defector-orange-no-empty-space

lede_post_card_default

lede_post_card_stacked

lede_post_card_featured_post

lede_post_card_featured_posts_hero

lede_post_card_featured_posts_sidebar

lede_post_card_highlighted_post

lede_post_card_horizontal_a

lede_post_card_horizontal_c

lede_post_card_related_post

lede_post_card_square

lede_article_featured_16x9

lede_article_featured_3x2

lede_article_featured_1x1

lede_article_featured_flexible

lede_article_content

lede_article_content_wide_width

lede_article_content_full_width

lede_byline_avatar_post_card

lede_byline_avatar_highlight

lede_profile_coral_avatar

lede_logo

lede_logo_banner

lede_logo_footer_banner

lede_logo_simple_header

lede_sponsorship_logo

lede_sponsorship_logo_river_card

lede_sponsorship_homepage_card_logo

lede_sponsorship_homepage_card

Footer Legal

Header - Categories

Header Menu

The last good website.

Topics

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-no-empty-space

Defector

NYC: Come To Our WNBA Comedy Show On July 15

ten-minute-quarters-3-2-final-real-maybe (1)

Live Event

<p>Annie Howard is a journalist and historian based in Chicago. She is currently at work on her debut manuscript, <em>The City Made Me Trans</em><i>.</i></p>


image_67179777

Annie Howard

Chloe Dzubilo Untitled Crossed the Street

Arts And Culture

Chloe Dzubilo And The Perilous Path Forward For Trans Life

skalaf-photo

Samer Kalaf

New York mayoral candidate, State Rep. Zohran Mamdani (D-NY) (L) is joined by fellow mayoral candidate Brad Lander during an election night gathering

mamdani-lander-nyc

Politics

The Politics Of Fear Don’t Work Against A Candidate Who Isn’t Scared


<p>Investigations Editor. You can contact her at diana@defector.com or dfmoskovitz@protonmail.com. She&#8217;s also on Signal @dmoskovitz.99</p>


DFM New Headshot

Diana Moskovitz

A protester holds a backwards American flag outside of Dodger Stadium during a protest against the Los Angeles Dodgers organization and ICE immigration raids on June 21, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.

Dodgers/ICE Protests

The Dodgers Are Disappointing The People Who Want To Love Them The Most

<p>Joshua Needelman is a journalist based in New York City who has written for The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Washington Post, The Guardian and more. He has dabbled in yoga and meditation for more than a decade. He enjoys eating (and making) pizza, as well as rooting for the New York Knicks, whom he is available to coach next season.</p>


Joshua Needelman

Yoga Guru Sex Abuse

Yoga

What The Guru Left Behind

<p>Alex Shultz is a journalist based in Brooklyn.</p>


IMG_0077

Alex Shultz

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) speaks to press after voting on the nomination of Michael Duffey to be Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment on June 02, 2025 in Washington, DC. Senators returned to Capitol Hill on Monday after the Memorial Day Holiday recess.

Senators Return To Capitol Hill After Memorial Day Holiday Recess

Nobody Wants To Talk About John Fetterman And Buzz Bissinger’s Pricey Memoir Project

IMG_6025-800

Albert Burneko

AI-Powered Robot interacts with People during the Italian Tech Week 2024 at OGR Officine Grandi Riparazioni on September 26, 2024 in Turin, Italy.

cyborg roose

Capital

Toward A Theory Of Kevin Roose

-b9trzb

Lauren Theisen

Brian Wilson, along with the Beach Boys perform at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, California on January 1, 1987 .

Beach Boys Live

Music

Brian Wilson Was The Sound Of Something Just Out Of Reach

image

Kathryn Xu

This photograph shows a TGV inoui high speed train of the French national SNCF rail company SNCF running in Nantes, western France, on April 4, 2025.

FRANCE RAIL SNCF TGV

Transit

All The Trains I Rode In France

<div>Jen Kinney is a journalist and audio producer with a troubling fixation on debris, detritus, and discard.</div>


jenheadshots-9

Jen Kinney

IMG_1921_46a563

Seven Days At The Bin Store

headshot1

Patrick Redford

A large bitcoin guy regards the world they will take over

Bitcoin

What World Does Bitcoin Want To Build For Itself?

image0 (5)

Israel Daramola

Oklahoma City Thunder vs Denver Nuggets

The Cool Athlete Is No Longer In Production

<div>
<div>Katherine Churchill holds a Ph.D. in English literature. Her writing has appeared in <i>Time</i>, <i>Literary Hub, Electric Literature, Oxford American Magazine</i>, and elsewhere.</div>
</div>
<div></div>


medieval studies photo_Katherine Churchill

Katherine Churchill

RARE BOOKS

The Exclusive Men’s-Only Rare Books Club, And The Woman Who Has A Key

Pork knuckles are grilled on a spit over a wood fire

This Is So Stupid

Dave McKenna Insists They Have Ham Trucks In France

<p>The author can be reached at postpostdoc@protonmail.com.</p>


Post-Postdoc

Germany – : Homepage, Website of the search engine lycos

The Machines

The AI Floodwaters Are Rising Fast

<div>
<p>Sebastian Stockman is a Teaching Professor in English at Northeastern University, a writer whose work has appeared in the <em>Washington Post </em>and the <em>Boston Globe</em> among many other places, and a guy who publishes <a href="https://sebastianstockman.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://sebastianstockman.substack.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1748539688609000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0eIUYaj1h-eA1-XIa8i0L7">A Saturday Letter,</a> a very occasional free thing. Follow him on Bluesky @<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/substockman.bsky.social">substockman.bsky.social</a>.</p>
</div>
<div></div>


Stockman head shot

Sebastian Stockman

Florida, Miami, Arscht Performing Arts Center, The Miami Herald Spelling Bee, test, competition, stage, overview, contestants, judges, moderator, sit, chair, elimination, opera house,

An overview of contestants at The Miami Herald Spelling Bee.

