Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

The Toronto Maple Leafs, with the newly acquired John Tavares leading the way, are enjoying a strong start to the 2018–19 season. With 36 points from 26 games and the best goal differential in hockey (+26), a team that lost a hard-fought seven-game first-round playoff series to the Bruins last spring now looks to be a…Read more...

The Deadspin Awards will take place on Dec. 5, and you can come! We also need our readers to decide the winners of these prestigious honors. Today, we ask you to help us determine the answer to an important question: What is the Worst Take?

Sports Illustrated’s Kalyn Kahler went long on the simmering frustrations inside the Green Bay Packers, who are 4-6-1 and careening toward a second straight playoff-less season. There are lots of juicy morsels in there about the staid culture that was created under longtime former GM Ted Thompson, who moved into a…Read more...

This is not a drill: Red Sox infielder Brock Holt’s son has breached the pantry. Calling all units.

Over the course of the last few weeks, a crush of news on the WWE talent development front has changed how many fans look at the company. A Monday report from WrestleTalk revealed major changes to the contracts for WWE’s United Kingdom-based developmental talent; the new language specifically limited who developmental…Read more...

In what can only be described as an unfortunate editorial misstep, Jezebel recently ran a piece arguing that tea “sucks.” I feel it is my responsibility to correct the record and assure our readers that tea is very good, and certainly better than coffee.

At this point, TNT’s NBA studio show is good for one thing: watching the bleary-eyed hosts agitate and confuse the hell out of each other. Confusion reigned during last night’s episode when Shaquille O’Neal spent nearly two minutes trying to turn his co-hosts’ brains into soup.

A car headrest mount for your phone, tablet, and Nintendo Switch is just as useful as a gooseneck mount, and a lot less absurd. If you have kids and a car, it’s the best $8 you’ll spend today (with promo code XYISTWNY).

Unlike most lowlight-reel soccer fuckups, this comedy of errors actually happened in a meaningful game played between two good-ish teams. Standard Liege led Sevilla by a goal in their Thursday Europa League meetup, and they were presented with a perfect opportunity to slam the door shut on the Spaniards when Simon…Read more...

A reader named Lance writes in with a good question:Read more...

The Texans have rattled off eight wins in a row, which is extraordinary in and of itself. That they’ve done it after starting the season 0-3, with quarterback Deshaun Watson coming off ACL surgery in just his second season as a pro, is all the more impressive. They’re also doing it with Watson playing behind one of…Read more...

Okay, fine, probably it’s not a buttectomy. But it’s at least a buttotomy or a buttopsy. The butt pain that has kept Dwight Howard out of all but nine Wizards game this season will reportedly require surgery:Read more...

Okay, so, the following otherwise delightful tweet, by Carter Rodriguez of SB Nation’s Fear the Sword blog, isn’t quite right.

Nivea’s gift set is back for 2018, and even if you don’t want to give anyone on your shopping list a box of men’s grooming supplies, you might want to buy it for yourself. Just $13 gets you two types of body wash, body lotion, lip balm, and shaving cream. We’re talking full-size products here here too, the good stuff.…Read more...

If Detroiters know anything, they know about cars, hockey and disappointment. Their experience in all three came in handy yesterday when a brand-new 2019 Chevrolet Silverado Trail Boss stalled on the ice at the Little Caesars Arena, the new home of the Detroit Red Wings.Read more...

Remember when the Dallas Cowboys were 3-5, Jason Garrett seemed destined for a midseason firing, and Dak Prescott looked like he couldn’t throw for 200 yards in a flag football game? Those were good times for Dallas haters all over the nation, but I am sorry to say that they are definitively over now.

At the end of the second period of a tense, tied Islanders-Bruins game that Boston eventually won in a shootout, New York defenseman Johnny Boychuk made a selfless and nice gesture by picking up his old teammate David Krejci’s tooth when it fell to the ice. And in return, the ungrateful Bruins just called him “weird”…Read more...

