Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

If you are subscriber to The Athletic, I have some bad news for you:

There were never many good public editors across media, but ESPN hasn’t had a useful one in nearly 10 years, not since Le Anne Schreiber. The gig usually consists of delivering criticism that is only critical to a certain point, because the critic is still employed by the company they’re critiquing. It’s an unenviable…Read more...

The Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors wrapped up their five-game eliminations of, respectively, the Utah Jazz and New Orleans Pelicans last night. Like the series they ended, neither game was particularly closely contested; both losing teams did just enough to preserve their dignity and no more. That’s more…Read more...

When those bullies from business school mocked you for getting a useless doctorate in medieval literature, they didn’t see the world of history podcasts coming. Now it’s cool as hell to sit in your closet and read out your doctoral thesis. Because it turns out that podcasts are a fantastic way for people to learn…Read more...

In a better world, the news that Toronto FC and USMNT striker Jozy Altidore’s underwent foot surgery yesterday would’ve been awful. Oh Christ, you would’ve thought to yourself after seeing the Altidore news in this hypothetical world where the weather’s a little nicer and your parent company is a little less of a …Read more...

In the right corner: Charles Barkley, man who thinks coaches need to have great relationships with their best players in order to win. In the left: Shaq, who would like to use his history being a toxic shitheel as proof that players and coaches can win while hating each other. What follows is a failed attempt to argue…Read more...

Ichiro retired (or whatever) last week. Appropriately, Peter Gammons has an Ichiro tribute (behind the paywall) at The Athletic today. It’s about how dedicated Ichiro is to the craft of baseball, and opens with an anecdote from Barry Bonds.Read more...

Last week, Cardinals reliever Jordan Hicks threw the two fastest pitches of the season (102.0 and 101.9 mph, respectively) during the same at-bat to White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson. He didn’t get his bat on either of them but somehow managed to draw a walk. Of course Hicks couldn’t last atop the leaderboard, so long…Read more...

If you’ve ever spent time around people blessed with a particular combination of self-absorbtion and privilege, this story, from Indy Week, about a Duke administrator getting two campus baristas fired for daring to listen to rap music while on the job won’t really shock you. It will make you mad as hell, though.

Gizmodo Boeing Loses $20 Billion in Contracts After President Trump Violates Iran Deal | Kotaku Japanese Reaction To Israel Serving Its Prime Minister A Shoe With Chocolate | Jalopnik Here’s How Much Horsepower A $1,600 Craigslist BMW E30 Makes After 278,000 Miles | Two Cents Your College’s Recommended Student Loan…Read more...

SANIBEL, FLORIDA—At the lowest tide of the month, the Gulf of Mexico peels back from the shores of Sanibel Island to reveal its treasures. Bruce Schulz is out there on a late February morning to find his piece of the booty.Read more...

George Andrie has always been a devoted father to Mary Brooks and her six siblings. But with the benefit of hindsight, Brooks also sees that something was always a bit off about her dad, going back to when she was a child. The outgoing guy she always knew suddenly became less socially engaged in the early 1980s, about…Read more...

The Yankees beat the Red Sox 3-2 for their 16th win in 17 games, on the back of an 11-strikeout night from Cy Young candidate Luis Severino and a go-ahead RBI single from Aaron Judge in the seventh, to move into a tie for the best record in the AL East and in all of baseball. But all any of them wanted to talk about…Read more...

Last year, Gravel’s well-designed toiletry bag was a hit with our readers, and a Kickstarter success story. But if the original didn’t have enough space for all of your travel gear, their bigger Expeditioner bag is now available for preorder.

I’m not proposing you replace all of your wine glasses with Riedel, but if you want to have a couple pieces of really nice drinkware for special occasions, you can pick some up for $45 each today on Amazon, down from the usual $60.

For exclusive videos, pictures, and more, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Send us your confidential tips at tips@deadspin.com, call our confidential tips hotline at (347) 746-8471, contact our writers directly, or use our anonymous SecureDrop system.Read more...

Chris Paul is advancing beyond the second round for the first time in his NBA career, and he did so by putting the Rockets on his back for their 112-102 Game 5 win against the Jazz. Paul got a new playoff high of 41 points, with 10 assists, seven boards, and no turnovers. And after Jazz rookie Donovan Mitchell, who…Read more...

