Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

This afternoon brought the news that two American teens would move to Lithuania to make little money playing basketball for a mediocre club in front of few people.Read more...

Time for some wholly unsurprising news! The Marlins front office’s brazen salary dump is continuing apace. Days after trading Giancarlo Stanton to the Yankees in exchange for a handful of trampled sunflower seed husks and one (1) cup of moist infield dirt, they’re now reportedly shifting their focus to moving some of…Read more...

Today marks the first full day of baseball’s Winter Meetings, that wonderful annual gathering in which baseball executives text each other trade proposals in closer physical proximity to one another than is usually the case while baseball writers repeatedly get drunk at the same hotel bar. This special event comes…Read more...

LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball have reportedly signed professional contracts with a European team, just like LaVar Ball promised, and their destination is ... Lithuanian minnow Prienu Vytautas? Adrian Wojnarowski and Jonathan Givony first reported that talks were serious this afternoon and Woj protege Shams Charania …Read more...

Sadio Mané isn’t the sole reason Liverpool failed to beat Everton in a match they completely controlled everywhere except on the scoresheet. You could and probably should blame the referee for awarding Everton an exceptionally soft penalty from which the Toffees scored their only good chance of the day. You could also…Read more...

Today on Highlight Reel we have broken guns, Monster Hunter kills, Battlegrounds bikes and much more!

One of the stupidest plans that the extremely stupid Trump administration is currently carrying out is a dramatic shrinking of Bears Ears National Monument in Utah. Trump recently announced that he would cut the size of Bears Ears by 85 percent and halved the size of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument …Read more...

Giancarlo Stanton was officially introduced as the newest member of the New York Yankees today, and he didn’t bother feigning any reverence for the team he spent the first eight years of his career with. Under normal circumstances, that might be seen as callous, or just poor form. But Stanton has just escaped the…Read more...

Lim “Larva” Hong Gyu won the finals of last week’s Zotac Cup Masters Showmatch while playing StarCraft: Remastered with his foot and pretending to take a nap during the match. Zotac, the hardware company sponsoring the tournament, put out a statement in Chinese threatening to “officially ban Korean player Larva from…Read more...

Some athletes have to prove that they don’t cheat or use performance enhancing drugs; others have to proclaim that their butts are, in fact, real.

The best big games are clarifying. They’re matches in which the enormity of the moment can turn anyone watching into a fidgeting mess, and in which both teams are given the opportunity to match the game’s magnitude with a peak performance. The moment elevates the performances rather than engulfs it, and by the end one…Read more...

Boston Red Sox pitcher Steven Wright was arrested Friday night in Williamson County, Tenn., and charged with domestic-related assault and prevention of a 911 call, according to local authorities. Both charges are misdemeanors, and Wright later was released from custody after he posted bail.

The 2018 Lacrosse All-Name Team, courtesy of Inside Lacrosse, is here, and there’s an incredibly deep batch of newcomers. The male freshmen include Michigan’s Dar Sleeper, Notre Dame’s Wheaton Jackoboice, Washington College’s Burke McFillin, and Bryant University’s Taggart Eymer. But the women are stronger.Read more...

Saleem “Salem” Young, who plays the controversial Smash 4 fighter Bayonetta, clinically tore through the game’s top brawn at this weekend’s Boot Camp tournament like, as one commentator put it, a “a shark in the water.”Read more...

You can lead Nick Kyrgios to a Slam, but you can’t make him win matches. Maybe he takes two sets against an overwhelmed second-round opponent before deciding that tennis was not a particularly fun way a way to pass the time, and gets booed off home court. Maybe it was time to return to basketball, his one true love.…Read more...

One of the hottest trends in sports is honoring famous soccer players with hideous busts and gross renderings of their likenesses, and Diego Maradona wasn’t going to be left out.Read more...

One of the worst things about professional golf is that tournaments have long had the potential to be completely derailed by armchair rules officials. Such was the case earlier this year when a TV viewer emailed the LPGA’s fan feedback address to tattle on Lexi Thompson for misplacing her ball by an inch at most. The…Read more...

