Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

This week, Tonya Harding placed third in the Dancing With The Stars final. As we were reminded throughout the (blessedly) brief season, Harding was the first American woman to land a triple axel in competition, which she did in 1991. But Harding was not the first woman ever to do this jump—that distinction belongs to…Read more...

One of my favorite things about covering and following pro wrestling is that it’s basically infinite. There has just been so much pro wrestling all over the world for so many decades that there will always be more interesting stories and chunks of strange history uncovered, more footage found that nobody had ever seen…Read more...

C.J. Harris was supposed to be standing on the sidelines in an Auburn uniform come this fall. Now, thanks to the NCAA’s outdated guidelines on medicinal marijuana, he’ll watch his lifelong favorite team from the stands.

You all uploaded your thoughts on the best wireless routers this week, and four emerged from the packet to make the finals. Two of them are mesh systems, and two are more traditional routers, so we’re going to set up a firewall and have two distinct votes, and two champions.

This is a season of purgatory for four-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome. In a normal year, the British rider would be gearing up to defend his three straight yellow jerseys and tailoring his entire season around the Tour, as he’s done every year since he became a contender. However, Froome failed a drug test…Read more...

The verdict is in on Chris Paul, who was hurting a whole lot at the end of the Rockets’ Game 5 win: He’s out for Saturday.

Children are obsessive types. I knew more about dinosaurs as a 7-year-old than I will ever know about anything ever. But sometimes, an assignment latches onto our sponge-like little brains and never lets go.

The NFL changed its kickoff rule this offseason, in an attempt to reduce head injuries resulting from the collisions that often ensued when 11 players got a running start in pursuit of one player moving at full speed in the opposite direction. The changes will be reviewed after the 2018 season. But Ravens head coach…Read more...

The Rememberer’s art is, for the most part, a lonely one. That is kind of portentous and serious-sounding, but it also seemed like a better way to begin this post than the thought it was intended to convey, which is “if you are someone who remembers a lot of rando middle reliever dudes from your youth, it’s probably…Read more...

A team of what appeared to be adult major league athletes suited up for the Texas Rangers on Thursday night. They were playing the third-worst team in baseball, the currently skipper-less Royals. To look at them, and to look at their opponents, you had to think they at least had a chance. What could go wrong?Read more...

Chris Paul is, let’s say, a competitive person, probably to an unpleasant degree. He is also among the all-time greats at his position and finally, in his 13th season, making a deep run into the postseason. And he is also someone who, in the final minute of a conference finals Game 5, with a mere four-point lead over…Read more...

Yesterday, the Indianapolis Star reported that USA Gymnastics officials helped Larry Nassar provide a cover story for why he was absent from major competitions in late 2015 while the organization conducted its internal investigation into his sexual abuse of gymnasts. (USAG honored his request to tell people that he…Read more...

South Carolina women’s basketball head coach Dawn Staley settled her lawsuit against Missouri athletic director Jim Sterk on Thursday. The decision comes four months after Sterk went on a radio show and accused the Gamecocks coach of promoting a hostile fan atmosphere—back in January, when the two teams played at…Read more...

Keith Hernandez played his last big league baseball game the same year I was born. I’ve never even seen Seinfeld—not just the arc in which Hernandez dates Elaine, but any episode at all. And yet, in the year two thousand and eighteen, Keith Hernandez is one of the baseball figures I would be most likely to recognize…Read more...

Jalopnik The Toyota RAV4 Has Become The Automotive Equivalent Of Selling Out | Gizmodo Dozens of American News Sites Blocked in Europe as GDPR Goes Into Effect Today | Kotaku A Simple Moral Quandary Stumped My D&D Group For Two Hours | Lifehacker How to Find Out How Many Stops Away Your Amazon Delivery Is |Read more...

The pre-series nightmare, for anyone who is a Warriors fan or particularly despises the Rockets’ brand of basketball, went something like this: The Warriors, a free-flowing, elegant offensive team that so often makes the experience of watching them feel transcendent, would be outpaced by the cold calculations of the…Read more...

