Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

Welcome to the Deadspin 25, a college football poll that strives to be more democratic and less useless than every other preseason poll. Leading up to the college football season kickoff, we will give you previews of the 25 teams that you, the readers, voted to be most worthy of writing about. Now, No. 20 Eastern…Read more...

Cristiano Ronaldo seems to think that everything bad that happens to Cristiano Ronaldo is proof of a vast worldwide conspiracy to besmirch the reputation of Cristiano Ronaldo. This explains why he would describe the Spanish tax authorities seeking to collect on some €15 million they believe he may have defrauded from…Read more...

Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio announced yesterday that he had a giveaway for his readers: eight codes for a free copy of a football video game. This gesture turned out to be easier promised than executed.

The New Orleans Pelicans will launch a developmental-league team before the start of the 2018-19 season, but first, they have to decide where it’ll go. Five cities were initially vying for the right to join the NBA’s minor league (which recently rebranded to serve as an advertisement for a sports drink company), and…Read more...

Have you ever looked directly at the Sun only to find it wasn’t there? That’s the question asked by The 2017 Solar Eclipse, the ultimate can’t-miss entertainment experience of the year. Unless you missed it.Read more...

Some people are fans of the Tampa Bay Bucs. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the Tampa Bay Bucs. This 2017 Deadspin NFL team preview is for those in the latter group. Read all the previews so far here.Read more...

It’s been a rough few weeks for FC Barcelona. First, they sat there helplessly as Paris Saint-Germain smooth-talked Neymar away from them right in front of everyone’s faces; then they were humiliated in the Spanish Super Cup by their blood rivals, Real Madrid; then, in a futile effort to paper over the deep fissures…Read more...

The weather is actually nice, and Mountain Hardwear has the apparel and gear for you to enjoy it. Take 50% off select styles as part of their Summer Sale (even if it’s a bit late in the season). Go climb a mountain or hike a trail. Or just look like you do those things while walking the dog.Read more...

We hadn’t heard much from Art Briles for a while, and that was a good thing. The disgraced former Baylor coach, who ran the program amidst a horrifying and wide-ranging sexual assault scandal, has popped up here and there in efforts to salvage his public image, even as new lawsuits against Baylor continue to mount. It…Read more...

On Monday, the Mets announced that young starter Steven Matz was being shut down. Manager Terry Collins insisted that Matz was not hurt, telling reporters, “This is not an injury, this is not an injury ... If he had to pitch he could pitch tomorrow.” A few hours later, the Mets announced that Matz will be having…Read more...

The photo above shows Everton striker Wayne Rooney antagonizing the nearby Manchester City fans after he’d just scored against the home team during yesterday’s match. The keen-eyed Twitter user @Mirallas noticed that this picture bears a striking resemblance to another post-goal Rooney celebration at City’s stadium,…Read more...

Time for your weekly edition of the Deadspin Funbag. Got something on your mind? Email the Funbag. Today, we’re talking baseball, football, nut butters, and more.

If you missed it a few weeks ago, Amazon’s $10 snack sample box is back in stock!Read more...

We’ve all been there, trying to have a phone conversation at a desk in a room when all of a sudden something like a school class breaks out around us and we’re getting yelled at as if we’re the jerks.Read more...

Boston College head football coach and best Vine user in history Steve Addazio had an interesting take on yesterday’s solar eclipse. While everyone else was fretting about possibly going blind by staring directly into the sun, Addazio refused to be cowed by fear:

Gizmodo You Can Actually Do Something Good With Those Eclipse Glasses | Kotaku We Played SNES Classic And It Has Rewind Now | Jalopnik Ken Block Finally Took Gymkhana Off Road | Vitals These Beauty Products Are Extra-Hazardous for Women of Color |Read more...

We’ve got Boog news.

In Little League World Series action last night, Venezuela defeated the Dominican Republic 3-2 on a two-run, walk-off triple by Omar Romero. A thrilling moment for the Venezuelans, but a crushing loss for Dominican pitcher Edward Uceta, who’d been nearly unhittable during the tournament.Read more...

If you missed out on our exclusive Privé Revaux discount last week, here’s another chance to pick from 37 different frames for just $22 each in today’s Gold Box, because you need sunglasses year ‘round. This price is for today only, so don’t let the sun set on your new pair.

The Rangers and Angels were joined by a very special guest on the infield tonight: a pigeon, who hobbled around with a seemingly injured wing until someone was finally brave enough to step up to the plate and rescue the poor creature by himself. That would be Texas manager Jeff Banister, who scooped the bird up and…Read more...

What could have been a very bad night for Cleveland—losing star reliever Andrew Miller to a re-aggravated knee injury after just seven pitches and first baseman Carlos Santana to back pain in the eighth inning—ended up in victory, albeit via somewhat unconventional means. A sacrifice bunt from Roberto Pérez during a…Read more...

Last week, Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett issued a call to action to white players on national anthem protests: “It would take a white player to really get things changed, because when somebody from the other side understands and they step up and they speak up about it... it would change the whole…Read more...

Dallas Wings forward Glory Johnson has come out swinging against the WNBA after being issued a one-game suspension today for throwing a punch during an on-court altercation Saturday.Read more...

Ronnie Singh, aka Ronnie2K, is the social media face of 2K’s NBA series. Because he deals with players a lot, he’s become friends with many of them, to the point where he was at a wedding recently and found himself up in front of the whole gathering explaining how the game’s player ratings work.

Odell Beckham Jr. limped off the field during the second quarter of tonight’s preseason game against the Browns after a hit that knocked his legs out from under him:Read more...

