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Any pro athlete in the major sports will tell you how fortunate they are to earn truckloads of money to participate in what are at heart kids’ games. It’s right there in the one shared verb that unites them: they get paid to “play.” However, it’s rare to find a pro athlete who actually takes to the court or field or…Read more...

Time for your weekly edition of the Deadspin Funbag. Got something on your mind? Email the Funbag. Today, we’re talking NFL, old man gripes, vinegar, and more.Read more...

U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos has officially had it with the leaks coming out of the FBI’s ongoing pay-for-play case against various college basketball programs.Read more...

The second-best LeBron James highlight from Sunday’s Cavs-Lakers game might’ve been the ball-fake that sent two defenders scrambling, evacuating the lane for a no-look pass to Ante Zizic. In first place was this one, pointed out yesterday by a keen eye on Twitter:

Mo Norai has worked in Silicon Valley for a decade. He’s done stints at Google, Twitter, Facebook, and Apple, but only as a contract worker, meaning he has missed out on the tech giants’ storied perks, benefits and job security. So when he was approached last April by a recruiter from a company called Tech Jobs Box…Read more...

Remember when Klay Thompson put his dance moves on display in China over the summer? Well, he was at it again at Steph Curry’s birthday party last night. At one point, Thompson appeared to be wearing only socks, which might have helped him with some of his moves but likely was also a contributing factor in why he…Read more...

Erstwhile Washington QB Kirk Cousins has agreed to head to Minnesota on a fully guaranteed three-year deal, per Adam Schefter. Free agency opens Wednesday afternoon at 4 p.m. ET, and Cousins plans to sign the day after.

It’s a known but unverified rumor that Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles likes to partake in Jacksonville’s nightlife, specifically beach bars. (Specifically an establishment called Lemon Bar.) But in a recent interview, the QB says that’s no longer the case and hasn’t been for a couple of years. He does still love…Read more...

Remember Johnny McEntee? We featured him in these pages seven-some years ago, as the UConn quarterback displayed some incredible sleight of hand in a trick-shot compilation video. Johnny later dropped the diminutive and became John McEntee, Donald Trump body man, except now he’s not even that anymore because CNN…Read more...

On yesterday’s broadcast of ESPN’s Tournament Challenge Marathon, a mentalist (just a made-up term for a magician) did a trick on Mike Greenberg and Jalen Rose:Read more...

An Anker Gold Box, a really big KitchenAid stand mixer, a 15% off sitewide sale at New Balance, and more start off today’s best deals.

Blazers guard Evan Turner, who has always believed in himself to a somewhat alarming degree, recently spoke to NBC Sports about naysayers who believe that he’s overpaid and underproducing. Turner has one message for those haters:Read more...

Late last night, the Denver Broncos made the first move in this offseason’s quarterback race, snatching former Vikings quarterback Case Keenum off the market. The deal, which can’t become official until free agency opens tomorrow, was first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, and then very little information followed.

Easter is just a few weeks away, and whether the Easter bunny visits your house or not, it shouldn’t stop you from saving on some candy in this Amazon Gold Box.Read more...

KitchenAid’s massive 7 Qt. stand mixer is probably overkill for most of us, but if you frequently cook for a large family, it can take care of a lot of the baking busywork for you. Refurbs of the mixer normally sell for $420, but today only on Amazon, it’s just $350.

Tom Brady visited The Late Show with Stephen Colbert tonight, accepting the host’s challenge to chug a “beer.” We put the beverage in scare quotes because there’s a decent question as to what, exactly, the Super Bowl-losing quarterback actually quaffed.Read more...

The first tournament run of Serena Williams’s comeback ended at the hands of a familiar opponent—her sister, Venus Williams, who defeated her 6-3, 6-4 tonight in the third round at Indian Wells.Read more...

Brandon Jennings started his 2017-18 season in China; this winter, he moved on to the D-League; one of his sharpest performances of the year, across all those leagues and locales, came tonight—in his first game of a 10-day NBA contract, back with the team that drafted him.Read more...

Referee Ted Valentine will not be officiating the NCAA men’s tournament, which he says is retribution for turning his back on UNC’s Joel Berry during a January game in which the point guard wanted to argue a no-call.Read more...

Kirk Cousins announced in a blog post today on KirkCousins.org that he will not return to Washington. In the blog, Cousins expresses gratitude towards the city and his teammates, and talks about getting to choose his next team for the first time in over a decade, but more importantly, whoever wrote the blog for him…Read more...

Denver Broncos defensive end Adam Gotsis has been charged with rape in Atlanta, according to police. He was arrested last week and is out on bail.Read more...

One underappreciated aspect of Nikola Jokic’s much-lauded passing ability is the way that he shrinks the court for the Nuggets and creates easy buckets out of otherwise unlikely scenarios. What I mean specifically, in this case, is that the big boy can huck it downcourt from a mile away and set up easy layups and…Read more...

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

Last Friday evening, while covering the Big East Tournament, CBS Sports reporter Matt Norlander tweeted an image of the Providence Friars mascot looming creepily on the block at Madison Square Garden. It was an innocuous tweet, in its way, but also it was not.Read more...

When Overwatch unveiled new map Horizon Lunar Colony last summer, players were quick to catalog its every feature and develop strategies for how best to defend or attack the moon base. There are airlocks that lead to the surface of the moon, a single mega health pack right next to the first point, stacks of hydroponic…Read more...

The Louisville Cardinals kick off their NIT run Tuesday night, but the players might not have any desire to play in college basketball’s less exciting tournament. According to the Courier-Journal, players were “emotionally exhausted” from the program’s tumultuous season which featured an escort scandal investigation…Read more...

