Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

Since Sochi, the women’s ski racing field has undergone a serious shake-up. Sure, the men have had some big-name retirements since 2014 (Bode Miller, Ivica Kostelić, Mario Matt, Benjamin Raich). But the women were practically swept of their previous all-stars: As they hit 30 (or came close), an entire generation of…Read more...

Just three seconds into last night’s Avs-Blues contest, Colorado’s Gabriel Landeskog and St. Louis’s Brayden Schenn decided to randomly drop the gloves and have a brawl in open ice. The initial violence in itself was 20 seconds of intensity, but the fight really heated up and came to a climax when Landeskog grabbed a…Read more...

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: ski racing is an insanely exciting sport. And not (only) because of the crashes.

Sixers GM Bryan Colangelo held a brief scrum with reporters today to update everyone on the status of No. 1 overall draft pick Markelle Fultz, who has not seen the court much this year after injuring his shoulder and then developing what appears to be a pretty serious case of the yips. So how is Fultz progressing?

The Pirates have released a statement in response to reports that catcher Elias Diaz’s mother has been kidnapped in Venezuela:

“You always have that in the back of your head, wanting to beat the Germans. And I did it.” —Erin Hamlin, after winning the 2009 FIL World Championships and ending a 99-race winning streak by German women in top-level luge competitions.

We’re opening the coolest pack in the streets today on Let’s Remember Some Guys: 1992 Upper Deck! That means we got three times the Ken Griffey Jr. to remember, a bunch of utility guys with mustaches, and Nolan Ryan bonding with a child, all in a pack that our own David Roth calls, “catcher-ful.”Read more...

The rules are simple: make a basket, earn a marker, and try to complete a tic-tac-toe. Let me amend that: the rules are simple only if you’ve ever heard of tic-tac-toe before.Read more...

Mets legend Bud Harrelson has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, robbing him of his memories of everything from his old teammates to the streets in his neighborhood. And, heartbreakingly, he knows exactly what’s happening to him. [NY Post]

On Thursday, the Boston Herald published a post headlined “Tom Brady wants to get paid like Jimmy G, or he’ll skip OTAs.” On Friday, it had been deleted and replaced with an error message. A Boston radio show claimed “Nick in Boston” had tricked the reporter, Ron Borges, into writing the fake story after texting him…Read more...

Elevation Lab’s Anchor headphone stand is so simple, but so genius, that it really ought to be built into every desk in existence. Nominally, it’s a hook to store your headphones so they don’t take up desk space, but you could also use it for hats, jackets, umbrellas, or really anything else that hangs.Read more...

Tongan Pita Taufatofua, last seen representing his country in taekwondo at the Rio Summer Games, is in Pyeongchang to compete in cross-country skiing at these Winter Olympics. He’s once again shirtless and oiled-up, despite the sub-freezing temperature.Read more...

The trade deadline has come and gone, and to the surprise of no one, the Lakers did not manage to clear any additional cap space by finding someone to take on Luol Deng and the rest of the four-year, $72 million contract that he signed in 2016.Read more...

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea—Hours before the opening ceremony, United States Olympic Committee board of directors chairman Larry Probst opened the organization’s first press conference of the Pyeongchang Olympics with an acknowledgement. “I want to address upfront what many of you came here rightly to discuss,” he said,…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...

A group of 47 Russian athletes and coaches who challenged the International Olympic Committee’s decision to bar them from participating in this year’s games has been shut down by an appeals court.Read more...

Alexei Bychenko, a figure skater representing Israel, competed today in the team event. He did very well, putting out one of the few clean programs of the men’s competition. After the ten men skated, he found himself in second place behind Shoma Uno of Japan. This was a very unexpected, positive result for Bychenko.

Figure skater Nathan Chen, one of the most hyped American athletes heading into the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, made his Olympic debut tonight, and unfortunately, his performance was a major disappointment.

