Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

In some MLB injury news that felt as sadly inevitable as it is disappointing, St. Louis Cardinals closer Jordan Hicks is likely out for the long-term future, as the team announced today that he tore the UCL in his right (throwing) elbow. The Cardinals said they are “determining the next course of action” for Hicks,…Read more...

Earlier this year, two California state senators introduced SB 206, much to the chagrin of NCAA bureaucrats. The bill, which is also known as the Fair Pay To Play Act, would allow college athletes to make money off of their own names, images, and likenesses starting in Jan. 2023. The state Senate approved the bill…Read more...

This weekend, Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton was filmed as he tried and failed to negotiate with a fellow traveler for a more comfortable seat on a flight from Paris to the United States. The 6-foot-5 NFL player had no choice but to go back to his standard, uncomfortable seat.Read more...

Yes, the United States beat Spain 2-1, thanks to two soft-ass penalties converted by Megan Rapinoe, to advance to the Women’s World Cup quarterfinals. And yes, we will get the clash of the titans between the USWNT and France on Friday in Paris. But it should not have been this difficult. The United States controlled…Read more...

It wasn’t the type of breezy victory that defined the USWNT’s run through the group stage, but in their first knockout game of the 2019 World Cup, the U.S. gutted out a tough, unpretty 2-1 victory against Spain in which two Megan Rapinoe penalties outweighed one disastrous defensive mistake.Read more...

If you made some relatively poor decisions this weekend, at least be thankful that they (probably) haven’t impacted your career. The same can’t be said for Mahaveer Raghunathan, a Formula Two driver who screwed up so bad at the feature race ahead of the French Grand Prix that he racked up enough penalty points to be…Read more...

IMPERIAL, Calif. — On Andy Ruiz Jr. Day in Imperial, the temperature had already climbed past 90 degrees by 9 a.m. The cooler wind that had been blowing earlier in the morning had retreated back to the Laguna Mountains to the west, whose peaks were now shrouded in a marine layer that refused to push past to cover this…Read more...

MMA rules allow fighters to use a rather comprehensive suite of techniques to knock out or choke their opponents into submission, but even in a sport this brutal, some parts of the body are off limits. I’m talking, of course, about the butthole area.

Everybody knows that WWE is in a crowded and deeply boring creative trough at the moment, but not enough people know that the “Hidden Gems” section of WWE Network, updated every Thursday morning, serves as a weekly reminder of just how good and how fun WWE wrestling can be. The section works as an enthusiastic,…Read more...

Heading into this tournament, one of the few things that felt certain was that this was to be the last hurrah at a World Cup for Brazil’s feared foursome of Marta, the G.O.A.T. of women’s soccer; Cristiane, her long-serving battering ram of a strike partner; Formiga, the 41-year-old marvel in midfield; and Barbara,…Read more...

When the United States Women’s National Team takes the field for their World Cup knockout-round game against Spain today, they will try to forget everything else: their personal drama, their fears, their ambitions. Oh, and the gender discrimination lawsuit they filed against U.S. Soccer, the sport’s governing body.…Read more...

A laptop and accessories gold box, a one-day dale on smart locks at Home Depot, and an under-the-desk elliptical lead off Sunday’s best deals from around the web.

The most common complaint against VAR—or any form of video review in sports—in one of aesthetics. If referees insist on stopping the game for several minutes to double check every key play, the thinking goes, all the drama and intensity and emotion of the biggest moments will be lost, and the celebrations of fans will…Read more...

The high point of the Mets’ existence on Sunday, and not inconceivably of their entire season, came when the team’s Twitter account attempted to dunk on ... well, on Mets fans. Specifically those who had reacted to the posting of the day’s relatively punchless lineup with horror and disgust and presumably lots of…Read more...

One day after I made the mistake of complimenting the Mets on this site, they’ve gone ahead and returned to the tire-fire form that most people have gotten used to seeing on a regular basis. Today’s Mets meltdown features manager Mickey Callaway and Jason Vargas getting into it with a reporter who was asking questions…Read more...

France are moving on to the quarterfinals of the Women’s World Cup after defeating Brazil, 2-1, in extra time. Despite scoring a surprise goal against the run of play late in regulation, Brazil’s tired legs eventually caught up to them and it became only a matter of time before France would strike for the game-winner.