Adeiny Hechavarria left tonight’s game against the Braves in the top of the eighth inning when a Ronald Acuña Jr. pop foul struck a speaker suspended from the stadium roof, ricocheted back into the field of play, then bounced off the turf and struck the Rays shortstop square in the face as he attempted to field the…Read more...

One start removed from a 16-strikeout show against the A’s, Mariners pitcher James Paxton caught everyone’s attention again, tossing a three-walk, six-strikeout no-hitter in a 5-0 win for Seattle against the Blue Jays.

Orioles pitcher Dylan Bundy had a very short Tuesday night start against the Royals, but his outing was anything but merciful. Bundy marked himself with the dreaded infinity ERA by failing to record an out in the first inning as Kansas City smashed dong after dong, scoring seven runs on Bundy off homers from Jorge…Read more...

The next time someone tells you Blue Lives Matter is a misguided, stupid slogan, show them this.Read more...

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

The chamber of commerce in Georgia’s Douglas County holds an annual charity cornhole tournament, the point of which is to raise money for a local scholarship fund. This year, that tournament also served as a place for some husky men in shorts to throw haymakers at each other.

Chicago Bears rookie linebacker Roquan Smith had his car broken into over the weekend, and in addition to a Georgia jersey from the national championship game and other valuable memorabilia, the thief or thieves made off with his Bears-issued tablet.Read more...

I once read an essay from which I can remember a single thing: that the author, a white man entering his forties, was no longer afraid to commit acts of minor to moderate civil disobedience in the service of righteous causes, or for just for shits-n-gigs. Send him to jail? Sure. Whatever he had to pay, literally or…Read more...

MLB.com recently polled a bunch of MLB players—35 position players and 35 pitchers—on one of the questions that’s always on the mind of nerdy baseball writers: “When you look at your stats at the end of a given year to evaluate yourself, what number do you gravitate toward and why?” The results were published on MondayRead more...

Last week, a video of Rodney Kim Jr. being kicked, beaten, and jumped on in his high school football team’s locker room went viral. The beatdown was recorded at Davidson High School on April 27 following a spring practice session. The attack resulted in a broken arm for Kim Jr., who is 14 years old. According to …Read more...

According to The Athletic and Sportsnet, Toronto Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna was arrested early Tuesday morning and charged with one count of assault on a woman.

Time for your weekly edition of the Deadspin Funbag. Drew’s gone! We have guest hosts. Got something on your mind? Email the Funbag. Today, we’re talking about decorative pillows, office poop etiquette, and more.

The Sacramento Bee’s Matt Barrows obtained police reports and 911 calls that shed new light on what happened the morning of Feb. 11, when 49ers linebacker Reuben Foster was arrested and charged with felony domestic violence. The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office said in a release last month that Foster…Read more...

This giant clock has a few extra features like a countdown mode, a stopwatch, and even a thermometer, but you probably won’t ever use them. It’s a giant digital clock, it looks awesome, and it’s as cheap as it ever gets right now. That’s enough.

The world—okay, people on the internet—okay, some people in and around Syracuse—were touched by the story of C.J. LaFrance, a 9-year-old with Hodgkin’s lymphoma who was able to visit the Orange football team last August and hang out at practice. Police now say parents Martin and Jolene LaFrance fabricated the boy’s…Read more...

A few weeks ago, at the end of a hard-fought game of Overwatch, my team was diligently wrecking the enemy team outside their spawn point when we suddenly realized that nobody was actually playing the objective. It was completely uncontested. In a moment, the words “DEFEAT” appeared on screen. Fuck. Chat exploded: “C9…Read more...

In the second postseason of his career, Rodney Hood has done very little to speak of. So far the Cavs’ trade deadline pickup has coughed up 4.6 points a game on 40-percent shooting from the floor and just 13-percent shooting from the arc, making him an especially useless cog in a LeBron Plus Shooters offense. By…Read more...

Apparently they don’t teach referees in Turkey how to avoid standing right in the middle of the action so as not to bowl over a guy with the ball, though it looks like they do teach them how to remedy a situation like that by sneakily taking the legs out from under a player on the other team, so it all evens out:Read more...

