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A good game of “would you rather” is always a good way to pass the time.

Matīss Kivlenieks, a goalie for the Columbus Blue Jackets, died Sunday night from chest trauma suffered from an errant “fireworks mortar blast,” according to an autopsy in Oakland County, Michigan.

What you’re about to read will give you context and details about the story of the day, and one of the biggest stories of the past year in sports media. It will also shed light on a lot of the variables that have made this thing go viral. Because while you think you know what’s going on, I guarantee you that you don’t.

At some point in the next couple days, the Tampa Bay Lightning will win their second consecutive Cup. Could be tonight, or maybe the Canadiens have one last death rattle in them and send this series back to Tampa on Wednesday. It’s hockey, weird things happen, we’ve seen 0-3 comebacks, but here it’s all over except…Read more...

Torrey Craig is in a rare win-win situation.

Cat Osterman will wear a different number when she steps onto the Tokyo dirt this summer — 38. It was her tryout number for USA softball after taking a few years away from playing the game. She wore No. 8 when she won Olympic gold in 2004 and silver in 2008 and in her storied career at Texas. Now, in her third…Read more...

Did you ever have a reason for an impromptu joyous celebration and decide, in that moment, the thing you’re going to do with the people closest to you is… grab their thighs?

The 2021 Major League Baseball All-Star Game has been through a lot. There’s been a change of venue and an atrocious jersey reveal. I mean, seriously, who thought those were a good idea? At least the game doesn’t determine home-field advantage for the World Series anymore — amirite?

There’s this quote I think about around this time every year. It’s from Jason Fagone, author of the book Horseman of the Esophagus. In it, he chronicles the stories of professional eaters. I read it for a college class once. That’s a story for another time.

Stefon Diggs doesn’t need a great No. 2 in order for Buffalo’s offense to shine. Even with John Brown sidelined for almost half of the 2020 season, Diggs was still able to break out in his first year with Buffalo — leading the league with 127 receptions and 1530 yards and setting new career highs in catch rate (76.5%)…Read more...

Charles Barkley ain’t the type of dude you agree with 100 percent of the time. Frankly, if you do agree with anyone all the time, you’re probably a weirdo.Read more...

Los Angeles Dodgers’ relief pitcher Joe Kelly should be every fan’s favorite player (unless you cheer for the Houston Astros). The man who gave the Astros ‘the look’, which famously earned the pitcher an eight-game suspension (eight more games than any Houston Astros player received for cheating their way to a World…Read more...

Brazil is going to the semifinals of Copa América after a 1-0 victory over Chile on Friday night, but Gabriel Jesus won’t be.

Emmanuel Acho’s reputation as a thoughtful voice on social issues has gone up in smoke.Read more...

The Stanley Cup Final is a huge letdown after the rip-roaring semifinals, which isn’t really a surprise, because when the Lightning beat the Islanders to set up their title defense against the Canadiens, it was something of a fait accompli.

Friday afternoon, Shohei Ohtani was named the American League Player of the Month for June.

It’s NBA 2k cover season, when the storied video game franchise typically announces its cover athletes for the forthcoming September game.

The Orioles are not a good team. They haven’t been a consistently great team since the late ’90s. Sure they had that one season in 2014 where they got swept in the ALCS after winning their first division title in 17 years, but were only good for that one season. The Orioles have finished either 4th or 5th in the AL…Read more...

The world needs Sha’Carri Richardson — a fierce black woman who kicks ass and takes names, dominating the field on her own terms, taking the track with her long dyed hair, tattoos, decorated nails and decked in jewels. She’s the kind of polarizing athlete that stands in opposition of the old guard while captivating…Read more...

There’s a long list of heroic playoff performances made by All-Stars turned role players later in their careers, and now, Brook Lopez has entered the chat.

The Phoenix Suns’ run to the NBA Finals is fugazi.

After their hot start, you could be forgiven for thinking that the San Francisco Giants were just a flash in the pan that would fizzle out before long, considering they’re in the same division as the defending World Series Champ Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Fernando Tatis Jr.s (or Padres if we’re being…Read more...

Over a month ago (geez, June flew by fast), Eugene Chung, a former NFL player and assistant coach,claimed that he was told by an unnamed team that he was “not the right minority.” This sparked outrage among NFL fans, players, and media alike. The NFL jumped to action, launching an internal investigation trying to…Read more...

