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Joe Flaherty’s obituary for Sonny Liston originally appeared in The Village Voice (January 14, 1971) and is also featured in At the Fights. It appears here with permission.

Today, LeBron James congratulated himself for scoring his 30,000th career point, a feat he will likely accomplish tonight as he’s just seven points shy of the mark.

Time for your weekly edition of the Deadspin Funbag. Got something on your mind? Email the Funbag. Today, we’re talking pancakes, crooked refs, point guards, meat, and more.

Pro wrestler Enzo Amore, whose real name is Eric Arndt, was released by WWE today. In a statement announcing his suspension yesterday, WWE said that the organization has “has zero tolerance for matters involving sexual harassment or sexual assault.”

Give a Larabars a try with this variety box, just $18 after the $6 off coupon. If you’re unfamiliar with Larabars, they’re gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free, vegan bars, mostly made from dates. This brand has a bunch of interesting flavors, blueberry muffin is my personal favorite, and this variety box is a good…Read more...

In an interview with ESPN earlier today, surprise Australian Open quarterfinalist Tennys Sandgren said he ran a program to clear out his tweets, like the one where he believed that Hillary Clinton participated in a Satanic ritual. At the time of the interview, the program had cleared several consecutive months of…Read more...

The Undertaker last appeared at WrestleMania 33 in April. He lost to Roman Reigns. WWE played it up as Undertaker’s last match. On Monday night, he returned to WWE Raw last night for Raw 25, an episode celebrating the show’s 25th year on the air. It was lame.

DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis are now 63 games into their career together, and the Pelicans are 34-29 over that span. That’s not any sort of record to be ashamed of, but it’s also just a little too heavy in the loss column to provide any assurance that Boogie and AD’s partnership will survive in the long term,…Read more...

Duke managed to edge out Kentucky and land five-star recruit Zion Williamson on Saturday, meaning the Blue Devils now have the top three high school players in the country from the class of 2018. This left Wildcats coach John Calipari facing some questions about his recruiting strategy at a press conference on Monday.Read more...

If you’ve been following the sentencing of Larry Nassar, the former Michigan State and USA Gymnastics team physician who sexually abused more than a 100 women and girls under the guise of medical treatment, you’ve probably heard John Geddert’s name mentioned a lot. Many of the survivors have called out Geddert, a…Read more...

The Cavaliers are imploding; the Bucks fired their coach; the Rockets are tunneling into other teams’ locker rooms to make war; even the Celtics have lost three straight and seem wobbly for the first time since opening night. Stuff’s kind of weird around the NBA right now, is what I am saying.Read more...

When Jigar Desai got a text from his friend Brian Halloran after the NFC title game Sunday, he said it wasn’t him in the already-viral video.Read more...

If you had to pick a single image to represent Arsenal’s enduring subjugation in English soccer’s hierarchy, you could do a lot worse than one showing Robin van Persie lifting the Premier League trophy. van Persie famously pined for that title after failing to win it with Arsenal after nearly a decade of trying, and…Read more...

We’re smack dab in the middle of post-holidays winter, when all there is to do is be pissed off about the fact that there’s nothing to look forward to in the immediate future other than some dark, cold days. This wears on everybody, but it seems to be wearing on NBA players in particular.

Start off your day with discounts on Amazon’s new Echo Spot, a DEWALT tool kit, a refurbished iMac, and more.Read more...

Oscar nominations were announced early this morning in Los Angeles, setting the stage for what’s sure to be a politically charged ceremony similar to the Golden Globes earlier this year. Never ones to turn down a good montage, the Academy’s livestream opened with a stirring tribute to itself before cutting to hosts…Read more...

Amazon’s new Echo Spot is like an adorably rounded Echo Show, and as a consequence, one of the best alarm clocks ever made. But unlike all of its Echo brethren, Amazon’s never run a discount on it, until today.

If you have any big home improvement projects on the horizon, today’s DEWALT deal on Amazon might be a great investment.

The Cavaliers remain messy in every relevant sense. Having now dropped six of their last eight, they spent part of Monday’s off-day in a team meeting which featured the hot topic of whether or not Kevin Love was really sick this weekend.Read more...

Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson East released a searing video tonight, tearing apart USA Gymnastics for how the organization handled athletes’ reports of sexual abuse by doctor Larry Nassar, who is currently being sentenced for 10 counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.Read more...

USA Gymnastics has announced the suspension of John Geddert, who worked with disgraced doctor Larry Nassar—now being sentenced for sexual abuse of more than 150 women, including scores of gymnasts whom he treated—at two different gyms.Read more...

The trial of former NFL player Monty Grow began today in Miami, more than a year after he was first indicted for helping to engineer a scheme that netted more than $20 million from a government program that helps military members and veterans receive health care.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...

There are 23 days until pitchers and catchers begin reporting for spring training. There are somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 free-agent players who remain unsigned.Read more...

Aaron Pico is immune to boring fights. He’s fought three times, and each time, someone was getting peeled off the mat to the collective horror of the audience. (The first time, it was him.) Pico is one of the biggest prospects in the sport, owing largely to his impressive showing at the 2016 Olympic freestyle…Read more...

While speaking with reporters at an NCAA conference in Indianapolis last Thursday, NCAA president Mark Emmert was asked to comment on Michigan State’s role in abetting Larry Nassar’s years of sexual abuse while he worked as a team doctor for the university’s women’s gymnastics and rowing teams. His response was both…Read more...

