Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

The Saints’ Coby Fleener took the textbook definition of a helmet-to-helmet hit on a defenseless receiver from Blake Countess in the fourth quarter of the Rams-Saints game, but despite the apparent damage caused, Fleener got right back up.Read more...

In a twist of fate, Nordstrom Rack is having a clearance sale for Black Friday that’s even better than Clear the Rack. Still going strong, and going through Monday, you can get an additional 30% off Nordstrom Rack’s entire sale section, which is chock full of designer clothing in all styles.

The Texas Longhorns, despite being down 33-54 with 15 minutes to go in their game this afternoon against Gonzaga, fought all the way back to just outside striking distance, down by five with 10 seconds to play.Read more...

Raiders QB Derek Carr led receiver Amari Cooper into a hard hit from the Broncos’ Darian Stewart when he overthrew a ball intended for Cooper. As Cooper reached up to try and grab the pass, he took a hit right to the head from Stewart’s left shoulder, which led to Cooper staying down on the field for an extended…Read more...

The Chiefs have posted a winning record in all four seasons with quarterback Alex Smith and head coach Andy Reid, but they’ve only won one playoff game. Last summer, there was some talk of giving first-round draft pick QB Patrick Mahomes II a shot instead of Smith. Mahomes, a Big 12 gunslinger, was a more exciting…Read more...

Last season, Aqib Talib and Michael Crabtree had a bit of a kerfuffle when the Denver corner ripped the chain off the Oakland receiver on the field. Today, just four minutes into the Broncos-Raiders rematch, Crabtree went for payback, blocking Talib so roughly that he forced Talib off the field and onto the ground.…Read more...

The Heat and Bulls are playing this afternoon in Chicago. Probably no one should be watching this game—the Heat are meh, and the Bulls are whoa that milk belongs in the trash, man—but there are few options on a football Sunday if you’re an NBA fan, and this was the only 3:30 p.m. game on today’s slate. Your punishment…Read more...

It won’t be the sexiest hire of this weekend—you can decide for yourself whether that honor should go to Chip Kelly at UCLA or Greg Schiano at Tennessee—but the Florida Gators are reportedly finalizing a deal to hire Dan Mullen away from Mississippi State, to replace the fired Jim McElwain.Read more...

The 9-1 Eagles are beating up on the 3-7 Bears today, leading 24-0 at halftime. But the smartest play of the day goes to Kenjon Barner.Read more...

The Tennessee Volunteers just finished their worst season—at least by total wins—since 1977, going 4-8 with zero victories in SEC play. Naturally, this meant that head coach Butch Jones was out on his ass before the season even ended, replaced by interim coach and Michigan failure Brady Hoke. But with high hopes for a…Read more...

The Milwaukee Bucks lost in Utah last night. It was a frustrating game—they lost every quarter, and seemed to be flustered by Utah’s constant motion and passing, which provided a pretty stark contrast to Milwaukee’s own “eh, something good will happen, probably” offense—in what’s been a frustrating start to the season…Read more...

This trampoline is almost $70 less than usual today, and has a basketball hoop built right into the netting, because what’s the point of a trampoline if you can’t do you best Zach LaVine impressions?

Third-and-one in the first half isn’t usually the time to reach deep into the bag of tricks, but the Atlanta Falcons clearly trust wideout Mohamed Sanu to get them all the yards they need, and then some. With the ball at midfield, they had Sanu take a shotgun snap and fire a pass deep down the field to a…Read more...

Tiger Woods played in a foursome Saturday at Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, with current world number one Dustin Johnson, idiot President Donald Trump, and Brad Faxon, a PGA Tour Champions player and Fox Sports golf analyst. These casual rounds have taken on real meaning as Tiger gears up for his first…Read more...

Seeking to explain why Alex Ovechkin started the PutinTeam “social movement” earlier in the fall, a trio of Washington Post reporters went long on the Ovechkin-Putin bromance, and the genesis of Ovechkin’s PutinTeam launch. It’s a sprawling piece of work that explores both the origins and the effects of Ovechkin’s…Read more...

