si Page 540 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
![Layoffs Hit <i>Sports Illustrated </i>[UPDATED]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/kn0d08gwhakqmmjbxdfu.jpg)
Layoffs Hit <i>Sports Illustrated </i>[UPDATED]
Sports Illustrated has laid off a number of staffers, according to multiple sources, as a part of approximately 40 layoffs of editorial staffers across Time Inc. properties, that POLITICO reported began on Thursday. This comes a week after 110 Time Inc. sales and advertising staffers were laid off, ...

NBC's Closing Ceremony Broadcast Edited Out More Than An Hour. Here's What You Missed.
As in years past, NBC went heavy on the razor blade in trimming down last night’s closing ceremony to a time that allowed for commercials and a Very Special Episode of The Voice. The festivities in Rio took two hours, 43 minutes to complete; NBC aired one hour, 40 minutes of them. That left 38% of t...

SummerSlam Ends With Brock Lesnar Tearing A New Hole In Randy Orton's Skull
A Brock Lesnar main event once again ended strangely and with blood, as the on-again, off-again MMA star delivered a very real elbow to Randy Orton’s head—one that opened up a massive gash....

Japanese Prime Minister Becomes Mario For Tokyo 2020 Segment
Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe became Super Mario tonight in the traditional portion of the closing ceremony that previews the next Olympiad. Mario was joined by Pac-Man and famous anime figures, as well:...

Tongan Flag-Bearer Returns For Closing Ceremony
Remember Pita Taufatofua, the Tongan flag-bearer who captivated us at the opening ceremony weeks (feels like months) ago? He returned for tonight’s closing ceremony, fresh off losing his taekwondo bout by mercy rule. ...

32 Paragraphs About 32 Teams: A Thinking Fan's Guide To The NFL Season
The following is excerpted from the team chapters of the always-excellent Football Outsiders Almanac. Buy it here as a PDF, or here in print....

Simone Biles And Aly Raisman Dominated One Last Olympic Event
American gymnasts Simone Biles and Aly Raisman competed for individual medals in the women’s floor exercise today, and as has been the case in most of the women’s gymnastics competitions in Rio, the two Americans smoked the rest of the field....

Jim Harbaugh Doesn't Like Those Questions
During his media availability yesterday, Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh was asked about three players who were not present at the official team photoshoot earlier this month. What’s the deal with those guys? Are they suspended?...

Thiago Da Silva Sets Olympic Pole Vault Record, Dethrones Frenchman
Renaud Lavillenie entered tonight’s pole vault final as the reigning Olympic champion and world record holder. He finished it as a silver medalist, thanks to Brazilian Thiago da Silva setting a new Olympic record of 6.03m in a wild night that featured a lengthy rain delay and malfunctioning equipmen...

Malaysian Diver Executes Flawless Belly Flop
In the prelims of the men’s 3m springboard, Ahmad Amsyar Azman tried to do a dive that, presumably, was not meant to end in a belly flop. Despite his best efforts, it ended in a belly flop....

This Song About Being A Good Fan Is The Best Thing At The Olympics
During breaks at the Olympic venues, they’ve been playing over the PA a peppy, bilingual song to the tune of “We Will Rock You.” It encourages fans to clean up after themselves, not to smoke, not to take flash photography, and to just generally be good, constructive human beings. I co-sign the messa...

This Is Why There Are So Many Ties In Swimming
Tonight three legends of swimming—Michael Phelps, Chad Le Clos, and László Cseh—turned in identical times to share silver in the 100m butterfly. Last night, Simone Manuel tied for gold with Canadian Penny Oleksiak in the 100m freestyle. Modern timing systems are capable of measuring down to the mill...

We Asked Our Friends (And A Few Enemies) To Sign Our Yearbook<em></em>
On Monday of this coming week, all of us at Deadspin will sit down at our computers and write blog posts about sports and other things. On Friday, we will do the same. In between, while we are blogging, our parent company, Gawker Media, will be sold by auction in bankruptcy court. This will end the ...

Heh, Look At This Striker Trick The Shit Out Of This Keeper
And the award for “The guy who feels like the biggest dummy in all of the Netherlands right now” goes to Fortuna Sittard’s Leon ter Wielen. No, you don’t get a speech....

After Nearly Two Whole Months Away, Lionel Messi Comes Out Of International Retirement
It seems like so long ago, when we thought we’d said our final goodbye to Lionel Messi’s international career. Try to think back to those times: Messi, still then a brunette, had just suffered another heartbreaking loss with Argentina when they lost on penalties in that year’s Copa América, England ...

How Simone Biles Broke Gymnastics
The following is excerpted from The End of the Perfect 10: The Making and Breaking of Gymnastics’ Top Score—from Nadia to Now by Dvora Meyers, available now from from Touchstone Books....

Patrick Reed Would Like You To "Put The Fucking Camera Down"
How is U.S. golfer Patrick Reed’s Olympics going so far? He’s tied for 19th place so far, and seems more than little annoyed at a spectator shooting photos of him. Stay sane, Patty Reed....
![Here's Simone Manuel's Medal Ceremony, Since NBC Didn't Air It [Updates]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/qzn4hv22fp7xs4syt0p8.jpg)
Here's Simone Manuel's Medal Ceremony, Since NBC Didn't Air It [Updates]
NBC couldn’t be arsed to show you Simone Manuel’s monumental medal ceremony after becoming the first black American woman to win an individual swimming event, as they felt it was more important to air seven-hour-old footage of Russians doing gymnastics badly. Here, then, is Manuel (with Canadian Pen...

Simone Manuel Becomes First Black American Female Swimmer To Win Individual Gold Medal
Simone Manuel swam a blistering final 50 in tonight’s 100m freestyle to earn a gold medal alongside Canadian Penny Oleksiak, who swam an identical Olympic-record 52.70 in the event. Both surpassed world record-holder Cate Campbell, who led the race after the first 50 meters and ended up missing the ...

Simone Biles Just Put A Historic Whooping On The Women's Gymnastics Field<em></em>
Simone Biles, American hero, finished her dominant victory in the women’s all-around gymnastics competition with a 15.933 in the floor routine. She ended up 2.1 points clear of silver medalist Aly Raisman, which is higher than the combined margins of victory from every all-around competition from 19...