This is the first Winter Olympics in which single figure skaters can perform to music with lyrics, allowing for some wonderful creative freedom. Germany’s Paul Fentz has chosen to use it to treat the world to Paul Anka’s swing jazz cover of “Wonderwall.”Read more...

The University of New Mexico announced today that it has suspended football coach Bob Davie for 30 days following an outside investigation of his program. As Geoff Grammer of the Albuquerque Journal pointed out, Davie’s announced punishment comes one day after National Signing Day, even though the investigation’s…Read more...

Colorado State reportedly plans to fire men’s basketball coach Larry Eustachy, while players boycotted practice today over frustration with the athletics department.Read more...

The figure skating competition at the Pyeongchang Games is starting tonight. It’s not the one that you’re probably familiar with, the event that turned Brian Boitano, Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hamill, and even Tara Lipinksi into household names. Those skaters won gold in the individual medal contests; back when they…Read more...

Georgia Tech men’s basketball coach Josh Pastner is being sued in Pima County Superior Court for sexual battery, sexual assault, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. One of the parties whom Pastner filed a defamation suit against earlier this year filed a counterclaim today accusing the Yellow Jackets…Read more...

Earlier today on an quarterly earnings call, Activision Blizzard announced that it plans to add new franchises and cities to the Overwatch League in its second season. The Compete staff came up with a few suggestions for those teams’ names. Some were very good; others, quite bad. Here they are, ranked best to worst.

Because soccer fans are a famously circumspect, magnanimous, and selfless bunch, they often continue to wish the best for players that once represented their beloved clubs but have since moved on to pastures new. Hence why Liverpool fans have to be downright brimming with pride and delight after seeing former Red…Read more...

On Wednesday, USA Gymnastics announced a new fund, administered by an unnamed third party, that will provide support for counseling services for gymnasts who have been sexually abused. It’s a small, limited step forward, and—as I noted yesterday—it’s clearly about public relations. It also, however, shows just how…Read more...

Wow, what a frickin’ day. The NBA trade deadline came and passed, LeBron James traded half the players in the league for the other half, and there’s a lot of wreckage to sort through! As is tradition around here, we’re here to help out, with our in depth takes on each trade.Read more...

Fresh off winning his second-straight Australian Open, Roger Federer has taken a wild card to play Rotterdam next week. In his old age/late empire, Federer has opted for a light tournament schedule, and he hasn’t played this particular 500-level event since 2012. But he lost just two sets at the Australian Open,…Read more...

Ohio State forward Keita Bates-Diop is a man of many talents; none of them is more important for the Buckeyes than his ability to be precisely the kind of multi-purpose offensive spear that turns an otherwise average attack attack into one of the best in the country.Read more...

At the end of his first-ever appearance as Assistant District Attorney Rafael Barba on the 14th season of Law & Order: SVU, actor Raúl Esparza takes off his leather belt, hands it to a defendant in the jury box, and asks him to choke him with it.

No major sporting event has less betting surrounding it than the Olympics. I’m not sure why that is, but trust me, it’s true. You haven’t hit rock bottom until you’ve spent 30 minutes unsuccessfully scouring the internet trying to place a bet on a massive bobsled underdog.

A few months after trading for quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, the 49ers have reportedly signed him to a huge extension. NBC Bay Area’s Raj Mathai first reported the extension. Although Mike Garafolo said the QB’s getting a record-high $137.5 million over five years, because of the flimsy nature of NFL contracts, that…Read more...

Jason Kelce—dressed in a Mummers outfit from the Avalon String Band—delivered an absolutely bonkers five-minute promo at the Eagles’ victory parade. He talked about team executive Howie Roseman losing his power struggle with Chip Kelly, called Ringer doofus Mike Lombardi a “clown,” sarcastically listed off a bunch of…Read more...

The Olympics start tomorrow. Figure skating! Bobsleigh! International politics! Russian doping! A chance to tell everyone about how the Olympics is a global con that leaves host cities in crippling debt! Whatever your hobby horse, there’s plenty to get excited about right now. With that in mind, let’s check in on what…Read more...

