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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

Patrick Redford

Gollum looks around; where are the buttholes?

Video Games

The Video Game Where You Play As A Tortured Wretch Isn’t Very Fun

Israel Daramola

‘The Idol’ Isn’t Good Enough To Be Shocking

Soraya Roberts

Helene Yorke and Drew Tarver in The Other Two

Why ‘The Other Two’ Is So Good

The ‘Succession’ Misery Index: A Meal Fit For A King


<p>Dan McQuade was a founding member of Defector. He died in January 2026.</p>


Dan McQuade

Eight basketball players looking at the Last Supper but it's a basketball backboard

This Is So Stupid

My Pointless Quest To Double The Number Of Apostles At The Last Supper

Tom Ley

It’s Good When Action Movies Remember To Be A Little Silly

<p>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 <em>Point B</em>. Handsomest man in the world.</p>


Drew Magary

Arts And Culture

Movies Have A Reality Disease. ‘Sisu’ Is The Cure

17 February 2023, Berlin: Matt Johnson, director, arrives for the photocall of the film "BlackBerry". Berlinale is one of the major film festivals and lasts until February 26, 2023.

‘BlackBerry’ Director Matt Johnson Is Not Wearing An Outfit

Dave McKenna

A story in the Wright State Daily Guardian about Robert Pollard's no-hitter for Wright State University on March 11, 1978.

Celebrating Robert Pollard’s No-Hitter And The Rock-Jock Nexus

Kelly Reichardt directing Michelle Williams on Showing Up

Indie Cinema Is Now Genre Cinema

Cam’ron And Mase Argue About Sports Now, And It’s Working

Alex Sujong Laughlin

Writers Guild of America members walk the picket line on the first day of their strike in front of Amazon studios on Tuesday, May 2, 2023.

Reality TV Won’t Fix What’s Broken About Hollywood Economics

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<div>Casey Taylor is a writer living and working in Pittsburgh. He is currently writing a book for St. Martin&#8217;s Press about cannabis religions, Haile Selassie I, and the Cold War in the Caribbean. He also writes a free newsletter called <a href="https://weedchurch.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://weedchurch.substack.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1709306863919000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1mVH2xiID6S0zvlyj6yHco">Weed Church</a> covering foolish spiritual things that occur to him. His work has appeared in The New Republic, WIRED, New York Magazine, and a sports blog he can’t currently recall the name of. You can <a href="mailto:caseyt7@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">email</a> him if you’d like.</div>
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Casey Taylor

Audrey Kim, curator and artist, talks about the piece "Genesis: In The Beginning Was The Word" by Eurypheus at the Misalignment Museum on March 8, 2023 in San Francisco, California. - A new exhibition titled the Misalignment Museum opened to the public in San Francisco on March 9th, 2023, featuring funny or disturbing AI art works, supposed to help visitors think about the potential dangers of artificial intelligence. (Photo by Amy Osborne / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY MENTION OF THE ARTIST UPON PUBLICATION - TO ILLUSTRATE THE EVENT AS SPECIFIED IN THE CAPTION (Photo by AMY OSBORNE/AFP via Getty Images)

The Machines

AI Art Sucks Ass And You Should Say It’s Bad

<div>Adam Charles Hart is an author, curator, and archivist who lives in Pittsburgh. His second book, &#8216;<i>Raising the Dead: The Work of George A. Romero, </i>will be out in early 2024 from Oxford University Press.</div>
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Adam Charles Hart

An evil zombie poking its head up from behind a black wall, and at the bottom it says DIRECTED BY GEORGE A. ROMERO. And zombie has baseball stitches on his head. And then above there are comic word bubbles that say things like "OJ SIMPSON" and "BRUNO SAMMARTINO" and "REGGIE JACKSON" and "FRANCO HARRIS"

Remembering “The Winners,” George Romero’s Forgotten Sports Documentary Series

Kelsey McKinney

The Bluesky app can be seen on a smartphone. The service of the Twitter alternative Bluesky can only be used with invitations so far, so that the infrastructure is not overloaded in one go.

The Internet Isn’t Meant To Be So Small

John Mulaney Still Goes For The Laugh First

Beef. Steven Yeun as Danny in episode 102 of Beef.

Steven Yeun Knows What To Do With How He Looks

<p>John Semley is a writer and researcher based in Philadelphia.</p>


John Semley

Clint Eastwood at a podium, it's an animated GIF, and different Clint Eastwood fake twitter accounts slowly fill the screen

A Fistful Of Eastwoos: Inside The Battle For Clint Twitter

David Roth

The United States Supreme Court building seen from a distance, through a window, from inside a darkened room.

Politics

The Art Of American Conservatism

How Did Hip-Hop Media Get So Bad?


<p>Corey Atad is a freelancer writer based in Toronto with an unhealthy Air Bud obsession.</p>


Corey Atad

‘How To Blow Up A Pipeline’ Is A Film About Action


<p>Annie Rauwerda is a writer and comedian from Michigan. She loves Wikipedia, digital archives, and her cat.</p>


Annie Rauwerda

Life's Rich Pageant

In Search Of Wikipedia’s Shrug Guy

‘Cry Wolf’ Shows How Easy It Is To Blame The Victim

The messed up basketball court shaped like a parallelogram

They Turned This Museum Into A Basketball Court And It Rules

<p>Nicholas Russell is a writer from Las Vegas.</p>


Nicholas Russell

Keanu Reeves as John Wick, holding a handgun, with the text "Check Out the JW Collection" and a "shop now" button