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The Toronto Raptors have now won eight in a row, after coolly dispatching the horrid Knicks Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden. I have been resisting this take for some time, but it can be resisted no longer: the Raptors are genuinely, truly Good. They are the best team in the Eastern Conference, and, barring…Read more...

So, there’s a nationwide shortage of youth sports referees, related to crappy pay and ridiculous workloads and abusive parents. Here’s a novel idea for how to combat this problem, by way of sunny Iowa: train prison inmates in the subtle arts of basketball refereeing.Read more...

The Florida Mayhem have heart, but the yellow-and-red has also been struggling to break out from the bottom of the standings. Last night, with its back against the wall, the team started to turn things around with a solid reverse sweep of the Dallas Fuel.Read more...

That Kevin Ollie was fired after guiding the Huskies through consecutive losing seasons was not especially surprising. That he was fired as part of “disciplinary procedures” and “for just cause” registered as, well, interesting, especially without any explicit link to a reported NCAA investigation into recruiting…Read more...

The Grizzlies have had an absolute nightmare of a season. Because they came into the season with Marc Gasol and Mike Conley and Tyreke Evans and [gulp] Chandler Parsons on the team, they started with the goal of making the playoffs. But Conley played just 12 games this season; Gasol’s efficiency and defensive prowess…Read more...

There was a buzz at the Palestra yesterday.Read more...

If for no other reason than that he will face the Seattle Seahawks, and thus Russell Wilson, twice per regular season, this should be fun: Richard Sherman has reportedly joined the San Francisco 49ers:Read more...

Whether you love to sing in the shower, or just need more time to catch up on your podcasts, everyone should own a water-resistant Bluetooth speaker. Especially when they’ll only set you back $14 with promo code 27R526JX.Read more...

Soccer season has officially begun, so if you’re in need of some new gear, check out up to 25% soccer nets, balls, practice equipment, and more. This sale will only last until the end of the day or until the products sell out, so don’t miss out!Read more...

For exclusive videos, pictures, and more, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Send us your confidential tips at tips@deadspin.com, call our confidential tips hotline at (347) 746-8471, contact our writers directly, or use our anonymous SecureDrop system.Read more...

“FUCK YEAH!”Read more...

It’s been a good day for Chan-hyung “Fissure” Baek. The tank player, who spent stage one on the bench as part of London Spitfire, came roaring out the gate with his new team, LA Gladiators, and stomped London, likely giving their management some things to think about in the process.

Spring training is now well underway, and baseball’s many overqualified free agents are still shuffling their way onto MLB teams on below-value contracts. Lance Lynn, a very fine pitcher with a strong track record of success, found his way onto the Twins Saturday:Read more...

It looks like hockey will joining the growing trend of tsports getting into esports. The National Hockey League will host the 2018 NHL Gaming World Championship, where fans of the virtual ice can compete for a share of a $100,000 prize pool and a chance to be a part of the 2018 NHL awards.Read more...

Oh man. Tiger Woods is atop the leaderboard in the third round of the Valspar Championship in Palm Harbor, Florida. Woods shot a 68 on Friday, and has stayed out of trouble so far on Saturday, scattering four birdies thru 11 holes without any bogies. He jumped into a tie for the lead with this delicious chip shot on…Read more...

A U.S. District Court Judge has unsealed transcripts of secretly recorded tapes gathered in the investigation of fraud perpetrated by Browns owner Jimmy Haslam’s Pilot Flying J company. While the transcripts apparently don’t contradict Haslam’s claim that he was in no way involved in the scheme, they do prove pretty…Read more...

Here is an absolutely awful, perhaps criminal play from a high school basketball game in Kansas Friday:Read more...

Back in December, at the end of a Nuggets home win over the Lakers, Jamal Murray engaged in some extremely rude dribbling, to the great irritation of several Lakers players:Read more...

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Stand within 10 yards of Stan Wawrinka’s backhand and you realize, immediately, that he belongs to a different species. If somehow you find yourself on a tennis court with him, it is must only be to retrieve the ball he’s just pulverized, or to hand him a towel. That is not the impression you…Read more...

Who among us hasn’t enjoyed the thrilling, illicit pleasure of a hot pepperoni pizza in a warm bed? Truly one of life’s great pleasures is slapping the pizza box down on the bedsheets and going to town on the cheesy goodness. As you will see in the strange and fleeting video below, Odell Beckham Jr. knows what the…Read more...

UConn men’s basketball coach Kevin Ollie has reportedly been fired “with just cause,” per this ESPN report.Read more...

At last night’s Kemonomichi 2, two of Street Fighter’s best-known players played an exhibition set. It was a clash of the giants that ended in emotion, laughter, and tears. It was one of the best fighting game sets I’ve seen in some time.Read more...

If I weren’t a basketball fan—if you aren’t one right now—basketblogging, I swear, would itself be an insurmountable barrier to entry. Cricket has incomprehensible structure; baseball has interminable periods of non-action; basketball has a breathtakingly pretentious universe of bloggers and Twitter goofballs. Get a…Read more...

The Cleveland Browns are making moves, in the same way that a dead squid writhes after being covered in soy sauce. New GM John Dorsey pulled off three whole trades today, two of them involving quarterbacks, and neither of them involving A.J. McCarron.

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

Helsinki-based KHL team Jokerit wrapped up a fairly easy first-round series victory over HC Sochi tonight. They won in five games on the back of teen phenom Eeli Tolvanen, who scored five goals to add to his 19 that he got in 49 regular season games (not to mention his three in the Olympics).Read more...

The concept of the spoiler has evolved in the internet era of media consumption, but the idea goes back to a time before the web where pro wrestling is concerned. In the early ‘90s, WWE executives would complain to Wrestling Observer Newsletter editor Dave Meltzer about him running results from TV tapings before they…Read more...