Life's Rich Pageant

Confessions Of A Spelling Bee Pronouncer

VictorPortraitWClaw

David Roth

Blueberries are sold at a store in Annapolis, Maryland, on April 4, 2025. These are not the blueberries that Jon Heyman purchased for $15.99 in Manhattan.

US-TRADE-TARIFFS-DIPLOMACY

Defector Investigates: Is Jon Heyman Paying Too Much For Blueberries?

<div id="1695913206.579009" class="c-virtual_list__item c-virtual_list__item--initial-activeitem" role="listitem" data-qa="virtual-list-item" data-item-key="1695913206.579009">
<div class="c-message_kit__background c-message_kit__background--hovered p-message_pane_message__message c-message_kit__message" role="presentation" data-qa="message_container" data-qa-unprocessed="false" data-qa-placeholder="false">
<div class="c-message_kit__hover c-message_kit__hover--hovered" role="document" data-qa-hover="true">
<div class="c-message_kit__actions c-message_kit__actions--above">
<div class="c-message_kit__gutter c-message_kit__gutter--compact">
<div class="c-message_kit__gutter__right" role="presentation" data-qa="message_content">
<div class="c-message_kit__indent">
<div class="c-message_kit__blocks c-message_kit__blocks--rich_text c-message_kit__blocks--inline">
<div class="c-message__message_blocks c-message__message_blocks--rich_text c-message__message_blocks--inline" data-qa="message-text">
<div class="p-block_kit_renderer p-block_kit_renderer--inline" data-qa="block-kit-renderer">
<div class="p-block_kit_renderer__block_wrapper p-block_kit_renderer__block_wrapper--first">
<div class="p-rich_text_block p-rich_text_block--inline" dir="auto">
<div class="p-rich_text_section">Tom Scocca is the editor of <a href="http://indignity.net">Indignity</a>, a subscription-supported newsletter of news, essays, and commentary.</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="1695913224.677889" class="c-virtual_list__item" role="listitem" data-qa="virtual-list-item" data-item-key="1695913224.677889">
<div class="c-message_kit__background p-message_pane_message__message c-message_kit__message" role="presentation" data-qa="message_container" data-qa-unprocessed="false" data-qa-placeholder="false">
<div class="c-message_kit__hover" role="document" data-qa-hover="true">
<div class="c-message_kit__actions c-message_kit__actions--above">
<div class="c-message_kit__gutter c-message_kit__gutter--compact">
<div class="c-message_kit__gutter__left" role="presentation"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>


8b2c55a3-643f-49c0-b14a-0e4470463bef_1200x1200-1

Tom Scocca

Donald Trump holds up a printed article from "American Thinker" while accusing South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa of state-sanctioned violence against white farmers in South Africa during a press availability in the Oval Office at the White House on May 21, 2025 in Washington, DC.

trump ramaphosa

Margin Of Error

What Do You Do About A Declining President?

IMGmalcolm

Defector At The Movies

Spike Lee’s Malcolm X Still Lives

ms-rachel-elmo

Journalismism

The New York Times Really Asked Ms. Rachel If She’s Paid By Hamas

The obnoxious Grok logo, on a phone screen, in a hand silhouetted against a neon green background.

Grok logo ugh so corny fuck off Elon

Elon Musk’s Idiot Chatbot Goes Full Boer

<p>Violet Lucca is the author of <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/david-cronenberg-clinical-trials-violet-lucca/21170132"><i>David Cronenberg: Clinical Trials</i></a>. Her writing has appeared in the <em>New York Times</em>, <em>Art in America</em>, <em>Sight and Sound</em>, the <em>Village Voice</em>, and elsewhere. She was the VP of Digital at <em>Harper’s Magazine</em> and Digital Producer at <em>Film Comment</em>, and was the host of their respective podcasts.</p>


violet lucca author photo

Violet Lucca

Shrouds_3

‘The Shrouds’ Is David Cronenberg’s Typically Prescient Epitaph For Our Present And His Career

<p>Maya Goldberg-Safir writes about women’s basketball and splits her time between Chicago and Oakland, where she was born and raised. She is the creator of <a href="https://wnbaroughnotes.substack.com/">Rough Notes</a>, a newsletter chronicling women’s basketball from the court, the road, and the heart.</p>


photo_large

Maya Goldberg-Safir

natalie-nakase-aces

History

How The Japanese-American Basketball Leagues Built Natalie Nakase

Marc Marquez of Spain and Ducati Lenovo Team, Alex Marquez of Spain and BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP during the 2025 MotoGP Michelin Grand Prix of France at Circuit Bugatti on May 11, 2025 in Le Mans, France.

MotoGP Michelin Grand Prix of France – Race

Racing

Finding The Limit At Le Mans

Draymond Green #23 of the Golden State Warriors dribbles the ball against Julius Randle #30 of the Minnesota Timberwolves during the third quarter in Game Four of the Western Conference Second Round NBA Playoffs at Chase Center on May 12, 2025 in San Francisco, 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.

Minnesota Timberwolves v Golden State Warriors – Game Four

Physicality Is Where Basketball Lives And Careers Die

New York City police arrested dozens of Pro-Palestinian protesters on Columbia University on Wednesday evening after they took over part of a central library in New York, USA on May 7, 2025.

Columbia Gaza protest arrests May 7

Teachable Moment

Blogs Of Note