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A fun little quirk of the first few days of a new baseball season is the wild swings of relievers’ statistics. A seventh inning guy who gets roughed up in the wrong spot can spend a week with gruesome numbers; a specialist who serves up a dinger to his lone assignment can spend a night or two with an infinite earned…Read more...

Spurs head coach and noted curmudgeon Gregg Popovich must’ve had someplace else he needed to be Wednesday night. At the 10:57 mark of the first quarter of his team’s game against the Denver Nuggets—just 63 seconds after tipoff—Popovich was hit with a double-technical and ejected.

Zion Williamson is going to be the first overall pick of the 2019 NBA Draft. What follows is a reasoned and near-scientific ranking of all NBA teams in order of how cool it would be if they had Williamson as a rookie. Only 14 teams are actually in the running to win the draft lottery for the right to select Zion, but…Read more...

The conditions of the rescue of the 12 soccer teens and their coach from the Tham Luang cave complex back in July were incredibly harrowing, and everyone involved faced the imminent risk of death throughout the ordeal. The players themselves were undoubtedly terrified, but according to a new letter posted to the New…Read more...

Kelly Stafford, wife of Lions QB Matthew Stafford, announced via her Instagram today that she will have brain surgery later this month after a recent MRI uncovered a tumor. Stafford said doctors discovered an acoustic neuroma on her cranial nerves; thankfully, the tumor is benign.

Last March, Michael Bennett was indicted seemingly out of nowhere, on a felony charge of injury to the elderly. At an utterly bizarre press conference the next day, Houston’s chief of police called Bennett “morally bankrupt” and “morally corrupt,” and alleged that Bennett had shoved a 66-year-old paraplegic security…Read more...

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

Jose Alvarado is just beginning his third year pitching out of the Rays’ bullpen, and all you really need to know about him is that his fastball is absolutely obscene. Here’s a 99 mph pitch from his appearance today against the Rockies—a pitch that let him finish striking out the side—which somehow features wiffle…Read more...

“There are so many ways he just throws up all over golf,” Rick Reilly told The Ringer’s Bryan Curtis for a story that was sort of about Reilly’s active retirement and also about Reilly’s new book on President Donald Trump’s life of crime on the golf course. That book is called Commander In Cheat, and while Reilly does…Read more...

Not to brag, but I’ve used good chef’s knives for about as long as I’ve been cooking for myself. I started out with the ever-popular Victorinox Fibrox, which is very good for its low price (I was poor), but tends to dull fairly quickly. These days, I’m rocking the Wirecutter-recommended Mac MTH-80, and absolutely love…Read more...

The biggest story at Juventus today should be the whirlwind ascent of the baby-faced striker phenom, Moise Kean. Yesterday, the 19-year-old Italian of Ivorian descent scored the match-killing goal against Cagliari, his fourth goal in his last four games for club and country. And while Kean is indeed the biggest story…Read more...

Man, don’t you miss the good old days when coaches could get away with whatever they wanted? Are you sick of these snowflake athletes who can’t put up with some bullying? Do you think it’s time someone stood up for verbal abuse? Guess what, Geno Auriemma’s finally the one to take that stand. Thank you sir!Read more...

Dragonwagon Regional namesake Crescent Dragonwagon is up front about her name: She changed it from Ellen Zolotow when she was a 16-year-old counterculture bride. But the corners of the internet that supply our bracket fodder don’t always offer such clarity. This year’s Dragonwagon contenders contain some real…Read more...

Xander Bogaerts clearly did not remember what he learned on Monday night. Don’t run on Ramon Laureano! He’ll put you in the trash can from a mile away.Read more...

In theory, I am the ideal target audience for this new Joker trailer because I am the kind of broad-minded jackass who would shell out $12 for anything Joker-related, and because I’m one of five people who won’t openly recoil at the idea of a gritty PG-13 Joker origin story shot exclusively as an homage to old…Read more...

