Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

The words “elbow” and “damage” can easily be terrifying when used together in any headline about a pitcher, much less one who could potentially be among the greatest players of his generation and certainly among the most fascinating, but do not fret (that much). Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports has reported that Shohei…Read more...

Joel Embiid is talented and charming and big, a combination of qualities which can reasonably be quite daunting in anyone, but especially so in a basketball player. Karl-Anthony Towns’s strategy for handling all that during the second quarter tonight was just to panic-jump, arms outstretched, at a random point along…Read more...

Eight weeks after he went down with a broken collarbone and seemingly took the Packers’ playoff hopes down with him, Aaron Rodgers has been medically cleared to return—with, of course, those playoff hopes still alive and now more fearsome than ever.

We talk about LeBron James and his team pretty often around here, but their 123-114 win over Atlanta tonight (not as close as it appears) was yet another reminder of how the King can take your breath away. The Cavs always dominate the Hawks—they’ve hit in NBA-record 25 threes against them twice—and this was just…Read more...

Madison Square Garden looks like an extremely fun place to be tonight, as two teams filled with intriguing young talents keep going back and forth with each other through three quarters. The game’s excitement peaked (so far) with this pulse-pounding two minutes of basketball, which kicked off with a Lonzo Ball slam…Read more...

Olympic runner and convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius was hurt in a fight with another inmate that began over the use of a public telephone, a South African prison official has confirmed to the Associated Press.

In an interview with the Washington Post, former NFL running back Larry Johnson says he can’t remember two of his seven seasons in the league. Johnson tells the paper’s Kent Babb he believes he’s living with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease caused by repeated head trauma.Read more...

Former Auburn associate head softball coach Corey Myers—son of former head coach Clint Myers, who abruptly retired this summer—was banned from campus for having romantic relationships with multiple students whom he supervised or coached, according to a letter from the school’s Title IX office obtained by ESPN.Read more...

You will no doubt be shocked to learn that former baseball player Jose Canseco, who was charged with domestic violence twice in the 1990s and pleaded no contest once (to name just a couple of his many legal issues), made a bad tweet today:Read more...

Barring any individual or group ticket purchases, the United States soccer team will not be attending next summer’s World Cup. The general consensus places a good deal of the blame for on the nightmarishly incompetent coaching job done by MLS lifer Bruce Arena. Due to his conservatism, passionate desire for 1-0…Read more...

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin is plenty fired up to play the Patriots on Sunday, and he’s not afraid to say so. From ESPN:Read more...

One of curling’s unusual features, other than everything else, has been its politeness and sportsmanship. The first page of the official rulebook discusses The Spirit of Curling for a reason, as it points out that players should be the first to admit if they broke a rule. (Imagine if NBA or NHL players called their…Read more...

Tom Brady, in his quest to become the NFL’s answer to Gwyneth Paltrow, has just launched the TB12 Method mobile app. The TB12 Method is the dubious lifestyle brand that Brady cooked up with Alex Guerrero, a truly dangerous and dishonest quack who is Brady’s personal trainer. For the low cost of $19.99 per month or…Read more...

There’s no shortage of stories about President Donald Trump being a gross, aggressive perv, and Stacia Robitaille shared another on Twitter last night:Read more...

If you’re a reasonable, decent, sentient person paying even half-assed attention to the credible and relentless news cycle regarding Roy Moore’s predilection for preying on underage girls, you will not be voting for him in Alabama’s special election for a senator today. The candidate arrived at the polls on horseback…Read more...

In 2009, L.A. Weekly wrote a story about jerkin’—a dance craze sweeping across the Los Angeles basin—that highlighted the work of then little-known rapper YG. “He was so fresh out of prison, he still had ‘FREE YG!’ on his MySpace page,” the story’s author Jeff Weiss told me. It was one of the first interviews YG ever…Read more...

The Nürburgring is heaven on earth for car nuts, attracting the world’s most interesting cars, including manufacturers’ latest models. You can even drive it yourself! Sometimes a dream trip to the ‘Ring doesn’t end up being quite so enviable, though, and here are this year’s fail compilations that prove it.

Time for your weekly edition of the Deadspin Funbag. Got something on your mind? Email the Funbag. Today, we’re talking Josh Homme, bathroom stall doors, meme addiction, and more.

Is the hot stove hot? Let’s see here, yes, it looks like the stove is simmering a bit.Read more...

At the Sturgeon Heights Pros vs. Joes event last week, former CFL player Jordan Reaves attempted to entertain attendees by dunking a basketball over Ismail Zaid. He certainly entertained everyone (except for maybe Zaid), though he did not come close to actually accomplishing the dunk.

The Patriots couldn’t convert a single third down (in 11 chances) in Monday night’s 27-20 loss to the Dolphins. Head coach Bill Belichick opened up about the defeat after the game by grumbling and staring and grumbling some more.

Blizzard’s Overwatch League is maybe the most ambitious American esports league ever, and its preseason wrapped up this weekend. The Compete staff, with an assist from our one blogparent that we’re still on speaking terms with, breaks down what went well last weekend and what can be improved for the regular season.…Read more...

Oh! It’s you! My dearest, most refined holiday compatriot! My apologies, I didn’t see you were at the door.

Days removed from seeing Star Wars: The Last Jedi, I still can’t believe it’s a real movie. I can’t believe what writer-director Rian Johnson did: He took all of our preconceived notions of what a Star Wars movie is and evolved them. The movie is genuinely shocking at times—multiple times—but it also feels fully…Read more...