Mike Wise of ESPN’s The Undefeated—known for trying to bait other outlets into falling for fake news and complaining about that awful vulgar rap music—shared some quotes from Nick Saban today that are, as it turns out, not actually quotes from Nick Saban.Read more...

Jaguars defensive end Dante Fowler has been formally charged on misdemeanor counts of battery, criminal mischief and petit theft after a July incident in which he allegedly punched a man who criticized his driving before stomping on his glasses and tossing his recently purchased liquor in a nearby lake.Read more...

Spanish swimmer Fernando Alvarez was in Budapest this past weekend for the Masters World Championships, and before he swam in a 200-meter breaststroke heat, he asked swimming’s governing body (FINA) to hold a minute of silence in tribute to the 15 people who were killed last Thursday in a terrorist attack in…Read more...

Thank you for your continued support of Deadspin. Take a break.Read more...

Wide receiver Bryce Treggs signed with the Eagles last September and caught a whopping three passes in his rookie season. He’s trying to make it onto the roster again this year, and a solid seven-catch preseason debut against the Packers might help his cause. However, Treggs also picked up a $25,000 fine, presumably…Read more...

Hair loss, like death, is coming for us all. No matter how strong your genes are, life eventually steals your flowing locks and turns them white, or, worse yet, takes them altogether. You can fight it, but nature always wins. Which brings us to Manchester City attacker David Silva.

Gizmodo Oh My God | Kotaku The Undertale Drama | Jalopnik These Are Your Most Desperate Fixes Ever | Lifehacker When Is the Next Solar Eclipse? |Read more...

Eric Smith hit Anquan Boldin so hard, he knocked himself out.Read more...

Even the AI refs in Madden need glasses.Read more...

A player on the English women’s national soccer team, Eni Aluko, received a settlement earlier this year from the Football Association after she accused the coach, Mark Sampson, and other staff members of “bullying and harassment.” Aluko received £80,000 despite the fact that the FA said they found no wrongdoing; as…Read more...

Jack Wilshere, the oldest 25-year-old in history, is still on the path to recovery after an injury he picked up on loan at Bournemouth last season. To warm up for the new campaign, Wilshere played in Arsenal’s U-23 match against Manchester City today. He put on a quintessentially Wilsherean show, pinging a couple …Read more...

Welcome to the Deadspin 25, a college football poll that strives to be more democratic and less useless than every other preseason poll. Leading up to the college football season kickoff, we will give you previews of the 25 teams that you, the readers, voted to be most worthy of writing about. Now, No. 21 Rice.

Game of Thrones began with our supposed hero laughing off a warning that an icy apocalypse was nigh. One of Ned Stark’s first scenes showed him beheading a deeply freaked out Night’s Watch deserter, who used his last breath to warn Ned that winter was coming.

Last year, Manchester United were a team full of hesitant superstars who punched below their weight and only redeemed a shoddy sixth-place finish by winning the Europa League. Expensive debutante Paul Pogba wasn’t the sort of immediate world-beater so many people (unfairly) thought he’d be, and the team lacked the…Read more...

Wilt Chamberlain would have been 81 years old today. To celebrate, check out this excerpt from Gary Pomerantz’s fine read, Wilt, 1962: The Night of 100 Points and the Dawn of a New Era. After the excerpt, you’ll find a Q&A with the author.

The NFL is nearing an agreement on a five-year extension to keep Roger Goodell as commissioner, a move that would extend Goodell’s tenure through 2024, per Sports Business Journal’s Dan Kaplan. This should come as no surprise.Read more...

Some people are fans of the Tennessee Titans. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the Tennessee Titans. This 2017 Deadspin NFL team preview is for those in the latter group. Read all the previews so far here.Read more...

Grigor Dimitrov and Nick Kyrgios are two of the most watchable players on tour, with sure feel and shot-making for days. They may also be the two players with the most inborn talent but the least hardware to show for it. They are almost certainly the two players with the strangest “posts on this blog:title wins”…Read more...

Apparently many of the youths are very excited about a “solar eclipse” today. The moon’s transit will carry it directly between the sun and the earth in the skies over the United States, where, along a certain corridor of geography, it will obscure the sun’s rays completely for a little while. I suppose the…Read more...

ANAHEIM, Calif.—This national championships was supposed to be the one with at least a little suspense. After all, Simone Biles, the gymnastics juggernaut, was on hiatus from the sport—though she did just announce that she has started working out again—and there were several gymnasts who, at least on paper, seemed to…Read more...

Anyone who had hoped to one day call Chris Christie on the radio and tell him he’s a corrupt piece of shit will be sorely disappointed to learn that they’ll have to settle for tweeting at him, as the outgoing governor of New Jersey will not pursue an on-air gig at WFAN.Read more...

They’ve held almost every kind of wrestling at the building formerly known as the ECW Arena. But according to the guy who sold me my ticket, Friday night was the first time the 2300 Arena was hosting Micro Championship Wrestling.

Saturday’s Bournemouth-Watford game featured a curious incident when Nathaniel Chalobah, in perfect position to score, ran up to and right on past the ball seemingly for no good reason. Thanks to the fine folks at the BBC’s Match of the Day, we now know that this wasn’t an inexplicable brain fart on Chalobah’s part,…Read more...

This weekend, Heinz Kluetmeier will become the first photographer to be inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The longtime staff photographer at Sports Illustrated is undeniably hall-worthy. He’s shot iconic images of every major swimmer since 1970, from Mark Spitz to John…Read more...

Today, Electronic Arts and the NFL announced the launch of the Madden NFL Club Championship, an esports event that involves all 32 of the NFL’s teams. The competition, which will be part of this year’s Madden NFL Championship Series, starts on August 22, which is the game’s preorder release day. Starting today,…Read more...