The Yankees lineup is all busted up, so you can understand why the remaining healthy players might be a little more sensitive than usual about potentially getting hurt themselves. This is how we ended up with Yankees first baseman Luke Voit appearing to call Tigers pitcher Joe Jimenez a “fucking fat fuck.”

A Hue starter kit-Echo Dot bundle, flea medicine for pets, and an Anker SoundBuds discount lead off Wednesday’s best deals from around the web.

Columbus has an awful lot riding on making the playoffs, and the race for the East’s two wild card spots is so tight that every single goal has the potential to decide seasons. So if the Blue Jackets and their fans were dreading the possibility of an offseason spent bemoaning this fluke Boston goal to open the scoring…Read more...

The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing yesterday to discuss the Equality Act, a bill that would create a national ban on discrimination against LGBT people—something that only a minority of states legally prohibit at the moment. In the wake of some major gains for queer and trans people in this generation, a…Read more...

Finally, we have a challenger for the Warriors. It’s not the two-seed Denver Nuggets, who Golden State pushed aside in a comfortable 116-102 win in Oakland last night, nor is it anyone out East. The only guys that have been able to slow the Warriors freight train recently have been NBA officials, and they just added…Read more...

If there were any questions about how Nationals fans would greet Bryce Harper in his return to Washington, they were answered well before first pitch. A tribute video—the thing that usually inspires warm fuzzies, before the rancor begins—was played on the scoreboard and booed vociferously. Then Harper himself was…Read more...

Today’s TP-Link Gold Box has everything you need to completely overhaul your home’s Wi-Fi or add automation with internet-connected products for some of the best prices ever.

You can decide for yourself the degree to which this incident between Paulie Malignaggi and Artem Lobov is kayfabe. Malignaggi and Lobov are doing some advanced media buildup ahead of an anticipated Bare Knuckle FC bout tentatively scheduled for June 22. Lobov has to get past UFC veteran Jason Knight in a bout…Read more...

Russell Westbrook completed the ultra-rare double triple-double Tuesday night, in a 119–103 Thunder win over the visiting Los Angeles Lakers. The counting stats are absurd: 20 points, 20 rebounds, and 21 assists, in 37 minutes. He had 10 assists in the first quarter, and 17 by the mid-point of the third; only another…Read more...

Bryce Harper returned to Nationals Park Tuesday night, making his first appearance in Washington since he signed his mega-deal with the Phillies back in February. Fans who’d been waiting to unleash their burns on Bryce were forced to wait through a 45-minute rain delay, but that’s a small price to pay for the chance…Read more...

After last Friday’s brouhaha between the Warriors and NBA referee Marat Kogut, and the team’s subsequent public dressing down of the officiating on the night, it was only a matter of time before Golden State got hit with the league’s fine-hammer. Today, the league handed out its punishments.

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

The Washington Wizards have fired longtime team president and head personnel honcho Ernie Grunfeld, according to a tweet by the Times’s Marc Stein that made the top of my head explode like Mount St. Helens, splattering the interior walls of my home with confetti and glitter.Read more...

As exhausting as WrestleMania week can be, especially with fans gladly taking on the growing second-shift slate of late night shows, last year’s Mania week in New Orleans was one of the most manageable in recent memory. It was good, too, but the surprising thing was how user-friendly and accessible it all was. Mania…Read more...

Six days after majority owner Tom Dundon threatened to shutter the Alliance of American Football, the league will reportedly suspend all football operations. There were two weeks left in the regular season schedule as well as a four-team postseason, and it now appears that neither will ever happen.

Today, we’re talking about pizza, worst places to die, the NCAA tournament, and more.

You could probably think of a famous Johnny with Google-like quickness. Johnny Appleseed. Johnny Cash. Johnny Bench. Wikipedia lists dozens of notable Johnnys, and beyond that dozens more fictional Johnnys. Perhaps you even have a beloved Johnny in your life. An uncle or a cousin? Or maybe you’re a Johnny?…Read more...