Yes, it’s happening again. Nordstrom Rack has brought back their Clear the Rack sale and it’s full (and I mean FULL) of really incredible deals. Designer clothing, brands you’ve never heard of, everything in clearance an extra 25% off their already discounted prices.Read more...

In a game that saw James Harden go 0-for-11 from three point range, the Houston Rockets didn’t have to reckon with disaster. Instead, they beat the Warriors with defense, winning Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals 98-94 by neutralizing some of the toughest-to-guard players in the NBA.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...

Ahead of his team’s Game 5 matchup with the Rockets tonight, Warriors coach Steve Kerr took time to blast the NFL for its new rule banning players from kneeling during the national anthem. Kerr called the policy, which compels all NFL players to stand for the anthem or stay in the locker room while it’s played,…Read more...

Boy, that’s a lot of hyphens. LSU sophomore pitcher Todd Peterson crushed a 12th-inning double that drove in what proved to be the winning runs in his very first collegiate at-bat tonight against South Carolina at the SEC tournament.Read more...

According to a report from Jezebel (Gizmodo Media Group’s shark blog), hit CBS sitcom Kevin Can Wait has been canceled after two seasons and 48 laugh-packed episodes. This national travesty happened at some point in the last two weeks, but the loyal fan community of “Waiters” is already clamoring for a reboot of the…Read more...

The Tennis Integrity Unit, an anti-corruption watchdog, ruled today that Argentinian player Nicolas Kicker fixed two professional matches three years ago. Kicker, currently ranked No. 84 on the men’s tour, was “found guilty of contriving the outcome” of two matches in 2015—one at the ATP Challenger in Padova, Italy…Read more...

Gizmodo Google Just Turned a Huge Corner in the Smart Speaker Game | Jalopnik How One Recalled SUV Destroyed $45 Million In Cars, Burned A Massive Ship, And Sparked A Legal Battle Between Ford And BMW | Kotaku A Simple Moral Quandary Stumped My D&D Group For Two Hours | Lifehacker How to Protect Your Router From the…Read more...

I’m firmly of the belief that your car is the best place for a Qi charger, but if you don’t want to shell out $50 for iOttie’s (excellent) One Touch Wireless dash mount, TaoTronics now has a more affordable option on the market.

The Phillies have been winning ballgames, more than anyone expected through this point in May. Some attribute that to pumping up the rotation with Jake Arrieta, Odubel Herrera’s scorching start, or Gabe Kapler’s cosmic management, but there also are the little things that don’t come through in the box score, like…Read more...

The Wall Street Journal went deep on money problems in Bristol today in an article titled “How a Weakened ESPN Became Consumed by Politics.” The feature, like many others that have come before, presents as a fact that the Worldwide Leader is hemorrhaging subscribers due to a perceived shift to the left in its sports…Read more...

To replace the late Jim Johannson, who died in January, USA Hockey has hired former NHL and international goalie John Vanbiesbrouck as assistant executive direct of hockey operations. Aside from his on-ice play, Vanbiesbrouck might be best remembered for what he did after his 2002 retirement, when he took over the…Read more...

Kevin Can Wait has officially been cancelled for (::looks at watch::) a little over a week now, which means it’s time to reboot it.

Ole Miss had a golden opportunity to take a 3-1 lead into the ninth inning of today’s SEC Tournament elimination game against Georgia. Instead, pitcher Parker Caracci flubbed what should have been the most routine possible toss home and allowed Georgia to score two runs, tying the game and eventually sending it to…Read more...

The NFL’s owners got everything they wanted with the anthem rules they approved yesterday, but now they get this:Read more...

Richie Incognito was placed on “involuntary psychiatric hold” yesterday after police responded to a 911 call at a gym in Boca Raton, Fla. where Incognito was said to be accosting staff and another patron. Local police have since released their report from the incident, in which they say Incognito was acting jumpy and…Read more...

Yesterday, Roger Goodell proudly unveiled the NFL’s new policy regarding players and the national anthem. A lot of people hated it and President Donald Trump loved it, but the league made sure to note that the policy passed with a “unanimous” vote by the owners. That’s what mattered, that the obscenely rich guys…Read more...

