Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

Maybe it’s time to let our robot umpire overlords reign supreme. At the very least, Cubs fans would be well within their rights in calling for the technology that will, in theory if not yet in practice, remove human error from strikes and balls, after Chicago was on the wrong end of one of the worst strike three calls…Read more...

George Andrie, an original member of the Dallas Cowboys’ famed Doomsday Defense, had Stage 4 chronic traumatic encephalopathy at the time of his death last August at the age of 78, according to researchers at Boston University who posthumously examined his brain. Andrie’s diagnosis was confirmed by his daughter, Mary…Read more...

It was all going just fine for the Angels. They had scored the opening four runs through the first two innings of their game on Tuesday against the Pirates, and, as far as anyone knew, their gloves and arms were all functioning properly, as they should on a professional baseball team. That all changed with a Josh Bell…Read more...

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It says something about the state of baseball that the least interesting thing about this play, from the top of the ninth inning of an 11–6 Mariners win over the Tigers, is that it was Kyle Seager’s third dinger of the night. Multi-homer games are so common now that they’re becoming passé—for crying out loud, Gleyber…Read more...

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones talked to Jon Machota of The Athletic Tuesday at Cowboys training camp, where the conversation naturally made its way around to the uncertain contract statuses of quarterback Dak Prescott, wide receiver Amari Cooper, and holdout running back Ezekiel Elliott. Suffice to say, Jones isn’t real…Read more...

In the top of the second inning of Tuesday night’s Reds-Nationals game, Reds rookie sensation Aristides Aquino took a mighty cut at a high Joe Ross fastball and scalded it straight back into the backstop net. The net caught the ball, of course, which was good news for a Nationals fan seated in the third row behind the…Read more...

The saga of Andrew Luck’s strained calf has reached the point where it’s time to worry whether anyone knows just what the hell is going on. Colts owner Jim Irsay identified a “small little bone” in Luck’s left leg as the source of the quarterback’s ongoing pain and discomfort, which leads to all sorts of questions…Read more...

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It has long been known that Magic Johnson quit his job with the Lakers so he could be free to tweet the most inoffensive takes imaginable without running afoul of the NBA’s tampering rules. But since retiring from his semi-retirement, he’s reached a brand-new level of old-guy social media usage—naming old movies and…Read more...

Prompted by The Ringer’s unionization, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, whose site uses the tagline “By the common man, for the common man,” has spent a lot of his time yesterday and today coming out as a big anti-union guy. This was a predictable shtick from the guy who sold MAGA hats and yuks it up with Tucker…Read more...

This week in Ukrainian diving news: 13-year-old diving prodigy Oleksii Sereda has captured gold in the 10-meter European Diving Championships in Kiev, a historic feat I would definitely be significantly more impressed with if I too had not enjoyed athletic success as a 13-year-old. Sereda finished fourth at the world…Read more...

“Discovering something about a company, it’s like discovering your boyfriend has been cheating on you for three years,” Anne Mahlum, the chief executive of a DC-based fitness chain, told the New York Times last week in a piece about a group of SoulCyclers in a wealthy New York enclave reacting to the news that…Read more...

Grigor Dimitrov, who used to be good, is not anymore. The 28-year-old Bulgarian is stuck in a Groundhog Day fugue. Almost every day Dimitrov wakes up, goes to work, and has to play Stan Wawrinka in the first round of a tournament. It’s deeply unpleasant. It’s what he did last week in Montreal (he lost), and it’s what…Read more...

With a deadlock-breaking goal from the penalty spot on Sunday in LAFC’s 4–2 win over the Red Bulls, Carlos Vela continued his season-long, Messi-like path of goal-induced destruction. The goal was his 23rd of the season, and his 37th overall in MLS, the latter stat making him the highest scoring Mexican the league has…Read more...

TOKYO, JAPAN — In the lobby of the Marunouchi Nijubashi Building, which is undergoing final preparations to host the 2020 Olympics, a robot is on patrol. A combination of information kiosk and surveillance camera, the robot stops directly in front of me. It has the word ALSOK plastered across its neck, or at least…Read more...

Today, we’re talking about toilet flushing, fame, farts, Trump push-ups and more.

In an unwelcome throwback to offseasons past, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck has been largely absent from most team offseason practices and workouts as he has dealt with a lingering injury. This time, the problem is not his chronically borked throwing shoulder, but rather a left calf strain that he sufferedRead more...

Some people are fans of the Cleveland Browns. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the Cleveland Browns. This 2019 Deadspin NFL team preview is for those in the latter group. Read all the previews so far here.

Curt Schilling, former major-league pitcher and World Series hero who squandered away so much goodwill that the Red Sox no longer want anything to do with him, has for the umpteenth time floated the idea of running for office. What makes this time different is that Donald Trump gave him a signal boost.Read more...

Antonio Brown is due back at Raiders training camp today, following an extended absence that was caused by his accursed feet and his displeasure at no longer being able to wear the kind of helmet he prefers. Brown’s appeal to the NFL to allow him to go on wearing his old helmet failed, but that doesn’t mean he’s given…Read more...

The phrase “white nationalist terrorism” has become newly ubiquitous in the wake of the El Paso shooting.

Ligue 1 side Olympique Marseille have released 33-year-old center back Adil Rami, but reportedly not for his rapidly deteriorating skill set or advancing age. No, the French club severed ties with Rami due to “gross misconduct,” resolving a bizarre situation that involved a reality show, a missed training session, and…Read more...

Just a few years ago, when TV bias lights first came onto our radar, you were lucky to find a strip for $20. And that strip would require you to push a physical button on the strip, or at the very least, keep track of a remote. Oh, and the lights were white. Don’t like it? Too bad.