Kelyn Soong of Washington City Paper recently covered the lives of a couple players on the Nationals’ Triple-A affiliate: the Potomac Nationals. The story focuses on the financial difficulties that minor league ball players face while trying to chase their dreams of making it in MLB. It’s a not-so-friendly reminder…Read more...

If you listen closely with your ear towards a swamp-like city near the mid-Atlantic, you’ll be able to hear the faint sounds of mild optimism returning to the minds and spirits of the dozens of Nationals fans in the DC-metro area. The reason for this is because of Washington finally getting rid of the human embodiment…Read more...

A four-year-old gelding named American Currency was euthanized after sustaining an injury on Santa Anita’s training track on Saturday. It was the first time that a horse died as a result of a training track injury, and the 30th death of the racing season at Santa Anita. It was also the fourth death in Hall of Fame…Read more...

England lived up to their FIFA ranking as the third-best women’s team in the world for maybe 30 minutes in their match against Cameroon on Sunday. Had it not been for Cameroonian players allowing the poor implementation of VAR that has become a staple of this tournament to get to them, Cameroon would have likely put…Read more...

One of the most infrequently-experienced joys in soccer is the short burst of chaos that comes from an indirect free kick, where a team’s free kick opportunity is placed inside their opponent’s penalty box. Thanks to the knockout stage of the Women’s World Cup, we can now reset the “days without” counter back to zero.Read more...

In the top of the fifth against the Brewers, Reds second baseman Derek Dietrich got hit in the elbow by a 71 mph changeup from Alex Claudio. It was the sixth time that a Brewers pitcher had hit Dietrich with a pitch in three games, setting an MLB record for most times a player has been hit in a series. As if that…Read more...

For the first time in over 10 years, 35-year-old Wilkin Castillo got a hit in the majors, and it was a pretty sweet one at that. In the top of seventh with two outs against the Phillies, Castillo smoked an RBI double into right field that sent two runners home and gave the Marlins a lead they wouldn’t relinquish for…Read more...

A horrendous miss from Australia’s Sam Kerr set the tone for the Matildas’ penalty shootout against Norway, sending the Scandinavian nation into the quarterfinals of the Women’s World Cup with a 4-1 win on penalties.

The Mets have been having an off day in the sense that they’re actually on the winning side of an embarrassing rout for once. Of course, such breaks in normalcy are bound to happen when the weather is on your side. Such was the case in the top of the third when Todd Frazier from Toms River, NJ was up to bat.Read more...

Commentating on live sports for a national television audience can be a herculean task, but it’s a lot easier if you decide to rely on tired racial stereotypes to fill the dead air—as Fox’s Lisa Byington and Cat Whitehill discovered on Saturday.Read more...

The Big East is expected to invite the University of Connecticut back into the conference as early as this week for the 2020-21 season, according to multiple reports. Digital News Desk had the news first. Nothing has been officially confirmed from the conference, or the school’s board of trustees—though they are…Read more...

Holy shit, a big-name hockey trade!Read more...

Deputies from the Missoula County Sherriff’s Office received a call around 5:45 a.m. on Friday that a black bear had broken into the mudroom of a Montana home. The family inside the home told officers that they discovered the bear after hearing a tremendous amount of racket downstairs and investigating where it was…Read more...

Louisville’s Luke Smith was pitching his ass off against Vanderbilt on Friday. Through eight innings, the junior had struck out 10 while only giving up three hits and one earned run. No one would have blamed Smith for showing a little emotion after striking out Vanderbilt’s Julian Infante, and putting his team that…Read more...

An inflatable lounger for your summer outings, a one-day backsplash tile sale, and a preorder discount on next year’s most highly anticipated game lead off Saturday’s best deals from around the web.Read more...

Less than 24 hours after MLB commissioner Rob Manfred finally acknowledged that this year’s batch of baseballs might in some way, shape or form be contributing to the league’s historic home run pace—it’s not that the balls are juiced, the “pill” inside the ball is providing less drag—a home run distance record was set…Read more...

Thursday morning a man going by the name of Mikey in Waltham called in to the Zolak & Bertrand radio show on 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston to participate in a wide-ranging conversation about the state of the Boston Celtics. It’s been a rough time for Celtics fans—their team disappointed last season, then failed to…Read more...