Drew Magary’s Thursday Afternoon NFL Dick Joke Jamboroo runs every Thursday during the NFL season. Email Drew here. Buy his book here.

Olympic distance runner and American record holder David Torrence was found dead last August in his swimming pool in Scottsdale, Ariz. Today, Scottsdale police told Deadspin that Torrence’s death has officially been ruled an accident.Read more...

Yesterday, partnered Twitch streamer and Fortnite pro Jordan “Scubby” Selleck said on a stream that if anyone he knew threatened suicide, “I would dare them to do it, and then I would never talk to them again.” (The topic came up after another Twitch streamer said she had been having suicidal ideations.) Scubby also…Read more...

Let’s face it: Almost everyone prefers the Summer Olympics to the Winter Games. Basketball, swimming and beach volleyball are much easier sells to viewers than the likes of biathlon, skeleton and luge. The Winter Olympics also have way more time-based events, where athletes don’t directly face off against their…Read more...

Not only have the Cavaliers given Isaiah Thomas and Channing Frye the boot today, but they’re now trading four more players. (Yes, “the Cavaliers” can reasonably be interpreted as “LeBron James.”) Adios to Jae Crowder, Derrick Rose, Iman Shumpert, and Dwyane Wade. There goes a third of the roster.Read more...

On Feb. 5, 1988, 30 years ago this week, professional wrestling returned to prime time broadcast network television after a decades-long absence. WWE had been running semi-monthly Saturday Night’s Main Event specials in the Saturday Night Live time slot on NBC for almost three years before it got the green light for…Read more...

The Eagles’ Super Bowl parade is currently underway, and center Jason Kelce got things started on the right note. Philly fans have since livened up the festivities in their particular way.

After just 15 games as an active member of the Cavaliers, Isaiah Thomas is on his way out of Cleveland. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported this morning that the Cavs were acquiring Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance from the Lakers, with the Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor first reporting that Isaiah Thomas and Channing Frye…Read more...

At last night’s Next Level Battle Circuit, the mic was somehow unoccupied right before Arturo “Sabin” Sanchez’s match against a player who goes by SonicSol, as all the other commentators had seemingly vacated the stream at the same time. Rather than play in silence, Sanchez decided to call his own match.Read more...

USWNT stalwart Sydney Leroux Dwyer and her husband, Orlando City striker Dom Dwyer, have produced one of the premier sports babies with their son Cassius. Sydney bolstered her 17-month-old’s growing reputation for reliable adorability yesterday with an Instagram video of a little trick she taught him that doubles as a…Read more...

The Philadelphia Eagles’ Super Bowl parade is today. Jason Kelce—dressed as a Mummer—is already having a good time, as you can see from this clip from Action News.Read more...

The UFC has its problems, but one stands out as more serious and scary than the rest: Fewer and fewer people are interested in what it’s selling.

Earlier in the playoffs, we had a small discussion over whether it was better to be a mopey fatalist of a fan who always braces for the worst, or to be an oblivious, preening asswipe… the kind of fan that will talk shit even when they’re down by 40. Well, now that the Eagles have won the Super Bowl, I have my answer.…Read more...

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is reporting that Homeland Security investigators searched the apartment of former Olympic swimming coach Sean Hutchison on Tuesday. Authorities were reportedly looking for evidence that the 46-year-old had taken nude photos of a swimmer he’s been accused of sexually abusing more than a…Read more...

io9 In Venom’s First Trailer, Venom Is Nowhere to Be Found | Kotaku Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition Keeps Things Nice And Simple | Jalopnik How The Ford Ranger Raptor Measures Up To The Real Raptor | Lifehacker The Best Montreal Tips From Our Readers |Read more...

People in Philadelphia were pretty excited when the Eagles won the Super Bowl. They rushed into the streets by the thousands. Many of them also put on a show for the local news cameras that were rolling well into the night. Some stations stayed on air all night.Read more...