This has been the year of the baseball sons. Vlad Jr. and his tremendous rump have been around since April, and some big taters have been mashed. Bo Bichette and his feathered locks joined the fray about two weeks ago, and he has been a delight. Cavan Biggio has been... around... doing stuff. However! No baseball son…Read more...

Here’s a nice picture of Odell Beckham Jr., one of the many beautiful, famous people featured in Calvin Klein’s underpants campaign. You know him, yeah? Football player for the Cleveland Browns, formerly of the New York Giants, and unfortunate target of Schmena Lunham’s laser focus at the Met Gala a few years ago.…Read more...

The Reds outfielder with the cool nickname and the even cooler actual name was called up on Aug. 1 after the Reds shipped away Yasiel Puig, and he’s done nothing but hit dingers. Dinger after dinger after dinger. Here’s Monday night’s dinger:

Remember way back in May, when Yankees infielder Gleyber Torres recorded his fourth multi-homer game against the Orioles of just this season? Remember how Torres became just the fourth player in MLB history to record four multi-homer games against one team in one season? Remember how O’s broadcaster Gary Thorne was…Read more...

Wide receiver Rishard Matthews was released by the New Orleans Saints on Saturday. Head coach Sean Payton, speaking cryptically of the breakup, said of Matthews, “it’s not for everyone,” which together with a “left squad designation” accompanying his release indicated that Matthews voluntarily bailed on a reasonable …Read more...

Real Salt Lake head coach Mike Petke was fired by the team Sunday, a little over two weeks after his meltdown at the end of his team’s 1–0 loss to Tigres UANL in the Leagues Cup. Between then and now Petke was hit with three different suspensions plus a fine over the incident, which was notable both for its profane…Read more...

Sometimes, you’ve just got to dust off an old classic. And ruin it. Last month, that’s exactly what one Mario Maker 2 player did with the original Super Mario Bros’ opening level, transforming it into a lava stick hellscape for freaks who like to be voraciously licked by slavering flame tongues. The nightmare obstacle…Read more...

Alex Rodriguez has many things that I will never have. A career .930 OPS. A job on television. A cake with crystals on it from Jennifer Lopez. A gigantic two-way glass window next to his crappin’ toilet, situated prominently in one of the busiest cities in the Western hemisphere. Some of the many fine and precious…Read more...

You hate when a great story about massive foot blisters, home-painted football helmets, ultimatums, and coaches supporting their players through clenched teeth and retirement threats takes an obvious plot twist, but here we are: Antonio Brown v. Roger Goodell:

Just a week after the NCAA tweaked its agent rules in a way that sure seemed to specifically target Rich Paul for exclusion, the organization has caved, changing the rules a second time to ensure Paul will still be able to represent college basketball players who are testing the waters of the NBA.Read more...

Vicente Luque took a split decision over Mike Perry in Saturday’s UFC card in Uruguay, and the aftermath to the loser’s face was brutal. The turning point of the match was when Luque split Perry’s guard with a jumping right knee and crushed Perry’s nose.

The opening weekend of the Premier League season was in some ways bittersweet—the sweetness provided by the return of the best league in the world, the bitterness from the sad end of England’s noble resistance to the scourge of VAR. To anyone expecting to witness the inherently corrosive effects of video replay play…Read more...

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The editorial staff of The Ringer announced this morning that they have formed a union with the WGA East. In their letter of intent, Ringer staffers said they want to negotiate with management for improvements in areas such as compensation, benefits, severance, diversity, and the establishment of a 401k program. Now…Read more...

So long as she’s able to play—and even if she’s half-mummified in physio tape—Bianca Andreescu doesn’t lose. The 19-year-old Canadian won the Rogers Cup on Sunday in front of the home crowd, continuing a season as woozy as it is dominant.

Former Ohio State diving coach William Bohonyi was sentenced to four years in prison on Monday on two counts of sexually abusing Estee Pryor, a diver who trained with the Ohio State University Diving Club when she was underage.

Remember last year when Ed Werder, who was laid off from ESPN in 2017, went on a Twitter rant about how people who encouraged women to apply for jobs in sports were “disqualifying” men from getting those jobs? Remember when he pretended that there wasn’t a massive gender imbalance in sports media in favor of white men…Read more...

Some people are fans of the Carolina Panthers. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the Carolina Panthers. This 2019 Deadspin NFL team preview is for those in the latter group. Read all the previews so far here.

Atlanta United forward Josef Martínez can’t stop breaking records. Last season, the 26-year-old Venezuelan shattered the MLS single-season scoring record with 31 goals, four more than the previous record of 27. On Sunday, he added two more records to his collection with this towering header against NYCFC:Read more...

A Crayola Gold Box, Tarte Cosmetics’ Friends & Family Sale, and BOGO video games lead off Monday’s best deals from around the web.

The Yankees beat the Blue Jays 1-0 on Sunday afternoon, with Bombers closer Aroldis Chapman completing the epic task of taking down Toronto’s highly touted youngsters for the final outs and the save. After Masahiro Tanaka allowed a leadoff single to Brandon Drury, Chapman came on to face three famous sons in a…Read more...

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Conceded: It is extremely rude that, after Saturday’s loss spurred a blog making fun of the Orioles, Sunday’s thrilling comeback win results in ... a blog making fun of the Orioles. But if you can’t abide being rude to the O’s when they do something like this, then we can’t be friends.

American gymnast Simone Biles won the all-around title at the U.S. Gymnastics Championship on Sunday, making this the sixth consecutive year she’s taken home that title. She also unleashed two moves that no gymnast has ever done in competition before.

Antonio Brown’s training camp has featured controversy from head to toe, and just two total days of practice. On Friday we learned that the reason the Raiders wideout hasn’t been practicing has less to do with his frostbitten feet and more to do with the fact that the NFL won’t allow him to practice or play with his…Read more...

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