ESPN has suspended analysts Donovan McNabb and Eric Davis after a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles named the former NFL Network personalities among those alleged to have committed sexual harassment against a network wardrobe stylist.Read more...

Lest you think Arsenal fans have a monopoly on incensed postgame rants helpfully broadcast on fan-driven Youtube channels, here is a completely apoplectic Manchester United supporter doing his best Troopz impression right after the derby loss. Could’ve used a few more “bloods” and “fams,” but very strong regardless.Read more...

Think fly fishing is a man’s world? Well, you’re dead wrong. Dead wrong! Because women are now the fastest growing demographic in fly fishing.

Remember how awful Dodgers starter Yu Darvish was in the World Series? He only made it through 10 outs in two starts. He allowed nine hits, eight earned runs, and two homers. He sucked big-time! Now, thanks to Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci, we know why.

Kotaku Why Alita Has Big Anime Eyes And How The Internet Is Reacting | Jalopnik How To Build The Chevy Suburban Diesel That GM Won’t Sell You | The A.V. Club The best video game levels of 2017 | io9 A-Wings Suck | Lifehacker How to Shut Down a Troll, Once and For All |Read more...

Discounts on laptops, monitors, and modems in Amazon’s tech Gold Box, $5 off any $15+ book, and a SONOS speaker sale kick off today’s best deals.Read more...

Longtime MLB umpire Dale Scott has decided to retire, citing a string of concussions in recent years and his fear that any more could lead to long-term health effects.

Greg Schiano’s contract with the University of Tennessee was to be for six years and more than $27 million, according to the terms of the deal laid out in the Memorandum of Understanding signed by Schiano and then-UT athletic director John Currie. The MOU, which can be read below, was released in response to a public…Read more...

If you thought Amazon’s $5 off $20 book sale during Black Friday was great, here’s a nice surprise - $5 off any $15 book order with promo code BOOKGIFT17.

Amazon’s running another board game Gold Box today, and while this one focuses more heavily on kid’s games, there’s a good chance anyone can find something they’ll enjoy in here.

Chicago Bears tight end Zach Miller returned to the team facility today for the first time since the brutal knee injury he suffered eight weeks ago. (Do not go back and watch that clip unless you have a perverse interest in seeing a leg bend in a way that it really, really, really is not supposed to.) The situation…Read more...

NFL Network has suspended Marshall Faulk, Ike Taylor and Heath Evans while investigating claims of sexual harassment from a lawsuit filed by one of their former colleagues.Read more...

This afternoon brought the news that two American teens would move to Lithuania to make little money playing basketball for a mediocre club in front of few people.Read more...

Time for some wholly unsurprising news! The Marlins front office’s brazen salary dump is continuing apace. Days after trading Giancarlo Stanton to the Yankees in exchange for a handful of trampled sunflower seed husks and one (1) cup of moist infield dirt, they’re now reportedly shifting their focus to moving some of…Read more...

Today marks the first full day of baseball’s Winter Meetings, that wonderful annual gathering in which baseball executives text each other trade proposals in closer physical proximity to one another than is usually the case while baseball writers repeatedly get drunk at the same hotel bar. This special event comes…Read more...

LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball have reportedly signed professional contracts with a European team, just like LaVar Ball promised, and their destination is ... Lithuanian minnow Prienu Vytautas? Adrian Wojnarowski and Jonathan Givony first reported that talks were serious this afternoon and Woj protege Shams Charania …Read more...

Sadio Mané isn’t the sole reason Liverpool failed to beat Everton in a match they completely controlled everywhere except on the scoresheet. You could and probably should blame the referee for awarding Everton an exceptionally soft penalty from which the Toffees scored their only good chance of the day. You could also…Read more...

Today on Highlight Reel we have broken guns, Monster Hunter kills, Battlegrounds bikes and much more!

One of the stupidest plans that the extremely stupid Trump administration is currently carrying out is a dramatic shrinking of Bears Ears National Monument in Utah. Trump recently announced that he would cut the size of Bears Ears by 85 percent and halved the size of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument …Read more...

Giancarlo Stanton was officially introduced as the newest member of the New York Yankees today, and he didn’t bother feigning any reverence for the team he spent the first eight years of his career with. Under normal circumstances, that might be seen as callous, or just poor form. But Stanton has just escaped the…Read more...

Lim “Larva” Hong Gyu won the finals of last week’s Zotac Cup Masters Showmatch while playing StarCraft: Remastered with his foot and pretending to take a nap during the match. Zotac, the hardware company sponsoring the tournament, put out a statement in Chinese threatening to “officially ban Korean player Larva from…Read more...

Some athletes have to prove that they don’t cheat or use performance enhancing drugs; others have to proclaim that their butts are, in fact, real.

The best big games are clarifying. They’re matches in which the enormity of the moment can turn anyone watching into a fidgeting mess, and in which both teams are given the opportunity to match the game’s magnitude with a peak performance. The moment elevates the performances rather than engulfs it, and by the end one…Read more...

Boston Red Sox pitcher Steven Wright was arrested Friday night in Williamson County, Tenn., and charged with domestic-related assault and prevention of a 911 call, according to local authorities. Both charges are misdemeanors, and Wright later was released from custody after he posted bail.

The 2018 Lacrosse All-Name Team, courtesy of Inside Lacrosse, is here, and there’s an incredibly deep batch of newcomers. The male freshmen include Michigan’s Dar Sleeper, Notre Dame’s Wheaton Jackoboice, Washington College’s Burke McFillin, and Bryant University’s Taggart Eymer. But the women are stronger.Read more...