Two mighty men in a boxing ring were girded by 60,000 screaming onlookers. The men had little in common. One was a Ukrainian national hero who had gone undefeated for a decade and had won more heavyweight title bouts than anyone in history. The other was a twenty-something Englishman with an unbeaten professional…Read more...

io9 Marvel and Netflix Have Canceled Daredevil | Jalopnik GM Workers Hung ‘Whites Only’ Bathroom Signs and Nooses at Toledo Plant: Lawsuit | Kotaku Inside Livestreamfail, The Controversial Forum That Fuels Twitch Drama | Lifehacker Should You Switch to Google Fi on the iPhone? | The Takeout From Dagwoods to Hot…Read more...

At the end of October, federal prosecutors succeeded in proving something that every college sports fan alive already knew. With the help of FBI wiretaps, defendants Jim Gatto, Merl Code, and Christian Dawkins were found guilty in federal court of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The convictions…Read more...

Hell yeah, dudes, it’s festive candle season! You can make your house smell like the candle store with this one-day-only Yankee Candle sale. Just add any three medium jar candles (65-75 hours of burn time each) to your cart, and you’ll get them all for the price of one. You can even double up on the offer—six candles…Read more...

Did you know that you don’t have to wait to fail your annual inspection to replace your wiper blades. It’s true! You can do it any time you want! The change in seasons is usually a particularly good time to buy a fresh pair, and these Trico Force Beams feature an aerofoil design that catches the wind to push them…Read more...

The Toronto Raptors beat the Golden State Warriors in overtime Thursday night by the score of 131–128. The matchup lost some of its potential juice due to the absence of Steph Curry and Draymond Green, but the basketball itself was terrific. Kawhi Leonard was great. Pascal Siakam was great. Even Serge Ibaka was…Read more...

Early in the fourth quarter of Thursday night’s Saints-Cowboys game, Drew Brees threw a third-and-long screen pass underneath to Alvin Kamara. Kamara scampered eight yards up the right side, where he was met by Cowboys linebacker Jaylon Smith, who launched himself head-first at Kamara’s helmet.Read more...

The Kings are not handling success very well. A schism is widening between head coach Dave Joerger and the front office, and it has now reportedly escalated to the point where Joerger doesn’t even want certain of the team’s front office personnel in the same room with his players.Read more...

In the 22nd minute of the second leg of the MLS Eastern Conference Championship, underway Thursday night in New Jersey, a Red Bulls fan in the front row appeared to peg an item—possibly trash or a cup—into the face of Atlanta United midfielder Miguel Almirón:Read more...

Laura Loomer, friend to the alt-right and woman who pops up nearly everywhere to scream at public figures, was recently banned from Twitter for making virulently Islamophobic remarks about Minnesota Rep.-elect Ilhan Omar. So on Thursday afternoon, she handcuffed herself to the door of Twitter’s headquarters in New…Read more...

The Deadspin Awards will take place on Dec. 5, and you can come! We also need our readers to decide the winners of these prestigious honors. Today, we ask you to help us determine the answer to an important question: What is the worst media company?

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

International tournament success in sports famously breeds joy, babies, and joyfully birthed babies named after the sporting heroes who achieved said success. It’s no surprise, then, that one French couple wanted to name their newborn son after two stars from France’s World Cup victory this summer. Unfortunately,…Read more...

Perhaps you have heard about the big cow.Read more...

The Deadspin Awards will take place on Dec. 5, and you can come! We also need our readers to decide the winners of these prestigious honors. Today, we ask you to help us determine the answer to an important question: Who had the Best Tennis Meltdown?

Washington has been taking a lot of heat for its decision to sign former 49ers linebacker Reuben Foster just two days after Foster was released due to a domestic violence arrest, his second in the last year. The organization at first defended its decision by releasing a misleading statement about how thoroughly it had…Read more...

At some point in your life, probably several points, you’ve discussed how much money you would have to be paid in order to do something painful or humiliating. This cousin to the would-you-rather is a staple of the Deadcast and other Drew Magary productions because it’s dumb and fun to think about, and also, you’ll…Read more...

Asking Barstool Sports to discuss a domestic violence case has roughly a 99.9999 percent chance of ending in something regrettable. Assigning it to the guy whose main responsibility is determining which accused child molesters are hot? Well, uh—Jerry Thornton gave it a try anyway when Reuben Foster’s ex-girlfriend…Read more...

