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This is Defector, a new sports blog and media company. We made this place together, we own it together, we run it together. Without access, without favor, without discretion, and without interference.

Defector

Israel Daramola

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 28: Cash Cobain and Bay Swag attend Funk Flex Winter Fest on December 28, 2024 in New York City. Cobain is wearing a Yankees cap and sunglasses. He has a beard that's short and hit shis chin. He's in a blue hoodie. Bay Wag is wearing a big gold chain, sunglasses, a baseball hat, a very diamond-encrusted watch, and holding a plastic bottle of water in one hand and a microphone in the other

Listening Habits

How Do You Make Sex And Party Music For An Era Uninterested In Both?

Ray Ratto

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - FEBRUARY 20: Connor McDavid #97 of Team Canada reacts after scoring the game-winning goal during the first overtime period of the 4 Nations Face-Off Championship game between Team Canada and Team United States at TD Garden on February 20, 2025 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Ben Jackson/4NFO/World Cup of Hockey via Getty Images)

The Game Always Speaks For Itself

Barry Petchesky

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - FEBRUARY 20: Connor McDavid #97 of Team Canada celebrates with teammates after scoring the game-winning goal during the first overtime period of the 4 Nations Face-Off Championship game between Team Canada and Team United States at TD Garden on February 20, 2025 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Ben Jackson/4NFO/World Cup of Hockey via Getty Images)

Hockey Remains Canada’s

Billy Haisley

Michael Olise of Bayern Munich controls the ball during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Knockout Play-off second leg match between FC Bayern München and Celtic FC at Allianz Arena on February 18, 2025 in Munich, Germany.

Soccer

At Bayern Munich, What Michael Olise Says Goes

Maitreyi Anantharaman

Marina Mabrey #4 of the Connecticut Sun reacts against the Minnesota Lynx in the third quarter of Game One of the Semi-Finals during the WNBA Playoffs at Target Center on September 29, 2024 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Sun defeated the Lynx 73-70

WNBA

Marina Mabrey Does Not See Her Future In Connecticut

David Roth

A general view of the atmosphere at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival at Fair Grounds Race Course on April 24, 2016 in New Orleans, with a fried crab po'boy front and center.

Podcasts

Some Basketball, Some Sandwich, With Rohan Nadkarni

Patrick Redford

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - JANUARY 15: Bobby Portis #9 of the Milwaukee Bucks walks backcourt during a game against the Orlando Magic at Fiserv Forum on January 15, 2025 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

Bobby Portis’s Big Suspension Is Ruinous Bullshit

Giri Nathan

Victor Wembanyama #1 of the San Antonio Spurs and Chuck's Global Stars warms up during 2025 NBA All-Star Practice &amp; Media Availability at Oakland Arena on February 15, 2025 in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

Victor Wembanyama Is Done For The Season Due To A Blood Clot In His Shoulder

MONTREAL, QUEBEC - FEBRUARY 13: (Top-Bottom) Charlie McAvoy #25, Jake Guentzel #59, Zach Werenski #8, Auston Matthews #34 and Jack Hughes #86 of Team United States stand at their blueline during the singing of the United Sates national anthem before the 4 Nations Face-Off game between the United States and Finland at Bell Centre on February 13, 2025 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo by Vitor Munhoz/4NFO/World Cup of Hockey via Getty Images)

Please Stop Liking My Sport

Sir John Falstaff On A Visit To His Friend Page, At Windsor. From The Merry Wives Of Windsor, By William Shakespeare. Drawn And Etched By George Cruikshank. From The Illustrated Library Shakspeare, Published London 1890. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Interviews

Jeremy Gordon On Grief, Connection, And His Novel ‘See Friendship’

Albert Burneko

Ex-president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) Luis Rubiales arrives at the Audiencia Nacional San Fernando de Henares on February 13, 2025 in Madrid, Spain.

