Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

WWE confirmed on Wednesday that Tom Billington, the former pro wrestler best known as Dynamite Kid of the British Bulldogs tag team, had passed away at the age of 60. He leaves one of the more hugely complicated legacies of just about anyone who has ever been a part of this hugely complicated business. In the ring, he…Read more...

Disgraced former Baylor AD Ian McCaw and fearmongering reactionary legacy kid Jerry Falwell Jr. introduced Hugh Freeze as Liberty University’s new head football coach on Friday. Everyone had a great time. Here were the best parts:

To the surprise of not one single person on earth, a Knicks team missing Kristaps Porzingis and giving major rotation minutes to all of Tim Hardaway Jr., Mario Hezonja, and Emmanuel Mudiay sucks major ass and is losing lots of games. They’ve dropped two in a row and four of five, and they’ve got the fifth-worst point…Read more...

The way baseball’s Hall of Fame and the veteran sportswriters who vote in its elections have responded to the presence of drug users on the ballot over the last several years has been terrible for the institution, turning what should be an annual celebration of the game’s great players and rich history into an annual…Read more...

Former major leaguers Luis Valbuena and Jose Castillo were killed in a car crash in Venezuela Thursday, as reported by the Orange County Register. Valbuena was 33; Castillo was 37.Read more...

It’s here. It’s really here.

Football can be perfect and beautiful. It can also suck complete and total ass for everyone involved. Today, we travel to Mankato, Minn. for the latter experience.

An on-sale iPad, the LEGO Bat-Space Shuttle, and discounted ugly Christmas sweaters lead off Friday’s best deals from around the web.

Hugh Freeze, the former Ole Miss coach who resigned a month before the 2017 college football season over some alleged improper horniness, has finally found a new job after one-and-a-half years on the shelf. As Football Scoop first reported and ESPN later confirmed, Freeze will take over the head coaching job for…Read more...

Nashville Predators netminder Pekka Rinne may be the best goaltender in the NHL. Last season, he led the league in goals saved above average, and so far this year, his goals against average is tops in the league at 1.96, with a .931 save percentage to boot. Rinne is incredible at his job, in short, but when he’s…Read more...

The Phoenix Suns were never expected to resolve into a good team this year, but they at least seemed ready to play some fun, occasionally winning basketball. Devin Booker was all set to continue his ascent and become one of the best pure scorers in the league, Trevor Ariza was there to provide some steady veteran…Read more...

There are few things that will drive an NBA big man crazier than picking up two early fouls and being forced to the bench in the first quarter. It is particularly annoying when those two fouls occur in the first three minutes of the damn game, as Jazz center Rudy Gobert demonstrated last night.

Amazon is killing it with the fashion deals today. Of course you should check out the major brands on sale, but don’t sleep on this batch of Amazon-branded men’s goods including sweaters, wallets, pants, and shirts, with prices starting at $10. Your future self will thank you next time you have no trouble deciding…Read more...

Derrick Henry did much, much more last night against the Jaguars than run 99 yards, impale All-Pro corner A.J. Bouye with a halberd of a stiff arm, shrug Leon Jacobs off like a bathrobe, and then gas half the Jags’ defense, but since he did all that and more on his way to the NFL’s second-ever 99-yard rushing…Read more...

We’ve had months to recover from Avengers: Infinity War’s cataclysmic outcome, as Thanos, gauntlet in hand, snapped the snap heard ‘round the world. Now, after what feels like eons of waiting, we have our first look at what the original icons of the Marvel Cinematic Universe plan on doing to avenge their fallen…Read more...

Amazon isn’t really a place I’d expect to shop for J.Crew brand clothes, but today, there’s an entire Gold Box filled with styles for both men and women. Specifically, the items up for grabs are J.Crew Mercantile, the brand’s more affordable line that’s akin to what’s sold in J.Crew Factory outlets — but that doesn’t…Read more...

Dominique “SonicFox” McLean took home the award for Best Esports Player tonight at The Game Awards in Los Angeles. The 20-year-old full-time student and fighting game ace gave a candid acceptance speech that was one of the night’s more heartfelt moments.Read more...

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This competition really heated up, but our readers managed to chose their three favorite space heaters. Here they are, coming in hot, and don’t forget to scroll down to give us your hot take in the poll.

Thank you for your continued support of Deadspin.Read more...

Last week LeBron James went on wine-drunk lifehacker Tim Ferriss’s podcast to talk about the day-to-day maintenance of one of the most natural wonders on earth: that is, his body. Among other fine-grained details, James said he listens to the “rain on leaves” sound all night long, and that he sleeps for eons.

Gonzaga played Washington last night. It was a pretty good game! Rui Hachimura hit a foul-line jumper with less than a second left to give the Bulldogs the win. But, obviously, this exciting 81-79 game was overshadowed by Bill Walton’s announcing, who was working with play-by-play announcer Dave Pasch. He pontificated…Read more...

The St. Louis Cardinals became a much more fun team yesterday, and they barely gave up anything to pull it off. On Wednesday, baseball’s most uptight franchise sent three fairly irrelevant players to the Arizona Diamondbacks, who in return gave them big-time slugging first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, who was…Read more...

A four-time winner of the Iditarod Trail Race has been cleared in a nearly-two-year old case involving four of his dogs testing positive for a banned substance. Except—it’s weird. What’s been overturned is not that Dallas Seavey’s dogs were doped. Oh, those dogs were doped to the gills. What has apparently been…Read more...

It’s been nearly two weeks since Washington quarterback Alex Smith had emergency surgery after breaking his tibia and fibula in a game against the Texans. Smith had his surgery on Nov. 18, and now it’s been revealed that complications from that surgery have left him fighting an infection and that he may still be…Read more...