The dresses: glittery. The celebrities: moderately recognizable. The event: you definitely heard someone mention it once. Last night, and technically all of yesterday if you really think about it, was Monday, the one day of the week where a handful of dubious notables along with actual talent hired to make them look…Read more...

Lots of sports news to consume today. I hear T.J. McConnell did some things. It looks like the Raptors soiled themselves in front of LeBron once again. The Caps did a hockey accomplishment of some sort. I don’t care about any of it! All I care about, for the rest of the summer, is Vlad Guerrero’s stout son thundering…Read more...

Gizmodo I Had No Idea Who Grimes Is, But After 20 Minutes of Misinformed Research, Reports She’s Dating Elon Musk Make Sense | Kotaku Virtual Console Is Not Coming To Switch, Nintendo Says | Jalopnik These Sad Cars Prove That The DaimlerChrysler Merger Was A Failure | Lifehacker Download Free Stuff From Reddit’s…Read more...

A huge Xbox digital game sale, a $100 Instant Pot Ultra, smart light bulbs, and more are all part of the best deals of the day.Read more...

John Skipper, the former president of ESPN who resigned suddenly in December and then said in March that he had stepped down because he was being blackmailed by a cocaine dealer (who wasn’t his regular cocaine dealer), and said he had been to rehab but denied that his drug addiction ever affected his work, has been…Read more...

It doesn’t really matter. It’s just a conference final appearance. The Capitals are only halfway through the postseason, eight wins down, eight tough wins still left to earn for the only ending that’ll leave them truly satisfied. And each of the four other teams still alive are better bets to go the distance.Read more...

The Predators beat the Jets 4-0 in Winnipeg tonight to fight off second-round elimination and force a Game 7 back in Nashville. It was a mostly tense game despite the final, with the danger of a two-goal lead particularly looming over the Preds when the Jets had an early third-period power play. But it was Filip…Read more...

For exclusive videos, pictures, and more, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Send us your confidential tips at tips@deadspin.com, call our confidential tips hotline at (347) 746-8471, contact our writers directly, or use our anonymous SecureDrop system.Read more...

Let’s get this straight first off: the Raptors were dead the moment LeBron James’s floater went off the backboard and through the net to end Game 3. But at the very least, the number one seed in the East could have put up a fight before packing their bags for summer vacation. Instead, Toronto laid down and accepted…Read more...

For the first time ever, an Alexander Ovechkin Capitals team has both advanced past the NHL’s second round and beaten the Sidney Crosby Penguins in a playoff series. Evgeny Kuznetsov got the Game 6 series-ender in overtime, breaking the teams’ 1-1 tie off a turnover stolen by Ovechkin and passed across center ice for…Read more...

The Phillies are wrecking the Giants tonight, but not even a double-digit run differential can inflict as much embarrassment on one player as Carlos Santana’s three-run dong did to San Francisco center fielder Gorkys Hernandez. When Santana blasted one to the deepest part of the ballpark, Hernandez seemed to have a…Read more...

A last-second surprise from Sixers coach Brett Brown proved to be the difference-maker in his team’s Game 4 against the Celtics. For only the second time all season, reserve Philly point guard T.J. McConnell got a spot in the starting lineup, replacing small forward Robert Covington, who had failed to make a field…Read more...

A 132-page lawsuit filed last week says the U.S. Olympic Committee “has reached for commercial success at all costs by ignoring, denying, obstructing, or covering up complaints of sexual abuse.” It also accuses the USOC of “deferring and diverting investigations” and supporting the national governing bodies that…Read more...

When last we heard from our favorite mohawked madman, Mario Balotelli, it right about this time last year as he came to the close of what turned out to be an unexpectedly impressive but still quintessentially Balotellian inaugural season with Nice in France. We are delighted to inform you that since then, Balotelli…Read more...

Over two weeks after he collapsed in the dugout during a game, White Sox relief pitcher Danny Farquhar has been discharged from the hospital and returned home, according to a statement released by the team today. Farquhar had suffered a brain hemorrhage from a ruptured aneurysm on April 20, after he finished pitching…Read more...