Luis Rubiales Found Guilty Of Sexually Assaulting Jenni Hermoso

Soraya Roberts

Arts And Culture

‘Black Box Diaries’ Splits A Journalist In Two

Luis Paez-Pumar

Kylian Mbappe of Real Madrid celebrates his second goal during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Knockout Play-off second leg match between Real Madrid C.F. and Manchester City at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu on February 19, 2025 in Madrid, Spain.

This Is Why You Spend So Much Money On Kylian Mbappé

charismatic megafauna (they/them)

Sabrina Imbler

Defector Up All Night

The Lydia Tár Of Mantids

Samer Kalaf

A news chyron that reads: Man arrested for shooting two people in Miami Beach

Life's Rich Pageant

This Is The Logical Endpoint Of Zionism

Kelsey McKinney

An Adventure Story? Miss Betty Davis tries out her sales talk on the robot invented by Eark Kent, (left), of Carthage, Missouri, in the May Company Store in Los Angeles. The 21-year-old inventor claims that "John" walks, smokes cigarettes, spits fire, and gets generally "het up" when he doesn't receive attention.

Book Excerpts That Don't Suck

Gossiping With A Robot Is A Real Pain In The Ass

Eva Holland is a freelance writer and editor based in Whitehorse, Yukon. She&#8217;s a correspondent for Outside magazine and the author of the books Nerve and <a href="https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/no-sleep-til-fairbanks#/">No Sleep &#8216;Til Fairbanks</a>.

Eva Holland

The Great Outdoors

What’s The Yukon Quest Without The Yukon River?

Alex Sujong Laughlin

Kathryn Xu

Staff Writer
Find me on Signal @DefectorChris.19

Chris Thompson

An abstract work of art featuring some line-drawn faces.

Defector Reads A Book

‘The Artist’s Way’ Week 6: Are We Feeling Abundant?

Lauren Theisen

Interior of the Metropolitan Opera House, New York City, showing orchestra in foreground and audience in back

Silence Brings Us Together

Lindsey Adler is a writer based in Brooklyn. She exclusively covered sports for a decade but has other interests, too.

Lindsey Adler

A woman stands in front of the Yoko Ono, »Cut Piece«, 1965, during a press preview at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Duesseldorf, western Germany on September 26, 2024. In cooperation with the Tate Modern, the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen is presenting the influential work of artist and activist Yoko Ono in a comprehensive solo exhibition taking place from September 28, 2024 to March 6, 2025.

My Weekend With Yoko

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 08: Luka Doncic #77 and LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers look on during the fourth quarter of a game against the Indiana Pacers at Crypto.com Arena on February 08, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

LeBron And Luka Will Have To Make A Weird, Compromised Roster Work

Bryce Harper #3 of the Philadelphia Phillies celebrates after hitting a two-run home run during the sixth inning against the New York Mets in Game Two of the Division Series at Citizens Bank Park on October 06, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Stand Down: Phillies Toilet Crisis Abates As Bryce Harper Returns To Spring Training

Columnist. Author of many <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Drew-Magary/e/B001JS8R52/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1">fine works of literature</a>, including Point B. Handsomest man in the world.

Drew Magary

ANKARA, TURKIYE - FEBRUARY 09: A Stanley thermos is seen in Ankara, Turkiye on February 9, 2025.

Funbag

Is It OK For Me To Drink Out Of A Cup I Once Pissed In?

<a href="http://www.ddavisla.com">David Davis </a>is the author of Wheels of Courage: How Paralyzed Veterans From World War II Invented Wheelchair Sports, Fought for Disability Rights, and Inspired a Nation and Waterman: The Life and Times of Duke Kahanamoku. He lives in Los Angeles.
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David Davis

Photo of Gidget running through the Malibu Pier. Fifty years after Kathy Kohner Zuckerman, aka Gidget, learned to surf in Malibu, the surfing world has accepted her as surfing's early pioneers, mascots and avid promoters. April 27, 2006, (Photo by Ken Hively/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Gidget The Survivor

Matthew Tkachuk #19 of Team USA and Brandon Hagel #38 of Team Canada fight during the first period in the 2025 NHL 4 Nations Face-Off on February 15, 2025.