Player safety. CTE. Race norming. Colin Kaepernick. Donald Trump. Faux patriotism. Spygate. Deflategate. Breast Cancer Awareness. Gay rights. Officiating. You name it, and Roger Goodell has found the worst possible way to handle these situations. You can now add Goodell’s refusal to rid the NFL of Dan Snyder to that…Read more...

Since the publication of this column, MLB has placed Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer on administrative leave due to the allegations of sexual assault.Read more...

Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka have formed the best, dumbest rivalry in golf since Happy Gilmore and Shooter McGavin, and honestly I’m fully here for all of it. After DeChambeau announced that he and his caddie would be taking a Ross and Rachel-esque break, Koepka made sure to take the opportunity to highlight…Read more...

If you’ve read about the restraining order that a court issued against Trevor Bauer on behalf of his alleged sexual assault victim, you may have noticed that The Athletic quoted “a statement made on Tuesday night by Bauer’s agent, Jon Fetterolf.”

This is a new day in college sports.

People may change, but the internet lives forever. And in June of 2014, Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney said one of the dumbest and most hypocritical things in sports history.Read more...

Not long ago, the game of baseball was in the hands of young superstars Cody Bellinger and Christian Yelich. “Yeli vs Belli” was a debate for two years. The Los Angeles Dodger and Milwaukee Brewer, respectively, were lighting the league on fire and ushering in what appeared to be the next generation of dueling…Read more...

You wouldn’t think a video package simply about a wrestling company being stuck in one location for 15 months can bring a tear to the eye, but I suppose that’s a testament to the production team at AEW:

Y’all ever heard of James Butler?Read more...

Bill Cosby is out of prison, not because he isn’t a rapist, but because of shoddy lawyering by a former district attorney in Pennsylvania. Britney Spears remains under a conservatorship, even as her father refuses to let her remove an IUD.Read more...

With the Wilpons out of the picture in Queens, Bobby Bonilla Day has changed.Read more...

Welcome to the Ladies Room - A Deadspin Sports Podcast.

It almost feels like the Clippers are being euthanized for the second straight year. Much like Kevin Durant did this postseason, Paul George just ran out of gas trying to make up for what wasn’t there.

Welcome to another action-packed edition of Deadspin’s IDIOT OF THE MONTH! From anti-vax nonsense to “sticky stuff” stupidity to Florida, we’re your one-stop shop for schadenfreude in and around the world of professional athletics. So, with that in mind, let’s offer a quick round of applause to one special spectator…Read more...

Perhaps I should save this until after we see how the NBA Finals pan out. If Chris Paul doesn’t get his ring, everything that’s been said about him before he clinched his first appearance in the Finals, after the Suns blew out the Clippers, 130-103, last night, could be trotted back out (and he clinched it just about…Read more...

Update (7/1/21): It has arrived! Check out Megan Rapinoe on The Ladies Room podcast here.Read more...

I haven’t thought about disc sports since I graduated college. I’ve played disc golf twice, and both times I lost several of my partner’s discs. It just isn’t the sport for me. But, by George, this clip of James Conrad sinking a birdie to force a playoff gets me hyped to get back out there and try again.

In the history of random people trying (or fake-trying) professional fighters on the street, the average observer is still somehow usually surprised at how quickly it goes bad.Read more...

Back before the whole “sticky stuff” scandal came to the foreground of Major League Baseball, Josh Donaldson tweeted out that he had “an entire catalog of video” of pitcher’s cheating that he was planning on releasing.

We’ve reached the quarterfinals of Euro 2020(1), which is when fans of the countries still in contention really start dreaming, and the rest realize that fucking-off-of-work time is probably going to run out with only three Monday-Friday match days left (#DayDrinkingIsForAllSeasons). For the teams that remain, all it…Read more...

As discussed last week, the FIBA men’s basketball Olympic Qualifiers are underway this week and will run through July 4, determining each of the final four teams that will compete in Tokyo this summer.Read more...

Less is more, even if it causes you to leave money on the table.

Game 6 tonight is the most important game of Chris Paul’s career.

The sign looked like a joke.

It’s easy to believe the Los Angeles Clippers can’t do the impossible.Read more...

Charles Barkley can be lazy and out of touch, and occasionally insightful, but he nailed it with the Bucks last night. That’s after he forgot who Jeff Teague plays for, which would seem to be the minimum requirement for his job. Anyway, at halftime, when the Bucks were down 20 to a Trae Young-less Hawks team, he said…Read more...