HARGEISA, SOMALILAND— A cement wall topped with barbed wire surrounds the soccer field where girls gather once a week to play. Boys climb trees or scramble up the wall to peer inside and armed guards chase them away. Here, girls can run.Read more...

Xander Bogaerts probably thought he was home clear.

History will show that Tottenham defender Toby Alderweireld’s 90th minute own goal was responsible for gifting Liverpool a 2-1 win during a tight race for their first league title since 1989-90. History can be a strange and misleading thing. In this case what Alderweireld is responsible for is standing there baffled…Read more...

The top of this year’s NFL free agent class was stocked with defensive linemen and edge rushers. Most never hit the market.

The Toronto Raptors have the second seed in the Eastern Conference pretty much locked up, but they’re still figuring out who they can rely on come playoff time. While Danny Green has always been a part of the team’s plans, the 31-year-old wing showed on Monday that he’s not just a complimentary piece; he can swing…Read more...

It didn’t take too long for the Baltimore Orioles, who came into this season with one of the most clown-ass rosters ever assembled in the history of clown-ass rosters, to do away with whatever good will might have been earned by taking two of three from the Yankees to open the season. They did so by yanking a shot at…Read more...

Tuesday night the Phillies travel to Washington, and with them, their new superstar Bryce Harper returns to the city where he spent seven extremely productive seasons and became the face of the Nationals. But D.C.’s relationship with Harper, especially in the later years, was increasingly fraught, so it’s going to be…Read more...

How are things for the Yankees in the season’s early going? Well, their new third outfielder got to New York so hurriedly he’s living in a hotel room with his mom and his cats. They aren’t sure who their starter is going to be on Wednesday and may throw a bullpen game. Someone called Mike Tauchman was in the starting…Read more...

Bat flips are great, as a stylish way of punctuating a mighty dinger. It’s less cool but probably acceptable to bat flip after a particularly well-hit non-dinger, if that non-dinger should be a walk-off RBI single. However broadly you are prepared to abide the spread of the bat flip, probably baseball fans of all…Read more...

The Cubs have not gotten off to the start anyone envisioned over the winter. They’re 1–3, having dropped a season-opening series to the Rangers, and having absorbed a deflating 8–0 loss to the Atlanta Braves Monday night. This is a vanishingly tiny sample size, and the Cubs were picked by various experts to win…Read more...

Giannis Antetokounmpo had a bit of a frustrating performance against the Brooklyn Nets Monday night. Yes, his Bucks beat a playoff team on the road; yes, Giannis personally had one of those beefy box scores where there are positive integers in many columns. Still, in the context of a guy who shoots 58 percent from the…Read more...

This delightful baseball sequence begins with Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter leading off the top of the 11th inning against Pirates hurler Steven Brault. With the count at 2–2, Brault threw a breaking pitch down and away, and Carpenter appeared to check his swing. Third base umpire Jordan Baker, staring into…Read more...

I don’t know who is going to win the Premier League this season. Manchester City should be slight favorites over Liverpool because of their better record and superior depth, but the margins separating the two clubs are so minute that it’s impossible to feel strongly one way or the other. What does seem clear about the…Read more...

Two days after the Santa Anita racetrack reopened following a shutdown to allow track operators to investigate why so many horses were getting injured and euthanized, another horse got injured and was euthanized. Arms Dealer, a 5-year-old horse, fell on the dirt and broke his right leg yesterday during a race. His…Read more...

April Fools’ jokes are always exhausting or unoriginal or impressively tone deaf, except when, every once in a while, they’re not. And this year, it was ESPN of all places that managed to pull off a genuinely good April Fools’ Day prank, mostly because the butt of the joke was ESPN’s resident idiot Will Cain.

The University of North Carolina released a vague and ominous statement today about their women’s basketball program, announcing that the entire coaching staff has been put on paid administrative leave while a law firm conducts a review and “assesses the culture of the women’s basketball program.” The school did not…Read more...

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