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

image0 (5)

Israel Daramola

IMGmalcolm

Defector At The Movies

Spike Lee’s Malcolm X Still Lives

IMG_6025-800

Albert Burneko

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

The Machines

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

image

Kathryn Xu

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

headshot1

Patrick Redford

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

<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

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

Margin Of Error

Teachable Moment

-b9trzb

Lauren Theisen

The Savannah Bananas players and Party Animals players get up after making a group photo after a game

GettyImages-2212046246(2)

The Savannah Bananas Make Baseball Boring


<p>Jasper Hutson is a lapsed journalist.</p>


Jasper Hutson

Hercules3

Fitness

Any “Halfway Decent Person” Can Join And Own Ireland’s Oldest Gym

Headshot_Goldfarb

Ben Goldfarb

A bulldozer moves a pile of dirt, which features two hoofs sticking out of the top

abundance-mattie

Capital

An Abundance Of Concrete

brandy-jensen-headshot

Brandy Jensen

LouisTheroux

Arts And Culture

‘The Settlers’ Makes Louis Theroux Say What He Thinks

skalaf-photo

Samer Kalaf

Shannon Sharpe and Skip Bayless on Undisputed

skip-shannon-undisputed

Media Meltdowns

Seal Up The Pit That Contains Fox Sports 1

<p>Abigail Segel is a writer based in Montreal.</p>


Screenshot 2023-06-14 at 10.34.24 AM

Abigail Segel

The Vermillion Vanguard prepares to march

8C2FC574-96DE-491E-8EC6-A4318C379959_1_105_c

Soccer

The Vermilion Vanguard Is On The March

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


IMG_0077

Alex Shultz

A tabloid style Sports Illustrated cover in the checkout line

Journalismism

Horny Sports Blogging Makes A Bewildering Return To Sports Illustrated

<p>Jake Romm is a New York City-based writer and the Associate Editor of Protean Magazine.</p>


DSCF4815

Jake Romm

October8

Politics

The Paranoid Fantasies Of ‘October 8’

Painting of Science Fiction Scene with Robot Woman by Anton Brzezinski

Henry Blodget Invents, Hires, Sexually Harasses, Blogs About Nonexistent AI Subordinate

Post-Postdoc

AI Gig Work

How I Became Highly Educated Grist For The AI Mill

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer looks on as US President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House on April 9, 2025 in Washington, DC.

US-POLITICS-TRUMP

The Bargain Vs. The Boot

President Trump Signs New Executive Orders At The White House

Welcome To The Scam Century

VictorPortraitWClaw

David Roth

Octavio Dotel pitches for the Detroit Tigers pitches against the Minnesota Twins on August 15, 2012 at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Detroit Tigers v Minnesota Twins

Octavio Dotel Made A Life In Baseball

Ms. Rachel attends the Sesame Workshop 2024 Benefit Gala

ms-rachel-sesame-street

Ms. Rachel Is Hamas Now


<p>Visual Editor. Runs <a href="http://defectorstore.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">defectorstore.com</a>. Philadelphia-based, if you couldn’t tell.</p>


DFmBbTQF_400x400

Dan McQuade

Topps baseball cards featuring the Yankees’ Aaron Judge, are seen during the Washington Nationals media preview day at Nationals Park on Friday, March 21, 2025.

Nationals Media Day 2025

That’s Too Many Baseball Cards!

<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400">Dan Brooks writes essays and fiction from Missoula, Montana.</span></i></p>


Dan Brooks

U.S. Vice President JD Vance (L) shoots with U.S. Marines at a gun range during a visit to Marine Corps Base Quantico

Vice President Vance Visits Marine Corps Base Quantico

American Freedom


<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

The front of a U.S. Department of Education building.

US Dept of ED

Title IX Is Now A Weapon In The Trump Administration’s Culture War

Dave McKenna

Screenshot 2025-04-04 at 11.53.47 AM

My Friend Has Been Naming Shitty TV Characters After Me For 20 Years

Blogs Of Note