastern Conference Finals this year and has the potential to keep him out for the start of next sea…

Some people are fans of the Seattle Seahawks. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the Seattle Seahawks. This 2018 Deadspin NFL team preview is for those in the latter group. Read all the previews so far here. Your team: Seattle Seahawks.  Your 2017 record: 9-7. Here’s a clip of justice unfolding in real time… I told you Blair Walsh would fuck you good, and he did. HOW DOES IT FEEL, YOU FUCKS?!!!!! See how you like it for once! I feel whole again. The best part is that Blair’s shank here ended up being the difference because Pete Carroll, for Pete Carroll reasons, ran a fake field goal at the end of the first half in that game from the 35-yard-line. “It would have been a really good call if we would have made it. It was something we saw, that we wanted to do. It was…

Deadspin is pleased to announce our 2015 Bear of the Year. After a great deal of consideration and deliberation, we arrived at a clear choice: Extra-Cool Polar Bear Who Discovered Many Ways To Enjoy His Items. Extra-Cool Polar Bear Who Discovered Many Ways To Enjoy His Items is not only a very good bear, but an instructive one. Consider his ebullience as he discovers the joy-inspiring uses for each one of his items. Consider how good this life looks: “False!” a cynic might shout. “This bear is being held in captivity, confined to a life that violates the laws of nature. He is clearly a prisoner!” These protestations are certainly valid, as Extra-Cool Polar Bear Who Discovered Many Ways To Enjoy His Items is not free to roam in the wild, but consider what his life isn�…

Some people are fans of the St. Louis Rams. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the St. Louis Rams. This 2012 Deadspin NFL team preview is for those in the latter group. Read the other Why Your Team Sucks 2012 previews here. 1. The Rams are the WNBA team of the NFL. Outside of the Staph Infection R&D Lab that is the Cleveland Browns, there isn't a worse team in football at keeping players healthy than the Rams. A Rams player is 50% more likely than any other NFL player to break his arm WHILE tearing his ACL. They didn't need a new coach. They needed a fucking trainer. Because Sam Bradford could very well die this season. I think it's very nice that the Rams managed to fleece Dan Snyder and the Shanahans for three first rounders. That's what the Redskins …

The following is excerpted from the team chapters of the always-excellent Football Outsiders almanac. Buy the PDF for $12 or order the book for $21.95. Arizona Cardinals: DeSean Jackson missed nearly two full games with Kolb under center, thanks to a concussion suffered during Kolb's start against the Falcons. If we split out each receiver's performance under both Vick and Kolb, it's clear to see that the biggest difference between the passing performance of the two quarterbacks is the play and presence of Jackson. There's still a risk in paying big money for a quarterback who has yet to start an entire season. But when you look at Kolb's 2010 in that context, it makes much more sense for Cardinals to want to lock him down for the near future. Atlanta Falcons…

data-mm-id=”_df151nslj”>If it's late enough to get reminders about Christmas– and, oh boy, are they out there– it's perfectly fine to start thinking about the NFL playoffs, even with only four games off the docket for most teams. However, one game could be the difference between playing for a Super Bowl trophy or watching it on TV. Thus, here are the four September matchups that may have defined what the field will look like come January. Detroit Lions v Arizona Cardinals / Christian Petersen/Getty ImagesWeek 1: Lions 27, Cardinals 27The Lions were one of the NFL's handful of unbeatens before they lost in a tightly-contested matchup with Kansas City last week. You'd be hard-pressed to call them "perfect", however, especially after Week 1's unusual …

data-mm-id=”_nwg7hj1mp”>Last night on Monday Night Football, Booger McFarland made waves by saying the Ravens are The Wire of the NFL, which was wrong. So I decided to explain which television show matches best with each of the 32 NFL teams. Baltimore Ravens — BarryAs I said last night, I'm fine with The Wire being called "great," as long as it's not called the "greatest." Not that the Ravens and the fifth-best show ever don't share similarities; they are both based on Baltimore, after all. But this Ravens team is flashy, innovative, must-see, and a little bit ridiculous. Much like HBO's Barry. The dark comedy series has a touch of Breaking Bad in its writing, in the same way Lamar Jackson has a touch of Michael Vick. Miami Dolphins — Dr. KenTh…

data-mm-id=”_arogqg0kq”>The Philadelphia 76ers are in trouble. Ben Simmons is out for an "extended" period of time. He will be reevaluated in two weeks, but no one expects him to be anywhere near ready to play in two weeks. Joel Embiid sprained his shoulder on Wednesday night and is still being evaluated. The good news and the bad news are the same thing. The Sixers are currently the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference, just a half-game behind the Miami Heat. The Celtics and Raptors are too far ahead for a healthy, cohesive version of the Sixers to catch up and the Nets and Magic are too far behind for Philadelphia to end up in a bottom seed in the darkest of timelines.Philadelphia has the third-easiest strength of schedule remaining. The Heat and Pacers have slightly toughe…