Thank you for your continued support of Deadspin. Enjoy your night.Read more...

“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”Read more...

Adrian Wojnarowski did not report that LeBron James plans to opt out in 2018 and create a super-team in Los Angeles; “WojVertioalNBA” did. Around the Horn didn’t catch the faux Woj before the tweet aired, though, so the panel debated whether James would actually execute this not-actually-reported plan.

The Steelers placed the franchise tag on running back Le’Veon Bell, but Bell has yet to sign his tender and did not report for any of the team’s offseason program. That includes this week’s mandatory minicamp, which for Bell was actually not mandatory because he’s not officially not under contract.Read more...

NORRISTOWN, Pa.—When the judge announced Thursday that jurors in the Bill Cosby trial were deadlocked, first there was silence. Shock from the women in the courtroom who have said that Cosby also drugged and assaulted them. Quiet pleasure from the Cosby supporters. And eventually flurries of typing and tweeting from…Read more...

Let’s check in with the New York Mets, who are supposedly a Major League Baseball team playing in the NL East.

In the first of what I hope are many blockbuster trades over the next couple of days, the Tampa Bay Lightning are sending forward Jonathan Drouin and a conditional sixth-round 2018 draft pick to the Montreal Canadiens for defense prospect Mikhail Sergachev and a conditional 2018 second-round pick. We don’t yet know…Read more...

David toppled Goliath in the form of this antelope taking down a long-necked victim desperately trying to avoid it at a Netherlands zoo. The gritty attacker showed no mercy, even as helpless zoo visitors looked on in disbelief.Read more...

The last time the Warriors won a title (the year before they blew a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals), Draymond Green got tipsy at the team’s victory parade in Oakland. He mocked the Cleveland Cavaliers by rapping “Cavaliers? Nope. We won? Yupp. They suck? Yupp. We here? Yupp. They not? Nooope.”

Luka Modrić should be a national hero. The Croatian midfielder has been a regular for several seasons now on Real Madrid, one of the most famous teams in world soccer, and he’s appeared in nearly 100 matches for his nation. Modrić has been one of the most consistent players of his generation, and he’s been honored in…Read more...

Oregon State star pitcher Luke Heimlich has removed himself from the baseball team, according to a press release sent Thursday out by university president Ed Ray.Read more...

Steve Ballmer, the recently woke owner of the Clippers, has been trying to get his team out of the arena that they share with the Lakers for some time. He bought the Clippers during the summer of 2014, and every year since then, he’s talked about the possibility of leaving with a rising sense of urgency. In 2015, he …Read more...

Maybe you have heard that some or all of the Golden State Warriors may decline an invitation to celebrate their NBA championship at Donald Trump’s White House, if Donald Trump chooses to invite them, which he has not yet. Maybe you have also heard that yesterday morning, an angry man with Bernie Sanders themes on his…Read more...

Just before the 2016 MLB playoffs, Baseball Prospectus emailed its staff and contributors to tell them that they would not be paid for work they did in August and September until January 2017. The costs of a website redesign and the collapse of daily-fantasy ad spending, the email explained, led to the payment freeze.

Louisville’s attempt to convince the NCAA that it should avoid punishment because it only hired cheap prostitutes that barely assisted their recruiting efforts has, predictably, failed.Read more...

Here is one video with (almost) every Stanley Cup-winning goal, minus those from the pre-TV era that just weren’t filmed. Patric Hornqvist’s winner is still a real dog.Read more...

Devin Harris might be a career 80 percent free-throw shooter, but that didn’t mean diddly once this game of knockout shifted to half-court chucking. An older man who appears to be a staffer at the Mavs Hoop Camp took Harris out with a remarkable heave. Mild fleeing and CPR ensued.Read more...

The start of the Confederations Cup is essentially the first day of Advent before the Christmas that is the World Cup. Played in the World Cup’s host country the year before and consisting of 8 teams—the champion of each continent, the host, and the defending World Cup champs—this tournament is unimportant in the…Read more...

The number of postseason college football bowls has steadily ballooned from a sensible number of games featuring only the best teams in the nation to the stultifying monstrosity we have today, where 82 teams (including several with losing records) play each other in increasingly irrelevant games spread out over three…Read more...

NORRISTOWN, Pa.—Jurors in the Bill Cosby criminal trial told the judge Thursday afternoon, “We cannot come to a unanimous consensus on any of the counts.” Judge Steven T. O’Neill said he considered them deadlocked but sent them back to keep trying.Read more...

Based on reports and video evidence from the scene, a blimp just crashed at Erin Hills golf course, the site of this year’s U.S. Open.Read more...

Underdogs sometimes resort to somewhat underhanded tactics in order to win. Parking the bus, faking injuries to waste time, hard fouling—these are all acceptable albeit unsporting strategies overmatched soccer teams commonly use when coming up against the big boys. But this Argentine lower division defender, who…Read more...

In an interview with CNN, Alexey Smertin, the head of anti-racism for the Russian football union, who just two years ago denied that racism existed in Russia and said giving bananas to black players was “just for fun,” was asked how racist incidents could damage the World Cup in Russia next year. He said:Read more...

Sometimes, I’ll lay awake at night and dream of the day I can write a lede as chilling as the one Alex Acquisto has written for the Bangor Daily News:

According to a report from Jeff Passan at Yahoo Sports, Major League Baseball will change its uniform policies for one weekend only later this year. An MLB memo announced that from August 25-27, “Players Weekend,” everyone will be allowed to get a little creative:Read more...

The Big Lead’s Stephen Douglas has done the world a service today by discovering some old clips of Stephen A. Smith talking about sex, relationships, and what an accomplished sex-doer he is.