Eagles QB Carson Wentz had to leave Sunday’s game with a knee injury, and the citizens of Philadelphia waited with bated breath and clenched buttholes for any updates, hopefully not involving any three-letter medical abbreviations. But the news today wasn’t good: Wentz is done for the year.Read more...

Michael Beasley, a man who still plays in the NBA, managed to commit six fouls in 10 minutes of playing time in the Knicks’ 111-107 win over the Hawks on Sunday.Read more...

Over the weekend, the Miami Marlins sent Giancarlo Stanton to the Yankees for a package of players that is honestly not even worth mentioning here. The transaction that took place was made in such profoundly bad faith that “trade” seems too kind a word to attach to it. This was nothing more than the Marlins’ new…Read more...

You can’t control it from your smartphone like a Philips Hue Lightstrip, but this 16.4', 300 LED light strand from Aukey can glow in several different colors, is capable of daisy chaining for longer stirps, and is even water resistant if you want to set it up on your patio. Oh, yeah, it’s also just $18 with promo code…Read more...

Manchester City beat Manchester United 2-1 at Old Trafford yesterday, and apparently, as City were celebrating after the game in the visitors’ locker room, United manager Jose Mourinho took exception to some of the noise—which the visitors then took exception to in hilarious, milky fashion.Read more...

The two week countdown to Christmas has officially begun. Pick up gifts or take advantage of the discounts on Logitech computer accessories, our readers’ favorite travel pillow and charger, Amazon devices, and more.

The best promotion in hockey—maybe in sports—is back for the holiday season, and nobody does the Teddy Bear Toss quite like the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen. With the first goal Sunday by Vladislav Yeryomenko, Calgary fans littered the ice with 24,605 stuffed animals, to be donated to 60 local agencies and given to deserving…Read more...

io9 The First Impressions for Star Wars: The Last Jedi Are Overwhelmingly Good | Jalopnik Explosion In Major NYC Bus Terminal, ‘Looks Like A Pipe Bomb,’ NYPD Says | Lifehacker How to Ditch Apple Completely | Kotaku The New Ready Player One Trailer Is Filled With Video Game, Anime, And Comic Book Characters | The A.V.…Read more...

After yet another predictable Champions League group stage, we now get to the good stuff with the start of the knockout rounds. And this year’s Round of 16 looks like it will be great. Just look at these tantalizing matchups:

NEW YORK — On Saturday evening, midtown Manhattan was afflicted by plagues. A snowstorm had turned the crosswalks into slushy lagoons. SantaCon had drawn thousands of drunken Jersey residents dressed as Saint Nick into the city’s streets, where they yelled and WOOOO-ed and eroded the quality of life. And at Madison…Read more...

LOS ANGELES — I knew it as soon as I saw Carson Wentz walking to the tunnel. The Eagles had just scored a touchdown to take the lead. The Coliseum, which had to be about 40 percent Eagles fans, was rocking. But from Row 93 I spotted it. Wentz was walking to the tunnel with a towel over his head.Read more...

Most of the US got snow this weekend, which means you can no longer avoid the inevitable chill that comes with winter. The only remedy is to layer up and deal with it, which will be easier if you have the right layers (and no, multiple blankets while laying on the couch doesn’t count). Amazon has five different layers…Read more...

The Cabeau Evolution was your favorite travel pillow (by a long shot), and you can save 20% on yours today in a repeat of their Black Friday sale.

In Page To Screen, we compare a movie to the book that spawned it. The analysis goes into deep detail about specific plot points—in other words, you’ve been warned.Read more...

Quietly, the Indiana Pacers are one of the real powerhouse offensive teams in the NBA this season. It’s weird, right? Look at the NBA’s top eight in offensive rating, and you see some usual suspects: the Warriors, the Rockets, the Cavs, the Raptors, the Timberwolves, the Nuggets—all teams with star-type offensive…Read more...

Faced with one of their toughest opponents of the year, a Jacksonville Jaguars team with a brand-new identity proved that they’re not only the NFL’s best defensive team, but also one of its most fun. Their 30-24 win over Seattle today was highlighted by big plays and mostly lopsided excitement.Read more...

Seahawks tempers were running hot when their loss to the Jaguars was all but over, and a dust-up with the Jags in victory formation led to an unsportsmanlike conduct ejection for Seattle’s Quinton Jefferson. As Jefferson left the field, however, the situation deteriorated further, and some idiot in the crowd threw…Read more...