A steady procession of girls, women, and mothers stood to face Larry Nassar today for the fifth day of his extensive sentencing hearing in Ingham County Circuit Court in Lansing, Michigan. When the hearing began, 88 people were scheduled to give statements on Nassar’s serial sexual abuse, but now 144 victim impact…Read more...

Anyone monitoring Philadelphia’s reaction to the Super Bowl-bound Eagles has presumably seen the video of the guy in the Brian Dawkins jersey running into a pillar. That instant classic of the Idiot Gets Hurt genre was shot from inside the subway train, and is now joined by a companion piece—an alternate angle shot…Read more...

Two NFL Network executives, Mike Mandt and Dan Dieffenbach, are out according to network spokesperson Alex Riethmiller, who declined any further comment. But sources tell Deadspin the pair’s exit is related to an internal investigation into reports of sexual harassment at the network, being overseen by the law firm…Read more...

Milwaukee Bucks coach Jason Kidd was fired by the team today, per Adrian Wojnarowski. Woj’s sources chalked it up to a plethora of factors.Read more...

Through all of 2017 and then through the first week of the Australian Open, Rafa and Fed continued their merciless march through what was supposed to be the next crop of tennis contenders. A whole generation of hopes and dreams have been splattered across their windshields. The men’s game still awaits someone young,…Read more...

“It’s spectacular to watch him every day. He is the best player there is and the best there will ever be,” said first-year Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde yesterday after witnessing yet another breathtaking display of excellence by Lionel Messi in his team’s 5-0 victory over Real Betis. Messi scored twice, assisted…Read more...

After defeating the Indiana Hoosiers last Friday, Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo was asked about the Larry Nassar case and the leadership of MSU president Lou Anna Simon. MSU has come under fire after its board of trustees voted in support of Simon on Friday, even though it was recently revealed that Simon…Read more...

Great cricket catches are all about precariousness. There’s a great deal of that built into the process of handling a live cricket ball in flight, with nothing but your bare hands, while also trying to stay inbounds, and the best cricket catches are the ones in which that tension is closest to the surface. When two…Read more...

American tennis player Tennys Sandgren, Pizzagate truther and guy who said America can’t be racist because it elected a black president, thinks the alt-right has some “interesting” ideas. This came to light at the Australian Open during today’s post-match presser when a reporter asked Sandgren about his social media…Read more...

Former Michigan State and USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar will spend the rest of his life in prison for the years of sexual abuse he committed against scores of gymnasts in his care, but so far, the people and institutions who enabled him have faced very few consequences. That changed slightly today, when USA…Read more...

The Senate on Monday voted 81 to 18 to reopen the federal government, bringing a three-day shutdown to an end.

The most miserable way to watch your favorite team lose a big game is unquestionably through a miraculous comeback like Falcons fans endured last year. But what about the two other extreme options, a close game that comes down to the wire or a game that was never competitive to begin with? This year’s NFL playoffs…Read more...

The Lakers blew the Knicks out 127-107 last night, thanks to a 29-point, 10-assist night from Jordan Clarkson off the bench. What was the secret to their success?

It’s Monday morning in Philadelphia, and the city is still here. Fans rushed to the streets after the Eagles routed the Vikings 38-7 last night. And despite some dire predictions and preemptively greased up poles, fans were apparently pretty well behaved. (The cops say there were only six Eagles-related arrests all…Read more...

Today is Day 5 of Larry Nassar’s sentencing in a Michigan courtroom. Last week, more than 80 women spoke about how Nassar sexually abused them under the guise of medical treatment. Today, the 95th survivor in these proceedings gave a doozy a statement in Judge Rosmarie Aquilina’s court.

Broadly speaking, America has never been great on shame. Pride has always been a strong suit, and fucking things up in shameful and improbable ways was the national pastime long before a more racist version of Slimer from Ghostbusters got elected president, but shame just sort of never caught on here in the way that…Read more...

It probably won’t enter the annals of all-time great postseason plays, mostly because it was done in service of extending the Patriots’ exhausting run of dominance and only served to thwart Blake Bortles, but Stephon Gilmore’s fourth-quarter swat is one of the finest plays you’ll ever see in a big moment.Read more...

It’s Monday in Jacksonville.Read more...

And hand-eye coordination, and anticipation, and soft touch, foot speed, visual acuity, etc.Read more...

io9 The First, Cryptic Teases for the Setting of the Next Cloverfield Movie | The A.V. Club Look, we have no idea what the hell Shameless is doing right now, either | Jalopnik Here’s What China’s GAC Has To Do To Sell Cars In America | Kotaku The Directors Of Monster Hunter…Read more...

I’m not saying the AFC title game was fixed for the Patriots, but holy shit that was some powerful home field advantage. The Jacksonville Jaguars were flagged six times for 98 yards while the Patriots were called once, for a holding penalty on a kickoff, for 10 yards. The last time any team was called for only one…Read more...

The Eagles pulverized the Vikings, and, greased poles or no, the party spilled out of the stadium and extended seemingly the length of Broad Street. Here are some brief snapshots of Philadelphia, which we presume has canceled Monday.Read more...

Let’s say your house is on fire, or overrun by a gang of psychotic raccoons. You don’t hesitate—you take out your phone, and you call the fire department, or animal control, and then firemen/raccoon-wranglers are promptly dispatched to your home. These are well-established protocols, essential to the maintenance of a…Read more...

It’s the perfect time to plan for a a big run (or finish off training for an upcoming race). Nike has the perfect sale for those of us that need to update their workout wardrobe, because god knows how long you’ve had those leggings or basketball shorts for. For the next few days, they’re taking up to 50% off over 500…Read more...