Jalopnik Fiat Chrysler Recalling Nearly 300,000 Minivans For Spontaneously Deploying Airbags | io9 X-Men: Dark Phoenix Is Getting One Thing Extremely Right | Kotaku Chun-Li And Dante Look Weird Now, Capcom | Lifehacker 11 Career Paths for New Grads Who Hate Offices |Read more...

In a pretty grim return on their investment, the Los Angeles Rams have traded 2014 No. 2 overall pick OT Greg Robinson to Detroit for a 2018 sixth-round pick, reports Adam Schefter.

Earlier this week, irresponsible and unfounded reporting claimed the Golden State Warriors will not be visiting the White House following their NBA Finals victory. That story was false; there’s still good reason to think that the team, or at least a few key members, might skip out on the tradition.

The Browns, impressively, did not screw up their draft, taking DE Myles Garrett with the first overall pick. But offseason activities have barely begun and already there may be reason to worry.

Scarcely two days since the Golden State Warriors won the second title in three years, Jerry West is leaving the team to become a special consultant to the Los Angeles Clippers.Read more...

The Yankees got out to a four-run lead over the Angels in the top of the first inning tonight, and Aaron Hicks wasn’t ready to see it slip away. With the bases loaded for Anaheim in the bottom of the inning, he leaped for a perfectly-timed grab over the wall in center field in order to rob Luis Valbuena of what would…Read more...

The Rangers started the sixth inning with Jeremy Jeffress on the mound. Two home runs, a single and a hit by pitch later, he was replaced by Tony Barnette. Two walks and two singles later, he was replaced by Dillon Gee. It was only then, after allowing five runs, that the Rangers finally managed to record their first…Read more...

As the Chicago White Sox were beating the hell out of the Baltimore Orioles—a bullshit team favored by Deadspin staffer Laura Wagner and Gizmodo Media Special Projects Desk deputy editor Tom Scocca—play-by-play man Jason Benetti offered a fried pickle to color man Steve Stone, who refused to enjoy it.Read more...

Matt Harvey’s night started badly with a leadoff dinger by Anthony Rizzo, got worse with a home run by Ian Happ, and got much worse with a towering moon shot from Kyle Schwarber in the fourth inning. At 467 feet, this one was just one foot shy of the stadium record:Read more...

Come now, and behold the most majestic moment of this afternoon’s Reds-Padres game. Regard this fan. See how he has flung himself into motion, offered his body up for sacrifice; see the raw emotion on his face. What can Cincinnati catcher Tucker Barnhart do to catch this foul ball? Tucker Barnhart can do nothing! This…Read more...

After what feels like years of chest-puffing and across-the-aisle shit talking, Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather have finally agreed to fight each other for what will undoubtedly be a huge pile of money. The fight will take place in Las Vegas on August 26. It will be a 12-round bout at 154 pounds, and dumb as hell.

After suffering two concussions in a five-week span, Chicago Bears linebacker Leonard Floyd had his rookie season cut short last year—with effects that have lingered well into the offseason, he says.Read more...

Thank you for your continued support of Deadspin. Drink more water.Read more...

Ed Orgeron was hired to be LSU’s head coach on Nov. 26; Tom Herman signed on for the same position at Texas on Nov. 27, reportedly after turning LSU down. Both are now in the midst of their first full spring heading up their programs, which consists of spring practices, hitting the recruiting trail, and, apparently,…Read more...

The Sacramento Kings—who won 32 games and traded their franchise center for what essentially amounts to a pair of rookies—face a crucial summer. The team will be very bad next year, although they have a pair of first-round picks in this year’s draft to develop. Thanks to a disastrous trade with Philadelphia a few…Read more...

Lucas Pouille, who at one point projected to be a great tennis player but may end up just a good one, saved a match point against Jan-Lennard Struff today with some nifty reflex volleys. A few points later world No. 16 Pouille notched a 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (8) win in his second-round match at the Stuttgart Open, which,…Read more...

Ahead of the Confederations Cup, which begins Saturday in Russia, FIFA has announced a “ground-breaking” procedure for limiting racism and discrimination in soccer. Referees will now be able to abandon a match entirely if fans participate in racist or discriminatory behavior.Read more...

After months of jawing, sniping, and preening, retired boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. and MMA fighter Conor McGregor have agreed to a set date for a fight in Las Vegas on Aug. 26.Read more...

NORRISTOWN, Pa.—The linoleum floor is cold against my legs, and I don’t really care. A company hoodie replaced my suit jacket hours ago, the jacket shoved into my work bag just in case. I’ve found a power outlet, the equivalent of gold during the frenzied rush of the Bill Cosby trial testimony, reporters hungry for…Read more...

The national football schedule hasn’t even started and already the Jaguars are in the news. It says here that QB Blake Bortles is “sick and tired of being below average.”Read more...

All of the best-known basketball sneakers were high-tops. Every sneaker spokesman from Chuck Taylor to Michael Jordan to Allen Iverson to LeBron James had, until recently, worn signature high-tops.

The United States Men’s National Soccer Team started out the last round of World Cup qualifiers in the most embarrassing way possible, losing to Mexico at home then getting ripped apart down in Costa Rica. The results were bad, although CONCACAF qualification is generous to say the least, though what was most…Read more...

That little, fluttery lurch in your stomach? That’s the feeling of your Wimbledon hopes shriveling up just a little bit. Roger Federer, bearing a new haircut and the swollen expectations of fans spoiled by his season to date, was shocked by world No. 302 Tommy Haas in the second round of the Stuttgart Open, a…Read more...

Curtis Blackwell was fired from his position as Michigan State football’s director of college advancement and performance after he failed to report a sexual assault allegation and “took it upon himself to investigate,” according to police documents obtained by the Lansing State Journal.Read more...