It took over 15 years of waiting, but Alan Trammell is finally in the Baseball Hall of Fame. With 13 out of 16 votes, the Modern Baseball Era committee chose the longtime Detroit Tigers shortstop to finally gain entrance to Cooperstown, after never getting more than 37% on the traditional writers’ ballots.Read more...

Wayne Rooney slammed home a late penalty today to bring underdog Everton even with Liverpool, in what would eventually be a 1-1 draw. No penalty has ever been given in the history of soccer without the penalized side being fucking apoplectic, but this one, well, judge for yourself:Read more...

The Rams and Eagles, two of the best teams in the NFC, have been trading leads all afternoon, but if Philadelphia is going to pull out a win in L.A., they’re going to have to do it without stud QB Carson Wentz. Wentz is officially out for the rest of the day with a left knee injury, which was apparently sustained on…Read more...

It looked like this was going to be the day that the 2008 0-16 Lions could finally break out the champagne. The 0-12 Cleveland Browns were up 21-7 on Green Bay at the start of the fourth quarter, in perfect position to get their first win since Christmas Eve 2016.Read more...

A convoluted, hilarious series of events in the Colts-Bills snowglobe game allowed Indianapolis kicker Adam Vinatieri to hit the game-tying extra point late in the fourth quarter, despite near-impossible kicking conditions.Read more...

There were lots and lots of people lined up in front of a pop-up retail store in New York Sunday afternoon, waiting to spend hundreds of dollars for Big Baller Brand shoes. Here they are:Read more...

Houston Texans quarterback Tom Savage returned to the field for a series after taking what looked like a truly damaging hit from the 49ers’ Elvis Dumervil. After getting knocked over in his own end zone, Savage stayed on the ground with his hands shaking before being helped up.Read more...

The Eagles play a very important game this afternoon against the Rams, and Kobe Bryant, Eagles fan, is here to awkwardly lead a solemn “Fly, Eagles, Fly!” chant, in an ill-fitting No. 8 Eagles jersey:Read more...

Ahead of their upcoming Holiday Bowl appearance against Michigan State, 9-3 Washington State has dismissed leading wide receiver Tavares Martin Jr. for an unspecified “violation of team rules.” Martin, a junior, had 831 yards receiving on the year.Read more...

“There’s snow up north in December” may not be shocking, breaking news, but dang, the field at Ralph Wilson Stadium ahead of Colts-Bills is getting the full wrath of early winter, and it’s going to make for some beautifully chaotic football.Read more...

If you have any football fans on your list (or you want to hop on a bandwagon late in the season), you can pick up a few different styles of gear in this Gold Box. Hoodies, hats, socks, and tees are all marked down for one day only, but as always with Amazon and their inability to keep clothing consistent, teams and…Read more...

A home loss to the Lakers on the second leg of a home back-to-back isn’t exactly the end of the world—the Lakers are bad, but they compete like hell, and they’ve got some high-upside young dudes, and shit happens on the back end of a back-to-back. But the first leg of this home back-to-back was a loss to the Bulls,…Read more...

Former WWE Cruiserweight Champion Rich Swann was arrested by Gainesville, FL. police just after midnight on December 10 on charges of battery and false imprisonment. His alleged victim is his wife of nine months, Vannarah Riggs, who wrestles under the name Su Yung. The charge of false imprisonment is a felony.Read more...

Last night’s ESPN super fight was a strange one, even before the opening bell. A fighter moving up two weight classes for a fight isn’t especially uncommon; a 37-year-old fighter, whose style is mostly to not punch, moving up two weight classes to fight a man eight years his junior who has massive size and athleticism…Read more...

James Harden was already the only player in the NBA this season to have put up multiple 45-point games, but he added another one last night, in a comeback 124-117 win for Houston in Portland. Harden had 48 total, including 15 points in the final seven minutes of a fourth quarter that began with his team down 14.Read more...

Stephen Smith took a loss tonight in Las Vegas in his super featherweight bout against Francisco Vargas when his left ear became dangerously close to being entirely ripped off. The video is gross; this GIF is grosser:Read more...