01 Page 180 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Sepp Blatter's Top Lieutenant Named In World Cup Bribe Allegations
Jerome Valcke, FIFA’s secretary general and Sepp Blatter’s No. 2 man, has been implicated in a scheme that the feds believe involved a $10 million bribe in exchange for votes for the 2010 South Africa World Cup. ...

The Hawks Were Fun, Occasionally Terrific, And Not Revolutionary
The Finals matchup is set, and thanks to a scheduling quirk and two mostly non-competitive conference finals series, we’ve got nearly an entire week with no basketball. It’s a good time to revisit how we got here....

How Did We All Get Sucked Into James Harden's Nightmare?
He had more turnovers than shot attempts. The whole performance was bad—sickeningly bad, broadly and in nearly all its details—but the main thing to know is that in last night’s Game 5 elimination, Houston’s James Harden conveyed the ball to the Golden State Warriors more times (13, a playoff record...

How To Watch James Harden, The Loathsome Genius
Hi, casual basketball fan! As you’re likely aware, the NBA’s conference finals begin tonight. In the Eastern Conference, the Atlanta Hawks will take on the Cleveland Cavaliers. In the West, the Golden State Warriors will face the Houston Rockets—and their star guard, James Harden....

Clippers Blow Out Rockets, Advance To–Wait, What? The <i>Rockets</i> Won???
Late in the third quarter of last night’s game at Staples Center, the Rockets looked about as dead as any team has been in these playoffs. They’d been outscored 23-to-6 by the Clippers in the quarter and fallen behind by 19; they weren’t defending or working for good looks on offense and looked pret...

Anderson Silva Petitioning To Compete In Taekwondo At The Olympics
Troll King Anderson Silva is petitioning the Brazilian federation to allow the MMA fighter to compete in his original discipline, taekwondo, at the Rio Olympics in 2016. As the host nation, Brazil will have four guaranteed slots in the event, and Silva will meet with the Brazilian sport chief this ...

Zlatan Uses Powerful Hypnosis To Force Keeper Into Shocking Mistake
Some sort of devious eye magic only known by the most learned of warlocks is the only rational explanation for why Moldova's keeper decided to play an inch-perfect cross off of Zlatan Ibrahimović's forehead for the Swede to redirect into the goal (warning: autoplay video):...

Harry Kane Scores In His International Debut, Is Soon To Be Crowned King
All week leading up to today's England-Lithuania Euro 2016 Qualifier, the only thing anyone could talk about was Harry Kane. Will he start? Should he start? Where will he play? How do we make more of him? Coming into the match, you'd have thought the season's Premier League breakout star would get e...
![Russian Goalkeeper Takes A Flare To The Back Of His Head [UPDATE]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/b1vrgcsgmfyluojzwwj4.gif)
Russian Goalkeeper Takes A Flare To The Back Of His Head [UPDATE]
In today's Euro 2016 qualifier between Montenegro and Russia, a flare from the stands hit Russian keeper Igor Akinfeev in the head. Ouch. Here's another look:...

Eureka For Europa! Why To Bother With Soccer's <i>Other</i> Club Tournament
You should watch the Europa League! No seriously, do it. We know what we've said before, but it's different now. And good....

Good News! You Can Go To Vegas Right Now And Bet On The 2016 Olympics
The bad news: You'll be in Las Vegas....

For Your Consideration
Send stories, photos, and anything else you might have to [email protected]....

J.K. Simmons Uses Oscar Win To Promote Calling Your Parents
As expected, J.K. Simmons took home the Supporting Actor Academy Award for his performance in Whiplash. Simmons's acceptance speech was simple and yet memorable, simply because he told a worldwide audience to call—"Don't text, don't email, call"—a parent, if they have any living ones remaining. ...

Oscar 2015 Predictions: The Categories You Actually Care About
The Oscars are Sunday! Wednesday, to help you out with your pool, Tim Grierson made predictions in all the technical categories; yesterday, Drew Magary yelled a lot. Today, we both unveil our picks for the eight major categories: you know, the ones you actually care about. Let's get to it....

The Hater’s Guide To The 2015 Oscars
Every year, the Oscars come along, and it becomes more evident that the Oscars are the worst live event on television. Other award shows are smart enough to jettison technical categories, get the nominees shitfaced, and encourage poor wardrobe choices. Meanwhile, these things are still as self-im...

Oscar Predictions 2015: The Categories No One Understands
Sunday's Academy Awards will have plenty of suspense: Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor are all toss-ups at this point. Will and I will tackle those and the other major categories Friday, but today, I'm going to look at the lower-profile awards: the tech prizes, short films, etc. The...

The NBA Players Union Made Two Big Decisions Yesterday
The NBA’s All-Star Weekend is mostly just a 72 hour party with some “basketball” thrown in there to give everybody a break from partying, but some important business is conducted too. Perhaps the most important is the National Basketball Player’s Association (NBPA) meeting, which happens every All-S...

Yes, The Grammys Are Dumb, But It's Not Beck's Fault
So everyone's gonna argue about Beck for a few days, which is a mixed blessing for everyone, Beck included. And, look. He should not have won the Grammy for Album of the Year. I can think of at least nine reasons why. This is all mildly embarrassing, and yet inevitable, as we're talking about th...

The Sochi Olympics Were Even More Of A Boondoggle Than You thought
The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, were a scam from the very start. Sochi is a resort city with mild weather that had nothing close to the infrastructure necessary to host the Olympics, yet the initial budget was only $12 billion dollars. In comparison, the budget for the 2010 Winter Olympic...

Three More Sponsors Decide To Stop Supporting Slavery, Drop FIFA
Good news everybody! Three of FIFA's biggest sponsors—Johnson & Johnson, Castrol, and Continental Tires—confirmed to The Telegraph that they have cut their ties with FIFA, joining Sony and Emirates in declining to continue supporting slavery. As second-tier World Cup sponsors in 2014, the three co...