Senior quarterback J.T. Barrett exited yesterday’s Ohio State win over Michigan with an apparent knee injury in the 3rd quarter, but according to OSU coach Urban Meyer, the blame for that injury doesn’t lie with any Michigan defensive player. Instead, Meyer said an unidentified cameraman knocked Barrett on the knee…Read more...

I’ve always said, if there’s something the month of December needs, it’s more sweets. So you’ve finished your last five pound bag of Haribo Gold Bears and you’re ready for a resupply, Amazon’s marked it back down to $10 with Subscribe & Save, or $11 with standard shipping.Read more...

A month ago, Anaheim defenseman Kevin Bieksa took down Philly’s Radko Gudas almost instantly with his right hand when Gudas dared to challenge him.Read more...

If Cards Against Humanity has started to get a little stale, Amazon’s running a sale on on some other adult party games from the folks behind The Oatmeal and Cyanide and Happiness. Just wait to play them until Grandma has gone to bed. Or don’t.

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The SEC has fined Auburn a quarter of a million dollars for rushing the field after the Tigers beat Alabama today:Read more...

The Auburn Tigers earned their biggest win in almost exactly four years this afternoon at Jordan-Hare Stadium, defeating Alabama in the Iron Bowl with a comprehensive performance ending in a 26-14 win.Read more...

Alabama’s 25th-ranked team faced off against Minnesota in one of today’s marquee men’s basketball games, only to see its entire bench ejected after this brouhaha that, after another foul and an injury, left the team to play more than ten minutes with just three players. AND THEY CAME BACK.Read more...

Of all the dipshit ways for Dwight Howard to earn himself a $35,000 fine from the NBA, this is almost certainly the Dwight Howard-est:

Maybe you have seen this rumor circulating recently: Peru, the last team to earn their spot in the 2018 World Cup, might be passing a law that would disqualify them from participating in the World Cup, and like some dismal, shameful Christmas miracle, your very own U.S. Men’s National Team might replace them! Woo hoo!Read more...

Remember last season, when Russell Westbrook was an incredible monster, and his clutch performance was the stuff of legend? Remember how the Thunder outperformed their point differential by dominating those clutch situations? Remember how they went a shocking 26-16 in games that were within five points in the last…Read more...

Can you top a foil pan full of baked beans spilling in a minivan?

Yes, our dingus mingus of a President said something dumb and wrong, and once again he is being owned online for it. This time, in an effort to protect his image from the indignity of, umm, not being on the cover of one specific issue of one specific magazine, he made some shit up about “actually, I dumped them”:Read more...

The top of the NBA’s Eastern Conference is a little deeper than most observers expected it to be before the season. The Celtics are kicking everyone’s ass. The Pistons are good. The Cavs are becoming good. The Raptors are their usual good selves. Teams like the Pacers and 76ers and Heat and Bucks and Knicks are…Read more...

Chip Kelly has been quite the prize these last couple of weeks, as he’s been courted for vacant head coaching positions at Tennessee, Florida, and UCLA. Kelly reportedly turned down Tennessee, and was said to be choosing between Florida and UCLA last week. Word came Thursday that Kelly was suddenly “out of the…Read more...

I am very glad I didn’t say anything especially glowing about the Orlando Magic back on November 2, when they were “good,” before they remembered that they cannot truly be good, for they are the Orlando Magic. They almost fooled me!Read more...

For one day only, Amazon’s offering all-time low prices on insulated pint glasses and steampunky pressurized growlers from GrowlerWerks, which it should go without saying would make great gifts for any beer lover. Cheers!

Using a fraction of the oil than its deep frying counterparts, this $110 original Philips Airfryer claims to be a healthier cooking method for all of your favorite fried foods. Hey, every little bit helps at this time of year.