Joel Embiid has played more minutes this season than he did in his previous college and NBA careers combined, and boy is it fucking showing. Before Thursday’s 108-99 loss to the Miami Heat, Embiid told local media, “In a season, you’re going to go through slumps. And I feel like I have been playing bad recently,…Read more...

Overwatch League just announced a couple of punishments for several players, including two of Dallas Fuel’s notorious troublemakers. Timo “Taimou” Kettunen has received a $1,000 fine for calling another player a “fucking faggot kid” on his personal Twitch channel this past January. Félix “xQc” Lengyel has gotten hit…Read more...

Alabama upset No. 16 Auburn 81-64 in the SEC quarterfinals today, with the Crimson Tide leaning heavily on guard Collin Sexton to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive. The freshman was good for a game-high 31 points and seven rebounds, but Sexton’s seemingly now-routine Impossible Play of the Game came on his only…Read more...

Washington State football coach Mike Leach has said he has a policy that any player who commits one of three acts will get kicked out of the program: violence against women, illegal drugs, and stealing. One former Cougars player is suing because he says he was unfairly dismissed, and Leach isn’t actually consistent…Read more...

Last night, Duke rode Marvin Bagley’s monster 33-point, 17-rebound performance to an easy win over Notre Dame in the third round of the ACC tournament.Read more...

In a more open approach than most franchised esports leagues, the draft process for the NBA 2K League was open to any and all challengers who met a small set of requirements. Win 50 games in January’s online qualifiers, and you move on to phase 2: the combine. That combine then whittled 72,000 applicants down to 250…Read more...

When “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli spoke with Gizmodo back in September, he told us he wouldn’t spend a single day in prison. Turns out, he was wrong.

The Seahawks released cornerback Richard Sherman today after seven seasons with the team, ending an amazing run in Seattle for one of the most iconic defensive players of all time. Sherman was a three-time first-team All-Pro selection with the Seahawks, and he was a key part of the defense that utterly destroyed…Read more...

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — The first two points of Serena Williams’s comeback ended on unforced errors, and the arena, just over half-full on a cool desert night, was silent, totally, as if smothered by a heavy quilt. Maybe they weren’t sure to expect, after the childbirth, the complications, the blood clots, the…Read more...

Yesterday, New York Daily News reporter Manish Mehta suggested that defensive lineman Muhammad Wilkerson, who was recently cut by the Jets and is currently visiting Green Bay and New Orleans, shouldn’t sign with the Saints because of “issues with alcohol.” This understandably pissed off Wilkerson’s mom.

During a recent press event, Arc System Works chief development officer Toshimichi Mori sat down to discuss his team’s next fighting game, BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle. The upcoming release’s simple controls, he said, are a way to make the game more accessible to newcomers as well as Western competitors who can’t keep up…Read more...

Golden State’s Stephen Curry rolled his right ankle coming down from a layup attempt early in the first quarter against the San Antonio Spurs last night. Here’s that:

For exclusive videos, pictures, and more, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Send us your confidential tips at tips@deadspin.com, call our confidential tips hotline at (347) 746-8471, contact our writers directly, or use our anonymous SecureDrop system.Read more...

NFL free agency begins next week and the biggest name available will be quarterback Kirk Cousins, who is sure to command a blessed shitload of money from one of five horny suitors (Denver, Minnesota, Cleveland, Arizona, the Jets). HOWEVER, there’s a very good possibility that Cousins won’t even be the best quarterback…Read more...

OpTic Gaming has been stripped of its second-place finish in a PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds tournament after officials ruled that one of its players, Ian “Bahawaka” Crowe, abused a glitch allowing him to see through walls.Read more...

io9 Wild Rumors About the Joker Spinoff Movie | Jalopnik Michigan Man Forced To Sell 20 Cars A Month Has Scrapped ‘At Least 75' Cars | Kotaku You Are Not Looking At A Manga Drawing Of Cars | Lifehacker How to Stash Your Luggage for a Couple of Hours When Traveling |Read more...

Former LSU running back Derrius Guice said he was asked by one NFL team at last week’s combine whether he liked men, and asked by another team if his mother was a prostitute. There’s a question of whether that first one is even legal, but both are, by any measure—and as already admitted by the league office—seriously…Read more...

In a massive upset in the Conference USA tournament quarterfinals, ninth-seeded Southern Miss took down number-one Middle Tennessee in overtime. The Golden Eagles, who only went 14-17 in the regular season, played step for step with their conference’s regular season champ all night, eventually outlasting them 71-68,…Read more...

Obviously, there are better and more feature-packed meat smokers out there, but if you’re just curious about the process, this Char-Broil is a fine starter model. And if you’re the DIY type, there are even some easy modifications you could implement to improve it. The Deluxe model costs twice as much as the standard…Read more...

How are things going for the Islanders these days? I was at an ostensible Islanders bar last night, with about 15 TVs in the place, and only one screen—one of the smaller ones—had the Islanders-Oilers game on. And not with sound.

A heated cushion...what’s the big deal, you say? Well, this one is powered by USB, meaning you can take it anywhere.

At some point today, the question of how to celebrate International Women’s Day on social media was considered by the Clippers. The answer, somehow, was to play up the team’s new partnership with a dating app and use the trio of Ayn Rand, Maya Angelou and Anne Frank to do so.Read more...

With three weeks until opening day, third baseman Mike Moustakas is reportedly finally signing a deal to stay in Kansas City. He’ll do so for just a fraction of what he was originally expected to bring in—a one-year, $5.5 million contract with $2.2 million in potential performance bonuses and a mutual option for a…Read more...