On Sunday, fans found that WWE Network’s streaming service had chosen to devote the sixth entry in the WWE Untold series to a match that’s legendary for none of the right reasons. It’s hard to know why the promotion chose to make a documentary about the infamously and gratuitously brutal and violent match between Kurt…Read more...

Verizon Media Group CEO K. Guru Gowrappan began his memo to staff today by praising Yahoo Sports for writing a story on the theme of the Women’s World Cup: equity. It was a nice thought, but Yahoo Sports didn’t even write that story.Read more...

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

With the caveat that no one knows anything about how this will turn out in the long term, it’s fair to say that the Phoenix Suns had a strange 2019 NBA Draft. They dropped in the rejiggered draft lottery to land with the sixth pick, then dropped another five spots Thursday night via a genuinely head-scratching trade…Read more...

This has happened to the Cardinals before, albeit on a much bigger stage. St. Louis was down 7-6 in the bottom of the 11th inning, with two outs and pinch-runner Jack Flaherty on second base, when Marlins reliever Sergio Romo whipped around for a game-ending pickoff, to the dismay of the home crowd.Read more...

FIFA 20 Standard Edition (Xbox, PlayStation 4 and Switch) Pre-Order | $51 | AmazonRead more...

This young T-baller identified as Abelardo served up a mighty hit, circled around to find a target, and flung his bat directly toward the cameraman, briefly staring him down before trotting off to first base. Max Muncy could maybe learn a thing or two from him.Read more...

After 36 group stage matches, and seemingly triple that number of VAR headaches, the Women’s World Cup is getting into the good shit. Gone are the eight teams unworthy of continuing on, while the 16 best remaining sides prepare for a four-round elimination chaos pit. The survivor of that churn will be the eighth…Read more...

Stefanos Tsitsipas, tennis’s vlog prince, has done plenty to be proud of in the last year, with wins over Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer on hard court, a victory over Rafael Nadal on clay, and a current No. 6 ranking in the world. The breakout is nearly complete, and there is little else to wait for except his face…Read more...

Kawhi Leonard is the prize of this summer’s NBA free agency bonanza, and the reigning Finals MVP will be courted by a bevy of teams starting July 1, all of whom will do all they can to prostrate themselves as his feet. When we checked in with Leonard yesterday, he was making a run on cardboard boxes to pack up his…Read more...

The Washington Nationals finished off a weather-shortened three-game series sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies Thursday night. The Phillies are in a bit of a swoon, having lost eight of their last 13 games. That stretch isn’t so arbitrary as it might seem—Andrew McCutchen succumbed to a season-ending knee injury 14…Read more...

One could mount an argument that the United States’ long-term interests at this here World Cup would have been better served had they thrown their group-stage finale against Sweden yesterday and given themselves an easier path to the final. Let your opponents win Group F and let them deal with the French in the…Read more...

When the Giants and Dodgers met earlier this month in San Francisco, the final game of the series was a 1-0 Los Angeles win where infielder Max Muncy irritated Madison Bumgarner by cracking a solo shot deep into the bay. As Muncy rounded the bases, Madison acted like a mad bum, telling the Dodgers hitter to “fucking…Read more...

Any Major League Baseball franchise setting out to hire a pitching coach over 80 years of age would do well to get Phil Regan. He has had a distinguished and improbably eventful life in baseball, and a very long one. Regan’s first big-league manager, in 1960, was Jimmy Dykes, another lifer who made his debut when the…Read more...

A Converse sale, Japanese sunscreen, Audio-Technica turntables, and Home Depot security cameras lead off Friday’s best deals.

Now that the mock drafts are dead, the fashion show is done, all the crying parents have come and gone and Woj and Shams are back in the holster for a few hours, let us see what Postseason Advent has wrought:Read more...

With one out in the top of the second inning of yesterday’s Reds-Brewers game, Cincinnati’s Jesse Winker smoked a loopy Jimmy Nelson breaking ball on a hard line past center fielder Lorenzo Cain and all the way to the wall. It was a double, easily. Was it a triple? Only for a madman. A madman like Jesse Winker!Read more...