Son, we recruited you to Western Kentucky to do one thing: punt the football. And you’ve done a hell of a job of punting that football this season. But what you did right here tonight, well, you did everything that wasn’t punting a football.Read more...

Arkansas closed out a disappointing 4-8 season with a crushing 48-45 loss to Missouri tonight, and right after the game ended, they announced the long-anticipated firing of coach Bret Bielema. Arkansas had a two-touchdown lead in the first quarter, but they lost on a 19-yard field goal after a very entertaining seesaw…Read more...

“The ‘Canes are back, baby!” many an optimistic Miami fan has hollered this season, unchastened by the countless times over the years they’ve chanted this refrain without it actually coming true, and unconcerned about the fact that few non-Floridians under the age of 30 have any first-hand knowledge of this…Read more...

Some kids don’t have video games. Some kids go over to the houses of friends whose parents love them enough to buy video games and play theirs and since those kids’ parents also love them enough to buy junk food, the kids with rice cakes and analog games at home feast on Pringles and Gushers while watching their…Read more...

The first Thanksgiving in 1621 was held by religious fanatics to properly express gratitude to their God for a bountiful harvest. 396 years later, the holiday is recognized by football teams getting in fights with each other.Read more...

According to a report from ESPN, Cavaliers point guard Derrick Rose has taken a leave of absence from the team in order to re-evaluate his NBA future.

Marouane Fellaini is suing New Balance for £2 million in damages after the shoe brand prematurely terminated his contract, which the company said it did because Fellaini wore the shoes without the logo, which Fellaini said he did because the shoes were pieces of crap that hurt his feet, and the logo peeled off. And…Read more...

It’s been almost four years since Washington’s slap-dick field cost them Robert Griffin III’s knee, and possibly career. Somehow, they are still letting things like happen:

Tennessee receiver Jauan Jennings was kicked off the team earlier this week after he went on a expletive-laden rant against the school’s coaching staff. Jennings has missed almost the entire season with a wrist injury, although according to him, he was close to returning for the Volunteers’ game against Vanderbilt…Read more...

Unlike many outdoor or outdoor-adjacent sports, climbing requires a lot of crap. When I just went on runs everyday, all I needed were some shoes, but now that I’ve been climbing, I need to maintain and prune a small army of very specific items. There is an essentially limitless arsenal of shit available to enhance…Read more...

On Saturday night, WWE put on one of its typically excellent TakeOver specials from its NXT developmental brand at the Toyota Center in Houston. Featuring a breakout performance from Velveteen Dream, an excellent world title match with a surprising ending, and the return of the beloved “WarGames” cage match gimmick,…Read more...

It’s FINALLY that time of year where it’s socially acceptable to have a Christmas tree up in your house. If you’re in the market for a new artificial one, Amazon is discounting a bunch of trees made by National Tree. These are top-of-the-line trees that look convincingly real and come in a variety of species. Most of…Read more...

The best part about a sports team you don’t care about massively underachieving is witnessing the accompanying freakout from people who very much do care about the team. The Cowboys looked pitiful in yesterday’s loss to the Chargers, and now a team that was supposed to be a Super Bowl contender coming off a 13-3…Read more...

In the 1970s, the Federal Bureau of Investigation futilely expended significant resources to block the landmark porn film Deep Throat from being shown. The name, of course, would become even more famous for its later involvement in the Watergate cover-up. As part of the feds’ sweeping probe, it turns out, the feds…Read more...

The Greenco G Pen Elite was already one of the best vaporizers for the money at its usual $150, but for Black Friday, you can get it for an all-time low $85 with promo code KINJA-BFCM.Read more...

If you’ve ever eaten at a nice steakhouse, you were probably eating sous-vide meat. Here’s a secret though: It’s really easy to get those kinds of results yourself, and Amazon’s here to help with a $119 deal on Anova’s Wi-Fi sous-vide circulator. That’s a few bucks more than the early Black Friday deal they ran on…Read more...