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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

Rachelle Hampton

A yellow path curves through sprays of purple irises.

Arts And Culture

Monet, Through The Iris

A man is asleep on a couch in front of a television.

An Ode To Falling Asleep In Front Of A Basketball Game

A young woman at home, feeling sick. She is, appropriately, holding her lower back.

Life Lessons

I Hurt My Back

An orange cat sits in front of two framed Henri Rousseau prints.

Finding Henri Rousseau

Israel Daramola

Kelsey McKinney

Can We Pull You For A Chat?

Josh Hart #3 and Jalen Brunson #11 of the New York Knicks talk against the Indiana Pacers

Thank God Jalen Brunson And Josh Hart Are Kind Of Boring

Brandy Jensen

David Roth

Alex Sujong Laughlin

A woman walks in front of a mural depicting writer Octavia Butler in Nairobi, Kenya. The Defector Reads A Book badge is at upper right.

Defector Reads A Book

Octavia E. Butler’s ‘Parable Of The Sower’ Confronts What Comes After The End

A red iPhone 12 mini rests on a wood table. The back of the phone is facing up; it's glass surface is cracked.

Phone Too Big

Leslie Chelsey, 10, of Victory Boulevard School, plays violin. (Photo by USC Libraries/Corbis via Getty Images)

Funbag

Why Didn’t Orchestra Musicians Choose To Learn Cooler Instruments?


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Sabrina Imbler

Justin Ellis

chad michael murray and two other male revue dancers are shirtless in suspenders in front of a green fundraising chart

Defector At The Movies

Defector Watches A Christmas Movie: ‘The Merry Gentlemen’

Maitreyi Anantharaman

Giri Nathan

Patrick Redford

Firefighters wash up after fighting the O'Brien Creek fire. Lolo national Forest, Montana, August 21, 1940.

Racing With Mortality In Norman Maclean’s ‘Young Men And Fire’

Two reflective gold wine glasses emblazoned with "Love is Blind" are held up against the sky.

Could Unionizing Protect Contestants From The Reality Of Reality TV?

Podcasts

Welcome To The New Era Of Normal Gossip

Wicked co-stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande stand on a red carpet. Grande holds Erivo's hand to her mouth.

When Will The ‘Wicked’ Press Campaign End?

Firefighters take a break from battling a series of brush fires on November 9, 2024 outside of Pompton Lakes, New Jersey.

Climate

It Was Too Warm This Week

A cooking arena is divided into two sides: one black and one white. On each side there are ten chefs facing the other side.

‘Culinary Class Wars’ Is A Tribute To Getting Your Reps In

Northern lights are seen across a night sky; in the foreground, there's a telephone tower

Science

It’s Totally Cool That I Didn’t Get To See The Northern Lights. Seriously! I Promise!!

Six older gentlemen wearing red jerseys stand on a green field, cheering excitedly.

‘The Golden Bachelorette’ Is Like A Wildlife Cam But For Old Dudes Who Rock

Brazilian gymnast Flávia Saraiva kisses her medal.

Gymnastics

Flávia Saraiva Remains A Star

Donte DiVincenzo talks with Josh Hart of the New York Knicks. Both are standing on the court, looking at something to the left off camera.

The Trade Is The Cruelest Thing In Sports

Jon Lovett sits on stage in a chair, cross-legged. He holds his hands apart and looks at the audience with a sort of chagrined expression.

‘Survivor’ Should Bring Back Jon Lovett Just So He Can Bomb Again

In Rumaan Alam’s ‘Entitlement,’ Money Comes At The Expense Of Everything Else

four women sit at a booth in the roller rink

What Exactly Happened With The Fruity Pebbles?

Portrait of professional road racing cyclist David Millar taken on May 16, 2011. (Photo by Joby Sessions/Procycling Magazine via Getty Images)

Writing Is An Act, Not An Aesthetic

Visitors examine the exhibition as The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City presents the groundbreaking exhibition The Harlem Renaissance and Transtlantic Modernism which includes some 160 works of painting, sculpture, photography, film, and ephemera in New York, United States on February 20, 2024.The exhibition opens in Black History Month, is honoring the triumphs and struggles of African Americans throughout U.S. history.