VICE SPORTS

The Mercy Rule

The Lakers' Unreality Show

There’s a certain ugly thrill in watching these Lakers fail, but it’s not a lot of fun—it’s tough to take much joy from watching all these great players playing so poorly and unhappily, even with the leavening knowledge that their ill-tempered awfulness is probably preventing Jack Nicholson’s latest horrifying boner. Full story

How the Super Bowl Screws New Orleans

For the pleasure of the assholes who will flood New Orleans for the Super Bowl, the city’s working overtime and even dissing Mardi Gras, its oldest tradition and most reliable financial benefactor. Per usual, what the New Orleans government won’t do for its citizenry it gladly do… Full story

Women's MMA Comes of Age

Back when the sport was so new it wasn’t even on SpikeTV yet, to even witness two ladies duking it out wearing four-ounce gloves in a cage was a rarity of almost “freakshow” quality. Full story

Was Lance Armstrong Taking Jerk-Enhancing Drugs?

The interview that Lance Armstrong gave to Oprah Winfrey was a masterful slice of a never-ending sports-fabulism spectacle, and while it made for good TV at times, it was also nearly infuriating to watch. Full story

Fightland

The Tornado and the Beach

The story is as crucial as crucial could have ever been. We're talking Grimm's fairy tale crucial. A family goes out one day, in this instance to a beach, and a boy, their boy, falls asleep, face down in the sand. Then the boy wakes up to the complete and total absence of his fam… Full story

ESGN... With Freddie Gibbs

Screw Bud Selig, Screw Hypocrisy, and Screw You

God bless America. This is the land of getting over. The land of second or even third chances; the land of doing whatever you have to do by any means necessary in order to fulfill the American Dream. I thought about all this while pouring a tall and muddy styrofoam cup of Prometh… Full story

I Want to Remember Ray Lewis As a Crazy Person

Ray Lewis, the longtime defensive stalwart/crazy person of the Baltimore Ravens, might be playing in his final game on Sunday. Professional football commentators tend to spew a lot of irrelevant filler about “heart” and “soul,” but for Lewis, all of that hyperbole was accurate. I… Full story

Manti Te’o: Another Narrative Bites the Dust

The story of Manti Te'o's fake girlfriend destroyed the ready-made image of the Notre Dame linebacker. He's no longer an Upstanding Young Man, but neither is he Harmlessly Wacky or the related Speaks His Mind About Political Topics. He may be a Student of the Game or Just a Winne… Full story

The 12-Step Program for Lance Armstrong's Image

After 15 years of denial, obfuscation, and single-handedly creating the worst fashion trend of the 21st century, Lance Armstrong is finally ready to admit to the world—or Oprah, same difference—that he indulged in performance-enhancing drugs during his time as a professional bicy… Full story

Epicly Later'd

Eric Dressen

Eric has witnessed firsthand the rise and fall of skateboarding three times, and each time affected Eric in a different way. These days, Eric skates for Santa Cruz and tattoos full time at Will Rise in Hollywood. In part one of the series, we hear about an era in skating when mos… Full story

Fightland Show

Sitdowns - Global Training

Some of the best fighters in the UFC talk about where in the world they'd like to train. Full story

Fightland Show

MMA in Jordan

In Jordan's capital city of Amman, Palestinian refugee and Brazilian jiu-jitsu master Samy Al-Jamy teaches Jordanians and Muslim seekers from around the world the secrets of mixed martial arts. Full story

The Mercy Rule

Hall of Lame

Like talk-radio types, Baseball Hall of Fame voters are blithely holding others to impossible standards in the most self-righteous way possible, and define “getting tough” as “accusing people you barely know of being cheaters instead of dealing with a complex issue.” The differen… Full story

The King of Women Fighters

Before he watched Amanda Nunes first step into a Strikeforce cage on a chilly winter night in Tennessee in 2011 and lay out the woman across from her in 14 seconds, Chris Vender just knew her as the girl who once picked him up from an airport in Brazil. Full story