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Introducing the new Olympic sports that will totally bring in a new audience, dude
Back in 2016, the IOC added five new sports to Tokyo 2020. The move was seen by many as a way for Olympic organizers to appeal to the young people of the world — who are totally rad, bro....

Even the freaking emperor of Japan is 'extremely worried' about Olympic COVID surge
The emperor of Japan doesn’t have any political power, but he is a symbol of the state — a fairly popular one, for what it’s worth. Today, that symbol said he is fearful of COVID cases surging as a result of the Olympics. ...

Connecticut high school phenom tosses fourth no-hitter in a row
If you think the no-hitters are getting out of control in Major League Baseball, you ought to check out the high school scene in northern Connecticut. ...

New York legislation aims at better workplace protections for cheerleaders — now do the whole country
The Buffalo Bills’ cheerleaders, the Jills, have been at the forefront of the fight for fair wages and treatment in their craft for years. Their cause has been the focus of lawsuits and a documentary film. Now, the legislature in New York State is picking up the cause....

Northwestern doesn’t take women seriously
Back in February, when 80 faculty members — all female — wrote a heartfelt letter to the powers that be, begging the school to meaningfully address sexism and racism on campus, and specifically in the athletic department, Northwestern University assured them that the school “fully appreciated” their...

SEE IT: Surprising goal is why you don’t ever sleep on Sunderland
It’s still a long way back to the Premier League for Sunderland, the club whose fall from the top flight to the third tier of English soccer was chronicled in the Netflix documentary Sunderland ’Til I Die....

Deadspin discusses the NFL’s cheerleader problem with filmmaker Yu Gu
Yu Gu has been directing films for over a decade. Her latest documentary, A Woman’s Work: The NFL’s Cheerleader Problem, follows two women in their fight for fair pay from the NFL — a multibillion dollar industry....

Drew Lock’s mom wants you to leave her baby alone
Aren’t moms embarrassing? Like, they ask us questions about our underwear in front of the girl we like, they wipe food from our cheeks, and they just can’t seem to help themselves. Laura Lock, the mother of Denver Broncos quarterback Drew Lock is apparently no different, and also seems to think that...

New Report: Nude Cheerleader Video and Dan Snyder’s Direct Involvement in Alleged Sexual Harassment. UPDATE: Snyder Blasts WaPo, Blames Victim
More allegations about the toxic, sexist culture around Dan Snyder’s Washington Football Team have emerged, this time pointing to specific incidents involving Snyder and his treatment of women (including implied solicitation of sexual favors for a friend) and the production of X-rated cheerleader vi...

Kentucky Cheerleading Scandal A Case Study In School CYA
The University of Kentucky’s investigation into hazing in its cheerleading program, which has resulted in the firing of the entire coaching staff, revealed more about the dynamics of teams, institutions, and the handling of misconduct than it did about the behavior of a large group of college kids o...

Scummy Sports Media Company Buys The Big Lead
The Big Lead, a sports website founded and run by Jason McIntyre of Fox Sports, may not be a particularly good or smart or relevant website, but one thing that it did have going for it was that it didn’t run on exploited labor like FanSided or SB Nation (Vox Media is facing two federal collective ac...

Wisconsin High School Will Retire "Big Boobie" And "Big Booty" Awards For Its Cheerleaders
After catching hell from the ACLU and basically everyone else, a Wisconsin high school will end a series of objectifying awards that were handed out to its cheerleading squad, according to the AP. The New York Times reported Tuesday on the “Big Boobie” and “Big Booty” honorifics that were handed out...

Report: Wisconsin School District Under Fire Over Coach Handing Out Gross, Objectifying Awards To High School Cheerleaders
Professional cheerleaders being subjected to degrading and objectifying appraisals and overall treatment is, infuriatingly, pretty much par for the course. Frankly, it’s probably old hat at every level, but anyway this story out of Wisconsin is a useful reminder of just how much gross shit cheerlead...

Report: Washington Cheerleading Program Undergoing "Family Friendly" Changes In Wake Of Escort Scandal
The fallout from the revelation that the Washington NFL team deployed its cheerleaders as escorts for sponsors and suite holders on a trip to Costa Rica in 2013, among other abuses, has finally produced some small progress in the way the team treats its cheerleaders. Thursday the team announced a nu...

Toward A Working Theory Of What The Fuck Donald Trump Is Even Talking About
The Mendocino Complex Wildfire is the largest fire in California’s history. It has burned more than 300,000 acres in Northern California to date and is one of 19 wildfires currently active in the state. The fire was big enough that, on Monday, President Donald Trump saw fit to briefly depart from hi...

Finally, Here's The All-Borat Episode<em></em>
When we recorded this Deadcast, Sacha Baron Cohen’s Who Is America had yet to premiere. To the extent that we or our extra-lanky returning guest Patrick Redford knew anything about the show, it was through a series of brief promotional videos in which Cohen himself didn’t even appear, although it se...

Listen, It's The Offseason Now So We're Going To Talk About This Dumb Basketball Idea
A galaxy-brained NBA Reddit user posed a reasonable question this morning: Why can’t four Golden State Warriors link arms in a circle around Steph Curry, so that no defenders can get near him to contest his shot?...

Washington Football Executive Resigns Over Cheerleading Escort Scandal
Washington president of business operations Dennis Greene has resigned in the aftermath of a New York Times report detailing a disturbing trip to Costa Rica made by the team’s cheerleaders for a photo shoot, where they were told to serve as escorts for sponsors....

Lawsuit: Texans Cheer Coach Cut Cheerleaders Who Spoke Out To HR<em></em>
An anonymous former cheerleader for the Houston Texans has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the Texans and cheerleading coach Altovise Gary under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The cheerleader, identified only as P.G.G., worked for the team for the 2017-18 season and left in April. The la...

University Of Kansas Cheerleaders Describe Naked Hazing Ritual
A pair of University of Kansas cheerleaders recently spoke to the Collegian, Kansas State’s student paper, and detailed the way their team hazed six first-year cheerleaders at a children’s summer camp event in July 2017. ...