Wednesday night’s game between North Carolina and Michigan featured two of the most hyped freshmen of this college basketball season, and both of them played for the Tar Heels. There was UNC’s starting point guard Coby White, a five-star from the state with great hair who has come into a Top-15 program and…Read more...

Many otherwise curious basketball fans might be guilty of ignoring the 10-12 Magic. Maybe because they are regular people just hoping to get through the day’s tasks without staring at an infinite procession of 6-foot-10-ish dudes scuttling across the hardwood in search of a jump shot. But if you are one such fan,…Read more...

Drew Magary’s Thursday Afternoon NFL Dick Joke Jamboroo runs every Thursday during the NFL season. Email Drew here. Buy his book here.Read more...

As LSU offensive analyst Steve Kragthorpe outlined, the fight between Kevin Faulk and Cole Fisher after Saturday’s game had a prelude. According to Kragthorpe, Texas A&M receivers coach Dameyune Craig, who had previously worked for the Tigers, was celebrating his team’s seven-OT victory by talking trash around people…Read more...

American heavyweight Deontay Wilder will put his ridiculous record on the line against British asshole Tyson Fury this weekend. Wilder is 40-0 with 39 knockouts (Bermane Stiverne went the distance with him once, then got knocked out in the first round two years later), and God willing, he will add Fury to that list on…Read more...

Probably nothing anyone does at this point stands more than a remote chance of averting any but the very most extreme, apocalyptic tolls humanity’s trashing of the planet could inflict on the global ecosystem and human society within the next few decades. The time when people could have addressed this already-ongoing…Read more...

Chinese Muay Thai fighter Gou Dakui scored two knockouts for the price of one last week at a MAX Muay Thai event. First, he liberated his opponent Super X Sitsontidech’s soul from its body with a snapping right hook, and as he was following up the finishing blow, he unleashed a head kick. Unfortunately for the…Read more...

In a turn of events that will surprise absolutely no one, Vox Media publisher Melissa Bell thinks that Deadspin’s reporting on SB Nation’s business model, which—even after more than a year of reforms—relies primarily on paying team site managers and contributors low monthly stipends or nothing at all, is too mean,…Read more...

In researching the merits of this multi-tool, I showed it to a bunch of guys I know, and every one of them was enthralled. They described it as “fancy” and said it “looks awesome like a Transformer,” and the $60 price (down from $85) tempted more than one of them to make a purchase.Read more...

University of Miami head coach Mark Richt seemed all set to have one of the best high school quarterbacks in the country join his program next year. Not only had four-star quarterback Max Johnson verbally committed to Miami in February of 2016, he also happens to be Richt’s nephew. So it came as a bit of a shock…Read more...

I purchased my last iPhone in the summer of 2016 and I’m still using it. But this blog is not a boast about how I am resisting consumerism and striking a blow against Apple’s dedication to planned obsolescence. I’m not bragging about how I haven’t (yet) dropped my phone in the toilet. The purchase date of my iPhone is…Read more...

Mike McCarthy. Here is a man. A man who has not simply persevered, not merely endured, but who has continued to push himself further, faster, harder in his pursuit of a very distinctive type of mediocrity, even as the naysaying multitudes cried out, in a superficially polite Wisconsin-accented way, “my dude what the…Read more...

Three minutes into a playoff game in South Korea’s second-tier soccer league yesterday, Gwangju FC player Lee Seung-mo leapt into the air to challenge for a header, fell to the ground awkwardly, landed on his neck, and immediately lost consciousness. But thanks to some good fortune and the quick response of the…Read more...

A Swedish prosecutor has charged defenseman Thomas Larkin with assault for a blind-side hit on former NHLer Daniel Paille, a check to the head that appears to have ended Paille’s career. The hit “goes beyond a level of violence that can be allowed in sports,” the prosecutor told Sportbladet.

Anyone who believes that political rhetoric is a game, or that civility is an important virtue in politics should tell it to Rosa Maria Ortega, who has been sentenced to eight years in prison for the crime of voting, a sacrifice on the altar of a right-wing slogan.