Stephen Douglas

Sports journalist, writer, editor and social media producer specializing in NBA, NFL, MLB, MMA, college sports, pop culture and entertainment. I have worked as a senior writer at The Big Lead, part of Big Lead Sports and USA TODAY Sports, a columnist at The Troy Record, and a writer for The Sporting News' The Rumble. I've also written for local magazines and newspapers in New York's Capital Region and first coined the term "LeBronageddeon."



The Big Lead •

Goodbye, River Rats

The Albany River Rats was an American Hockey League team that existed in New York’s capital region for 20 years. Growing up an Adirondack Red Wings fan, I hated the River Rats who played an hour south on the Northway. The Red Wings and Devils’ affiliates had a heated rivalry that died when the Red Wings packed up shop in 1999. My feelings toward the Rats softened when I moved to Albany to attend college in 2001. The Wings had been gone for a couple years by then, so the jealous memories of the
The Big Lead •

LeBron James Sitting a Regular Season Game is Not the "wussification of America"

LeBron James took the night off on Wednesday to rest on the second night of a back-to-back after a tough game against Toronto on Tuesday. It was the 11th game of the season and Indiana Pacers fans were robbed of a chance to see one of the greatest players ever. It sucks. Sure, the home crowd was left with nothing but a win by their team and three All-Stars to watch, but LeBron resting is emblematic of something more troubling – the wussification of America! Cot dang Millenials! Take it away Bob
The Big Lead •

Fast and Furious Movies, Ranked

We’re approximately 4 months from Fast 8 – a.k.a. Fast & Furious 8, a.k.a. #F8, a.k.a. The Fate of the Furious – hitting theaters. The official trailer came out for F8 on Sunday, so what better time than now to rank the first 7 movies in the 15-year old franchise? 7. 2 Fast 2 Furious John Singleton has made some bad movies, but this one is right down there with the worst of them. By just about any metric, this movie was bad. It feels different than every other movie in the series and the fac
The Big Lead •

"Need For Speed" Is a New Star-Studded Basic Cable Classic

Need for Speed was released on March 14, 2014. Why randomly mention it in July 2017? Because at some point you’re going to randomly stumble across this movie on basic cable, watch it and love it for its ridiculousness. Coming off the end of Breaking Bad, Need for Speed was supposed to be Aaron Paul’s Fast & Furious-esque franchise. Instead, critics destroyed it and it bombed domestically. It was a 39 on Metacric and a very rotten 23% on Rotten Tomatoes. With a reported budget of $66 million bud
The Big Lead •

Brand, Party, Repeat: NBA All-Star Weekend With Stephen Curry and Ludacris

Every year, the NBA’s biggest stars and the NBA’s biggest sponsors gather in a random city to celebrate how close they are to the NBA playoffs and promote brands – both commercial and personal. This year, the break-out star is Stephen Curry, who spent his All-Star break running around New York City making media appearances and aligning himself with whatever product he wanted. Curry’s personal brand has grown so strong that last week Darren Rovell profiled his many endorsement opportunities and
The Big Lead •

There Have Been More Star Wars Movies Than Cleveland Browns Wins In the Last Two Years

The Cleveland Browns enter this week’s NFL action with an 0-13 record, but the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi bodes well for the Browns. It is true that there have been more Star Wars films released in the last two calendar years (3) than there have been Browns victories (1). However, the last two Cleveland wins have come within 8 days of a Star Wars movie being released.
The Big Lead •

IPA Day: 25 Great India Pale Ales You Must Try Before You Die

In 2015, everything has its own day. India Pale Ale, probably the current most popular craft beer type, is no exception. So here is a list of 25 (or so) of my favorite IPAs. I tried to rank them because that’s what you do on the ‘net. There are probably a lot of major omissions. I knew that was going to happen when I started this. IPAs are like snowflakes in that no two are the same and each one is beautiful in its own special way. And also if you have too many in a short period of time it can
The Big Lead •

Athlete Cameos From Nickelback's "Rockstar" Music Video, Ranked

Kirk Cousins made this possible. Cousins and his Washington teammates lifted weights while listening to Creed’s Greatest Hits on Thursday. This resulted in me clicking on various tracks on YouTube because, honestly, My Own Prison was an album which I owned and greatly enjoyed as a teenager.* While listening to One (The best song on that album in my opinion.) I saw this: This sent me down a little Nickelback YouTube wormhole because, well, I’ve heard all those songs. I remember the dark days of
The Big Lead •

Chuck Liddell's Appearance in a Country Music Video Captures All That is Great About Country Music

Chuck Liddell is in the music video for “Small Town Throwdown” by country musicians Brantley Gilbert, Justin Moore and Thomas Rhett.* I’d like to talk to you about this video as well as country music in general. First, the video. It opens with the three country singers shooting guns at three bottles. After the first two fellas miss their targets, the third guy hits all three with the smallest gun. It’s a metaphor for America. I’m sure of it. After shooting their three targets, the young, rich w
The Big Lead •

Blind Item: Which New York Mets Star Is Addicted to Drinking Water, Eating Food and Sleeping?