It feels like so long ago that practically every New England media member scrutinized Tom Brady’s gloved throwing hand to figure out if it was seriously injured, right before the Jaguars-Patriots AFC title game. Thanks to the last episode of Brady’s Facebook docuseries, we now have a good look at the damage done by…Read more...

Seen through a certain college basketball purist’s eyes, Arizona are the unquestionable villains of this year’s NCAA Tournament. With other alleged Sanctity Of Amateurism offenders like Louisville and USC out of the picture, the Wildcats are the most prominent tournament team that currently stands accused of violating…Read more...

The Houston Astros visited the White House today to be honored for their 2017 World Series win, which puts reasonable-minded players in a bit of a pickle. The traditional post-championship White House visit is a potentially once-in-a-lifetime honor. Having to tolerate Donald Trump in the flesh and be party to his…Read more...

Seattle Seahawks cornerback Neiko Thorpe took a video of a crazy person who yelled at him and teammate Mike Tyson about their apparent disrespect for the American flag.

Jamie Carragher, the former Liverpool legend who is now a popular TV commentator, has been suspended by Sky Sports for this video of him spitting in the direction of a 14-year-old girl whose father had been heckling Carragher while the two men were driving.Read more...

ESPN sports business reporter and press-release dumpster Darren Rovell plays D like he has suddenly been stricken with scoliosis. This was true in 2016 when he flailed and yelled at Kristaps Porzingis, and it was still true this weekend when he took on AND1 Mixtape star Philip “Hot Sauce” Champion at a Hawks game.Read more...

Starting this year, America’s public companies are required to tell you how much the CEO earns as compared to the median worker. The distress surrounding this disclosure of basic facts is odd. After all, we’re all valuable team members in this company, right?Read more...

The Ivy League used to have a perfect setup. The eight schools would play a full home-and-home round robin in men’s and women’s basketball. The team with the best record would win the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. If there was a tie, the teams would meet on a neutral court. One year there was even a …Read more...

Paul Millsap stands 6-foot-8 and weighs 246 pounds. He looks like he could easily lift me off the ground while palming my skull. He’s strong, is what I’m saying. But he doesn’t look so strong here, does he?Read more...

Adam Rippon might be the only Olympian who’s been busier since he got back from South Korea than he was during the competition. The 28-year-old returned home with a bronze medal from the figure skating team event—and a packed schedule of media appearances and marquee events. We talked to Rippon the morning after he…Read more...

ESPN and the NFL are getting on each other’s nerves. A new report from Sports Business Journal outlines a slow boil of escalating feuds, which could eventually end the partnership of the two sports giants.Read more...

A top-of-the-table clash between PAOK and AEK Athens in Greek’s Superleague was cut short after PAOK owner Ivan Savvidis ran onto the pitch to confront the referee while flanked with two bodyguards and with a holstered revolver on his waist. Here’s video of this peculiar Idiot On The Field incident:Read more...

The caveats are caveats, but they do exist. Mike Moustakas is not a superstar, for reasons that are easy enough to identify. He has mostly been a decent defender at an important position, but his defense was unexpectedly and undeniably poor last year; he is a good hitter with real power, but not an especially patient…Read more...

At this point, Minnesota’s best high school hockey teams are actively trying to get recognized on the All-Hockey Hair Team, and yet the quality of salad still hasn’t decreased. The 2018 class is absolutely brilliant. What you see above, if your eyes haven’t been blinded by its glory, came in at No. 6. Below is No. 4:

The New Orleans Pelicans came apart over the last, oh, 13 minutes or so of last night’s game and wound up losing pretty one-sidedly to the Utah Jazz, at home. Please do not let that distract you too much from the hilarious wonder of Anthony Davis’s 25-point, 11-rebound, 10-block triple double.

There’s no such thing as having too much flash storage, and it’s a whole bunch of it is on sale today on Amazon.

Around 7:15 p.m. this evening, a Eurocopter AS350 crashed into New York City’s East River, according to eyewitnesses and reports. Video from a bystander shows the helicopter going into the water and starting to sink. A spokesman for New York Mayor Bill de Blasio confirmed that two died in the crash. Update 7:30 a.m.: …Read more...

Overwatch League team Dallas Fuel announced today that the organization and tank player Félix “xQc” Lengyel have mutually agreed to part ways.Read more...

March Madness is upon us. Here’s a link to download and print your NCAA tournament bracket. I’m putting everything I’m worth on the University of Maryland, Baltimore County Retrievers. You?Read more...

An uneven presentation on TBS this evening finally did succeed in revealing the selections for the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship bracket. Your number one seeds are Virginia, Kansas, Xavier, and Villanova. The last four in were Syracuse, Arizona State, UCLA, and the Bonnies of St. Bonaventure. The First Four…Read more...

This weekend’s Valspar Championship wound up quite a bit more thrilling than your average pre-Masters tune-up: Tiger Woods came into Sunday near the top of the leaderboard, and spent the afternoon just off the lead, tantalizingly close to a breakthrough win for this comeback chapter of his career. That he was lurking…Read more...

Jake Arrieta, National League Cy Young Award winner, World Series hero, thrower of two career no-hitters, recently the ace of the Chicago Cubs rotation, is reportedly set to join the Philadelphia Phillies, a team that won 66 games in 2017:Read more...

In today’s European play-in qualifiers for the Rocket League Rival Series, team Triple Trouble showcased some beautiful coordination in setting up a clean shot on the goal by bumping out the defenders.Read more...