In an interview that aired this morning on Good Morning America, Elissa Ennis explains the abuse she says she sustained from her ex-boyfriend, NFL linebacker Reuben Foster, her reaction to Washington’s decision to sign Foster just days after the 49ers released him following his second domestic-violence arrest, and why…Read more...

Formula One’s halo cockpit-protection bar did its job more than once this year, and made viewers question its role at least once. But in the ugly August wreck involving Charles Leclerc and Fernando Alonso, an investigation found that the halo protected Leclerc from a smack in the visor by the front of Alonso’s car.

The first big Instant Pot Max discount, a Christmas decorations Gold Box, and luggage from Amazon lead off Thursday’s best deals from around the web.

Zion Williamson had 18 and 12 and Duke won 84-54 on Wednesday night—which would have been impressive if they hadn’t been playing the Hartford Hawks (apparently a real college basketball team and not, like, a D-League franchise). As per usual, there were powerful, highlight-reel dunks from the Blue Devils’ mighty…Read more...

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So...Gonzaga’s good. And you can say that without any qualifier, either: They’re not some scrappy upstarts, or even a particularly surprising national No. 1. They’re undefeated, and have come by their ranking honestly. And they feature one of the best players in the nation, Rui Hachimura. All of those statements were…Read more...

Happy Smash week, one and all. Nintendo’s insanely huge new fighter comes out tomorrow, which means this is your last day to preorder on Amazon to get a $10 Prime credit added to your account.Read more...

The best gift you can buy for a car person is actually a gift for their car. Today only, a ton of Chemical Guys care care products are on sale for some of the best prices ever as part of Amazon’s 12 Days of Deals.

You never want to need a game-winning jumper to beat the Brooklyn Nets, but Paul George made it a thrilling proposition Wednesday night, capping off the Oklahoma City Thunder’s roaring comeback. Down 93-75 entering the fourth quarter, George basically did it all himself, going 9-12 for 25 points in the quarter and…Read more...

The Cleveland Police Department has launched an internal investigation into how the NFL obtained former Kansas City Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt’s police report. This follows reports that neither the Chiefs nor the NFL appeared on a public records request form until TMZ released video of Hunt shoving and kicking a…Read more...

It hasn’t raked in as much cash as all the Star Wars films have, but with five movies in the series (and a sixth on the way), Jurassic Park stands as one of the biggest Hollywood franchises of all time. But which one is truly superior? The only way to really find out is to simulate an epic battle between 20,000 Jedi…Read more...

Miami Heat center Hassan Whiteside was having a fine game on Tuesday night, with a team-high 12 points as his team led the Orlando Magic 50-46 at halftime. But when he began to eat shit in a scoreless third quarter, so did the Heat, who were outscored 30-12 en route to a 105-90 loss. Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra…Read more...

We see a lot of deals around the web over on Kinja Deals, but these were our ten favorites today.

USA Gymnastics filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday in a decision likely intended to brace the governing body for the impact of impending legal, financial and structural concerns that the organization will have to face in the near future.

In a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, commissioner and chief executive of the XFL Oliver Luck announced the eight cities and venues that would serve as home sites for the league’s inaugural season in 2020: Dallas (Globe Life Park), Houston (TDECU Stadium), Los Angeles (StubHub Center), New York (MetLife…Read more...

The United Kingdom’s Food Standard Agency revealed that a training facility kitchen belonging to Premier League club Crystal Palace received a food hygiene rating of 0 out of a possible five. The agency’s website notes that the score means that “urgent improvement is required” in areas like food handling, cleanliness…Read more...

Ohio State football has already started to feel the effects of Urban Meyer’s decision to retire at the end of this season for health and family-related reasons. Two of the Buckeyes’ seven commitments from the 2020 recruiting class have announced on Twitter that they’ve decommitted from the program. The first was…Read more...

On Tuesday, New York Magazine’s the Cut published a horribly offensive essay, one that played into racist and sexist narratives, alleging that Priyanka Chopra is a “global scam artist” who manipulated a younger rich white guy into marrying her against his will. The lede of the piece, which was “updated” and later…Read more...

BERLIN — There’s this picture of Ira Mowen that pretty much sums up the quest he’s been on for seven years. In it, he’s standing mid-frame, gazing into the lens of the camera – or the phone, whatever. He looks like he’s just waking up, or he’s stoned, or he’s recovering from a sneeze, because he’s got that countenance…Read more...

An Anker Gold Box, Roadmaster mountain bikes, and Target Beauty Boxes lead off Wednesday’s best deals from around the web.

Aged & Ore’s Duo Glasses were a Kickstarter hit back in February, and now, you can buy as many as you want immediate shipping, for 15% off.Read more...

All of our teams suck, and yet, we love them anyway. If you need an easy gift idea for a football fan, Fanatics is bundling a team-branded tee and hat for around $20 today. A few teams (like the Packers and Seahawks) are actually only $16, and some other (the Browns?) are priced at $30, but the majority of the bundles…Read more...

Brainwashed: One man’s defiance of the science that threatens his legacy.Read more...

Despite suffering a broken orbital bone and coughing up blood after an alleged assault by her husband last month, UFC fighter Rachael Ostovich will compete in her scheduled fight against Paige VanZant on ESPN’s first UFC card in January. Ostovich gave an interview to KHON2 one week ago where she said that she felt she…Read more...

The Shammgod is everywhere, and not always where you’d expect it, either. First there was Russell Westbrook hitting a clean Shammgod in the clutch, then instantly re-enacting it. Then there was Omri Casspi shuffling through a dad-like rendition, though he seemed to tweak something and went on to miss the next five…Read more...