Spring Training is the time of the year where we learn all the little quirks of professional baseball players, but one of the New York Mets has taken things to another level. According to the New York Times, one unnamed player is addicted to water – and maybe much more. The journalist behind this story was tipped off when the player interrupted an interview to take a drink. That’s right – he’s doing this out in the open in front of Tim Tebow and country. At least, I assume this is what tipped o
The Big Lead •

Pitch Perfect: A Tribute to an Infinitely Rewatchable, New Classic Not-a-Sport Sports Movie

Pitch Perfect ended its first run on HBO Friday night. If you have not seen it yet, find a way to watch it. Buy it. Rent it. Do something.* I’m not sure what will become of Pitch Perfect next, but wherever it lands, I will watch. And so will a lot of other people. In the tiny corner of the sports blogosphere that I inhabit, I have happily watched Pitch Perfect go from a secret guilty pleasure to a legit favorite sports movie since the movie premiered on HBO two months ago. As people saw Pitch P
The Big Lead •

ESPN Broadcasting Actual Sports Shouldn't Seem So Crazy

ESPNU briefly became ESPN 8: The Ocho on August 8, 2017. It was a hilarious experiment inspired by the 2004 Vince Vaughn / Ben Stiller film Dodgeball. The joke in Dodgeball is that ESPN televises so many sports that they need an 8th channel just to show things like dodgeball tournaments and water skiing squirrels. A hilarious premise indeed. Can you imagine a world where ESPN airs sports? So many that multiple channels are required to show all of the sports? Sadly, that joke isn’t close to a rea
The Big Lead •

Cavaliers Need to Trade LeBron James and Build Around Tristan Thompson

Tristan Thompson carried the Cavaliers with 18 points on just 4 field goal attempts on Sunday. He led Cleveland with 13 rebounds, including 6 offensive boards. After Thompson’s huge game and LeBron James’ disappearing act, it’s time to ask if the Cleveland Cavaliers should trade LeBron James for some draft picks and build their franchise around Tristan Thompson. At 26, Thompson is just coming into his prime. Both professionally and in his personal life. He averaged career-highs in blocks and fi
The Big Lead •

Without LeBron James the Cleveland Cavaliers Have Been Inept and Hopeless For Decades

The Cleveland Cavaliers are one of the most poorly-run franchises in American sports. Don’t be fooled by the fact that they won the title last season or are 5-0 in the 2017 NBA Playoffs. This, like everything else the Cavaliers have done for the last two decades, has been bolstered and painted over by the mere existence of LeBron James. Just look at the last two decades of Cleveland Cavaliers’ draft results. Andre Miller had a long career with many teams that were not Cleveland. No one knows wh
The Big Lead •

Stop Sending Bad Football Games to London and 5 Other Ideas to Improve the NFL

The NFL released the list of professional football games they plan to export next season and it isn’t pretty. Ravens – Jaguars, Saints – Dolphins, Vikings – Browns, and Cardinals – Rams are the four matchups that are meant to entice the people of the United Kingdom to love football. That’s right, the NFL is giving the U.K. some of their worst teams. Again. Currently, the Vikings, Dolphins and Saints could possibly reach the playoffs, but they probably won’t. The Browns and Jaguars are two of th
The Big Lead •

TGI Friday's Endless Appetizers Are As Endless As Your Lack of Shame

Last Thursday, my friend Mike told me about a promotion at TGI Friday’s that allowed customers to eat “endless appetizers.” I obviously called bullshit because that sounded bananas. That deal sounded about as ridiculous as a kayak on the wall of a restaurant. The next day, Gawker’s Caity Weaver dropped a piece of new media journalism 4.0 that spread like wildfire concerning those very same “endless appetizers.” Being so impressed with the idea of eating 32 mozzarella sticks in 14 hours, I had to
The Big Lead •

Another Letter to My Younger Self (But By A Completely Different Person)

Yesterday, Ty Duffy wrote a letter to his younger self, after Kobe Bryant and many other athletes did so. Today, in our ongoing 8-part series, it’s Stephen Douglas’ turn to take time off critiquing Golden State’s team tipping habits, comparing Steph to Linsanity, and eating endless appetizers to write a letter to himself and improve his lot in life. How’s the lake house? I assume that’s where you receive this time traveling letter from your future self. Don’t freak out. Things are going to be g