CULTURE

Footer Column 2

Footer Legal

Footer Main

Nav Bar

OTHER

SPORTS

Subscribe, at any level, to play

Thanks for your interest in Defector Crosswords!

Become a subscriber today to get unlimited access

Thanks for reading!

Plans start at $8/month.

Subscribers enjoy unlimited, ad-free browsing.

Register to continue

Or click here to subscribe for unlimited, ad-free access!

Our gift to you: This year's post is unlocked. Register your email to get even more free articles.

Welcome to the 2025 Hater's Guide!

Just register your email:

This blog is free to read.

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

Patrick Redford

A hacker is an individual who uses computer skills to overcome a technical problem.

Life Lessons

Here Are Our Stories Of Being Scammed

Israel Daramola

Image of Vince Staples taken from Netflix's "The Vince Staples Show."

Arts And Culture

Vince Staples Gets Lost In His Own Show

Jason England

Still image from the movie American Fiction.

Defector At The Movies

‘American Fiction’ And The Wet Eyes Of The Sentimentalist

Brian Merchant writes, mostly about technology, culture and labor. He&#8217;s the former tech columnist at the LA Times, and the author of <a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/brian-merchant/blood-in-the-machine/9780316487740/?lens=little-brown" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/brian-merchant/blood-in-the-machine/9780316487740/?lens%3Dlittle-brown&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1708054039723000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3ZYJqk866F8lCizxq0W5MD">Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech</a> and the <a href="https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1708054039723000&amp;usg=AOvVaw38SvjFhr3e98pTryqBSmV9">newsletter</a> of the same name.

Brian Merchant

Firemen extinguish a Waymo autonomous vehicle that was set on fire by a crowd in San Francisco. It's a screengrab of news footage.

Life's Rich Pageant

Torching The Google Car

Sean T. Collins has written for The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Vulture, Decider, Pitchfork, and many others. He lives with his family on Long Island.

Sean T. Collins

Here’s To Cecilia Gentili

Maitreyi Anantharaman

Guard Caitlin Clark #22 of the Iowa Hawkeyes celebrates after breaking the NCAA women's all-time scoring record during the first half against the Michigan Wolverines at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on February 15, 2024 in Iowa City, Iowa.

College Basketball

Caitlin Clark Did It Her Way

charismatic megafauna (they/them)

Sabrina Imbler

A round stingray (Urolophus halleri) I photographed in shallow water at Bolsa Chica wetlands (Southern California). The clouds of sand around the eyes and and body were formed as the stingray flapped and positioned deeper in the sand, expelling water. You can see the spiracles behind the eyes.

Creaturefector

Charlotte The Ray Did NOT Have Sex With A Shark, So Stop Asking!

Kathryn Xu

Blake Snell #4 of the San Diego Padres pitches in the fourth inning against the Colorado Rockies on September 19, 2023 at Petco Park in San Diego, California.

Nobody’s Buying Blake Snell

David Roth

Chris "Mad Dog" Russo looking smug or sleepy, depending on your perspective, on radio row in Las Vegas before the Super Bowl.

Podcasts

Looter Capitalism, Loser Capitalists, And Mad Dog Russo Mindset

Yuki Matsui #1 of the San Diego Padres stands during the daily workout at Peoria Sports Complex on February 12, 2024 in Peoria, Arizona.

Nike And Fanatics Have Truly Fucked Up MLB’s New Uniforms

Albert Burneko

PARIS, FRANCE - FEBRUARY 14Kylian Mbappe of PSG celebrates after scoring his team's first goal during the UEFA Champions League 2023/24 round of 16 first leg match between Paris Saint-Germain and Real Sociedad at Parc des Princes on February 14, 2024 in Paris, France.

Soccer

Maybe Kylian Mbappé Really Is Leaving This Time?

Luis Paez-Pumar

Dayot Upamecano of Bayern Munchen is expelled by the referee François Letexier during the UEFA Champions League 2023/24 round of 16 first leg match between SS Lazio and FC Bayern München at Stadio Olimpico on February 14, 2024 in Rome, Italy.

Bayern Munich Is Face-To-Face With Its Own Mortality

Kelsey McKinney

missing brick showing wire going through the building

This Is So Stupid

Hmmm … Something Is STILL Not Right Here

Giri Nathan

Isaiah Stewart of the Pistons dribbles the basketball

Isaiah Stewart Punches Suns Opponent In Parking Lot Hours Before Grotesque Pistons Loss

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

Group portrait of a company playing cards around a table, Frits L.J. Moormans (mentioned on object), Den Bosch, c. 1865 - c. 1880, photographic support, albumen print, height 74 mm × width 91 mm. (Photo by: Sepia Times/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Jamboroo

I Am The Bullshit King Of My Household

Lauren Theisen

Columbus’s Biggest Believer Gets The Boot

Billy Haisley

Brahim Diaz of Real Madrid CF celebrates after scoring his team's first goal during the UEFA Champions League 2023/24 round of 16 first leg match between RB Leipzig and Real Madrid CF at Red Bull Arena on February 13, 2024 in Leipzig, Germany.

Everybody’s A Star At Real Madrid

The Traitors cast arrayed around the round table.

‘The Traitors’ Is The Best Show On Television

Dan McQuade was a founding member of Defector. He died in January 2026.

Dan McQuade

One man rushes onto the court after Detroit Mercy wins its first game of the season.

Detroit Mercy Gave Up Losing For Lent

Dave McKenna

RTÉ analyst team, from left, Jackie Tyrell, Dónal Óg Cusack and Joanne Cantwell at half-time during the Allianz Hurling League Division 1 Group A match between Cork and Kilkenny at SuperValu Páirc Ui Chaoimh in Cork.

Hurling

The Wasting Of The Green: A Hurling Commentator’s Righteous Stadium Rant

A man walks on a pockmarked road, carrying another man across his shoulders, from the TV series 'Top Boy.'

I Am A ‘Top Boy’ Boy Now

(Original Caption) Frankenstein starring Boris Karloff as The Monster. Scene in the laboratory.

I Have Become The Dr. Frankenstein Of Amps

Law enforcement and medical personnel respond to a shooting at Union Station during the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl LVIII victory parade on February 14, 2024 in Kansas City, Missouri.

Gunfire At Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl Parade Leaves One Dead, More Than 20 Injured

Japan's Mai Yamamoto (C) celebrates the team's victory after the 2024 FIBA Women's Olympic qualifying tournament basketball match between Canada and Japan in Sopron, Hungary on February 11, 2024.

Women's Basketball

My Basketball GOAT Is 5-Foot-4

Barry Petchesky

Whale stranded at Winterton, 1857. 'This fine specimen of the whale tribe was driven ashore at Winterton by the gales which visited the coast of Norfolk...When the whale found himself upon land he roared loudly, and he struggled most lustily to regain the deep...The colour of the outer coat is dark brown on the back, vanishing off towards the body of a bluish grey. The body is white; also about two feet of the nose and baleen is white; the rest of the outer part is black. We understand that the skin, head, and tail were removed from the carcase for exhibition. The whale is stated to weigh about 25 tons'. From &quot;Illustrated London News&quot;, 1857.