Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

A huge REI sale, refurbished Nintendo Switch, Marvel Funko calendar, and prAna gear lead off Friday’s best deals from around the web.

(NOTE: Only ranked by how these perform in a bowl with milk. If you wanna use them as an ingredient in some nouveau dessert brittle, that’s a different list.)

Game 5 of the ALDS was more or less decided by the first 20 pitches thrown by Rays starter Tyler Glasnow. The Astros battered Glasnow for four runs in the bottom of the first inning, which wasn’t totally shocking given how fearsome Houston’s lineup is. What was surprising was how they went about scoring those four…Read more...

The Patriots beat the Giants Thursday night, 35–14, to move to 6–0 on the season. This was the second consecutive week where the Patriots looked vulnerable in the first half against a plucky but overmatched underdog, before a cascading series of second-half failures tilted things dramatically for the favorites. I…Read more...

Game 5 of the American League* Divisional Series between the Astros and Rays functionally ended in the first inning. Not because the Astros put 10 runs on the board, a la the Cardinals, but because they put more than a single run on the board, in a game in which they had the insane and unfair Gerrit Cole on the mound.…Read more...

The Washington Mystics used a strong fourth-quarter surge and the interior dominance of series MVP Emma Meesseman to overcome a second-half Connecticut Sun lead, then confidently held the relentless visitors at arm’s length down the stretch to win Game 5, 89–78, and capture the franchise’s first ever WNBA…Read more...

The athletic department of Pierce College is investigating head football coach Carlos Woods after a report from The Roundup News, a school publication, revealed that the coach had collected rent money from his players, and allowed four students to briefly live in the team locker room. Jose Cordova, a former player on…Read more...

Beef! We’ve beef in the world of football, pals, between a receiver and a cornerback who share a division, which is really the only way NFL beefs can dry-age their way to maximum succulence, outside of the aging racks of intense playoff action. I’m pretty well done with that beef metaphor now.Read more...

Padres pitcher Jacob Nix was arrested and charged with criminal trespassing after he allegedly tried to break into a home in Peoria, Arizona early Sunday morning using the doggie door, according to ABC15. Teammate Thomas Cosgrove was also arrested, but was reportedly not charged with anything.

Let’s not overreact. After two weeks of the new Wednesday Night Wars, nothing about the future of the industry is really much clearer than it was before, and lord knows none of it is set in stone. All Elite Wrestling followed up its good debut showing on TNT with an even better episode on Wednesday, culminating in the…Read more...

Deadspin sources, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation, confirmed to Deadspin that no NBA team has an “F” in its name. This was discovered when the Deadspin staff was using our work chat to type “F” to pay respects to a dead Macbook charger, as one does. One callow staffer refused to do so, so our unnamed…Read more...

Russell Westbrook and James Harden each dropped 22 points in the Rockets’ preseason victory over the Raptors in Saitama, Japan. In the postgame presser, CNN’s Christina Macfarlane asked a question of the two players:Read more...

In a better world, we’d all probably still work a decent amount. Probably not quite as much and definitely not under conditions that work in a thousand different ways to demean and diminish every human involved at every level, while somehow serving to enrich only the worst of those, but in that better world it’s…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.

Away is famous for their attractive and practical hard-sided luggage, but now, the travel brand is finally expanding into, well, expandables. The Expandables collection brings the same suitcase shape you know and love from Away to the softer side of travel gear.

Honus Wagner’s career hung in the balance. In 1901, the superstar shortstop was in his second season with his hometown Pirates. But a wrenched knee suffered on the turf at Exposition Park—the Pirates’ home on the north side of Pittsburgh, a few hundred feet from where their current stadium stands today—along with…Read more...

Over the last few days, many people in the NBA and wider sports media world have settled on a basic talking point when discussing the ongoing international incident that Rockets GM Daryl Morey kicked off when he tweeted a message of support for pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong: It’s complicated. But is it all…Read more...

Undefeated welterweight world champion Errol Spence Jr. was seriously injured early this morning in a single-car crash in downtown Dallas. Police say Spence, 29, was driving his Ferrari near I-30 around 3 a.m. when he sped over the center median and flipped his car multiple times. He was ejected from the vehicle, as…Read more...

Anyone who doesn’t live under a rock already know that cinematic driving scenes and stunts don’t exactly make sense in the real world (but, I mean, who goes to the movies to feel like they’re watching real life anyway?). But if you’ve ever wondered what it would be like for an actual, professional driver to break down…Read more...

After the Cardinals tore the Braves a new asshole in Wednesday’s series-clinching 13–1 Game 5 win, Cards manager Mike Shildt ripped them yet another poop valve in his triumphant, fuck-laden postgame talk in front of his team:Read more...

You’d be forgiven, Nats fans, if you wanted Howie Kendrick out of the game long before his instantly legendary grand slam in the top of the 10th that won the Nationals their first-ever playoff series. Kendrick, despite turning in a pleasant surprise of a 2019 season that saw him become one of Washington’s better…Read more...

A Sorel sale, Postmates exclusive offer, discounted carry-on, and a Funko Harry Potter Advent Calendar lead off Thursday’s best deals from around the web.Read more...

Clayton Kershaw was on in the eighth for two batters, and two batters only, no matter how he looked, no matter the result. Kenta Maeda was warm and ready, and after Kershaw faced Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto, Maeda would come in for a string of righties. So, just two batters, with a two-run lead. Kershaw threw them…Read more...

$100 In Free Delivery Credits For Your First 7 Days | Postmates | Use promo code KINJA100 on your first order (minimum $15 order)Read more...

AmazonBasics Reusable Cable Zip Ties - 8-Inch, 50-Pack | $5 | AmazonRead more...