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. The plan was just to keep on honking away like big idiots about the NBA playoffs for as long as we possibly could, and Drew and I were certainly ready to hold up our end of that bargain. But the stupendous lameness of the NBA playoffs at this moment and the simultaneous pyrotechnic…Read more...

A lesson for everyone, taught to this basketball child by Rudy Gobert: Do not, under any circumstances, bring that weak shit, or it will be obliterated.

A month ago at Wednesday Night Fights, a local weekly tournament in southern California, Dawn “Yohosie” Hosie was matched against a player who goes by RazorX. His Adult Gohan lineup was a familiar sight, but Hosie’s lead-off fighter was Gotenks, who used to be one of Dragon Ball FighterZ’s more obscure characters.…Read more...

Welcome back to Dead Letters, the feature in which we reprint our favorite reader mail. We should take this moment to remind you that all emails to Deadspin and its editors and writers are on the record unless otherwise specified.

Our beloved colleague Dave McKenna tells good stories. He’s done a lot of cool shit, met many weird people in weird ways, and had his run-ins with the law. And after selfishly squirreling all his stories away in Slack and our brains for years, we’ve realized we have a societal obligation to share.Read more...

These here NBA Playoffs have been terminally boring. They have been so dull and charmless and forgettable that the one night of actual exciting basketball fans have enjoyed somehow still featured two teams taking 3-0 leads in second-round series. Even Rockets-Warriors, this season’s most anticipated series and de…Read more...

You’ve seen plenty of booming Aaron Judge dingers since the big guy entered the league, but I think you will particularly enjoy this 471-foot yam he mashed last night, in part because it pairs so well with Ryan Ruocco’s call:

CNN has published an extensive report detailing accusations of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior against 80-year-old actor Morgan Freeman. In all, the reporters spoke with 16 women—eight victims and witnesses.

The next time you go shopping in the big orange hardware store, take a moment to consider what these employees have to say about what life is really like working for Home Depot.Read more...

One day during the 2017 offseason, I went to Paul Brown Stadium to interview Cincinnati Bengals owner Mike Brown. Like a lot of grandfathers, Brown enjoys reading history books. At the stadium, his all-glass office is ringed in bookshelves that run partway up the walls, though not so far that they obscure a dazzling…Read more...

Listen. I get it, really, I do—your football team’s strung together a couple 10-win seasons; you won a few bowl games; you even signed your coach to a shiny 10-year deal. Things are looking up, as they say, and you want to strike while the iron’s hot. But when Northwestern, the most uninteresting team with the loudest…Read more...

Arsenal have been in the midst of an identity crisis for some time now. Once it became clear that the club’s iconic, long-serving manager Arsène Wenger had seen his once-adamantine grasp on the levers of success steadily loosen over the years—a slackening some overly unsympathetic spectators might say had reached…Read more...

In June 2015, Maggie Nichols and her coach Sarah Jantzi reported to USA Gymnastics officials that the gymnast had been sexually abused by team doctor Larry Nassar. Their complaints, which were passed onto then-CEO Steve Penny, prompted a five-week internal investigation during which Nichols, Aly Raisman, and McKayla…Read more...

Just after the NFL introduced its new and grotesquely vague anthem policy, Yahoo Sports reported that the league hired a Washington consulting firm to poll Americans about whether they believed Colin Kaepernick should’ve been signed by an NFL team. The study, which was conducted four months into Kaepernick’s 2017 free…Read more...

When it was time to change her husband Greg’s diaper, Deb Ploetz followed a routine. First, she would lead him to the bathroom of their rental house in North Little Rock, Arkansas, where they had moved to in February of 2015—in part to be closer to Deb’s family, and in part because memory care facilities in Texas and…Read more...

Kotaku Detroit: Become Human: The Kotaku Review | io9 Maybe Don’t Believe Those Wild Rumors About Familiar Faces in Black Panther 2 | Jalopnik Mother Killed, Child In Critical Condition After Being Hit By Street Racing Teens | Vitals This Ring Is Nearly the Perfect Minimalist Fitness Tracker |Read more...

It’s a funny thing. Year after year you’re told “this is your year,” and it never is, and then, finally, when no one thinks you matter anymore ... it might be your year.