Oh man. The Dodgers absolutely cruised through seven innings at home against the Nationals Wednesday night, in Game 5 of their divisional series. Walker Buehler was once again dominant. Postseason beast Max Muncy and Kiké Hernández pounced on opportunities presented by Stephen Strasburg’s early command troubles.…Read more...

After 85 years as an all-women’s undergraduate school, the University of Saint Joseph in West Hartford, Conn. announced in 2017 that it would begin admitting men for the 2018-19 academic year. Almost immediately after creating men’s athletic programs and hiring a coaching staff for those programs, the Division III…Read more...

Washington Nationals catcher Kurt Suzuki was taken out of Wednesday night’s Game 5 against the Los Angeles Dodgers when a high-and-tight fastball from Walker Buehler deflected off his wrist and into his face in the top of the seventh inning. The impact was audible, and Suzuki crashed to the ground and appeared to be…Read more...

President Trump was asked a direct question Wednesday about the ongoing and escalating conflict between the NBA and the Chinese government, which started with a seven-word tweet of support for Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters from Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey. Because he is incapable of processing the…Read more...

A day after NBA commissioner Adam Silver released a statement wondering whether everyone couldn’t just get along and enjoy some hoops, eight members of Congress, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ted Cruz, signed a letter to Silver condemning the the NBA’s response to the controversy over Daryl Morey’s tweet…Read more...

The Atlanta Braves selectively and cynically scrubbed the “tomahawk chop” celebration ahead of Wednesday’s Game 5 against the St. Louis Cardinals. This did not go far enough, as was evidenced by defiant Braves fans loudly performing the chop almost immediately after the start of the game. Moments later—and I do mean…Read more...

Hours before today’s winner-take-all NLDS Game 5, the Atlanta Braves responded to Cardinals reliever Ryan Helsley’s comments about the disrespectful nature of the team’s longstanding “tomahawk chop” celebration. In a somewhat surprising turn, the team said they would not pass out foam tomahawks to fans, and they…Read more...

A New York judge gave a group of insurance companies the go-ahead to seek evidence that the NFL sought to share cover-up strategies with tobacco companies as part of a ferocious, years-long legal battle over which side will pay for claims related to the league’s concussion settlement.Read more...

There’s only room for one Alpha Dickhead in the Pacific Division, and Drew Doughty and Matthew Tkachuk have now spent years trying to stake their claim at the top.Read more...

So, here’s a tweet.Read more...

Salah Hassan was a journalist working in Iraq for Al Jazeera in 2003 when the U.S. military arrested him, took him to the Abu Ghraib prison, and tortured him. This happened because did his job well—he was quick to the scene after a roadside bomb attack in Diyala. As Hassan spent 48 days in detention without ever being…Read more...

Peace has been achieved in our time. One day after Richard Sherman’s claim that Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield snubbed him in a handshake line was alternately proven and disproven by a multitude of new angles, the 49ers cornerback conceded that he may have gotten too far out over his skis. Sherman joined Da Zone’s…Read more...

An artist who goes by “Maso Rich” has produced hyper-faithful, parallel-universe versions of the Instagram accounts of LeBron James and Steph Curry. In these universes, LeBron is a giraffe and Steph, in an inspired bit of casting, is a bush baby. Deadspin spoke with Maso Rich on the phone to understand where these…Read more...

A friendly match in Monterrey, Mexico between the Houston Dash and Tigres Feminil was marred at the end when Dash midfielder Sofia Huerta appeared to be groped by a fan while she was taking a selfie after the game was over.Read more...

3 Flannels For $100 or 1 Flannel For $39 | Jachs | Promo code 3FL or FLNRead more...

Because the cast members of VH1's Basketball Wives have been essentially commissioned to bicker, it’s hardly news when they’re feuding. To a general audience that doesn’t follow the show (the reunion airs tonight), the granular details of the fights it spawns are as about as relevant as advances in molecular biology…Read more...

As a typical American sports fan, you very well might not know who Coleen Rooney is. If you don’t, then you definitely have never heard of Rebekah Vardy. But I can assure you that this story of Rooney, a famous WAG, going fishing for a clout shark she suspected of secretly selling info culled from her private…Read more...

Melania Trump recently posed with a very shiny ceremonial shovel, breaking ground on a new tennis pavilion at the White House—an essential piece of the legacy of the Trump presidency, which is mostly about being evil and extremely rich.Read more...

It’s long been rumored that Rihanna declined an invitation to perform at the Super Bowl LIII halftime show because she was morally opposed to the league’s treatment of Colin Kaepernick. Now, thanks to an interview she gave to Vogue, we know that rumor to be true.

All hail Holly, winner of Fat Bear Week 2019 as well as our hearts.

Despite, or perhaps due to, FIFA’s ongoing and futile efforts to curb racism in soccer, England’s national team has decided to walk off the field during its upcoming Euro 2020 qualifying matches if they face racist abuse from opposing fans. That’s according to Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham, who said on Tuesday that…Read more...

It would be ludicrous and premature, after just three games, to declare that the Oilers definitely, definitely won the James Neal–for–Milan Lucic trade with the Flames. But: I declared it after zero games, so why pop that take in the freezer now?

Anker Gold Box | AmazonRead more...

Blizzard’s acquiescence to the power of the Chinese government/market has seen the company eat a lot of shit over the last 24 hours. So it was, depending on how you look at it, either the worst or most perfect time imaginable to try and broadcast the American Collegiate Hearthstone Championship.

The Rays roughed up Game 1 winner and eclipse lover Justin Verlander Tuesday night, got nine innings of tough pitching from their bullpen, and grabbed a 4–1 win to send their ALDS series against the Astros back to Houston for a winner-take-all Game 5. The Rays, who were widely considered to be chum headed into this…Read more...