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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

Dave McKenna

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

charismatic megafauna (they/them)

Sabrina Imbler

People attend the 'Trans Day of Visibility Rally' hosted by the Christopher Street Project on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Someone holds up a sign saying "I WANT MORE TRANSSEXUAL FRIENDS LOVERS TEACHERS STUDENTS NEIGHBORS AUTHORS ARTISTS LEADERS LAWYERS PREACHERS & COMRADES.

Science

What It Means To Fund Studies In Transition “Regret”

Albert Burneko

The Golden Gate Bridge and Downtown San Francisco are seen from the Marin Headlands during a brief rain break near Sausalito, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025.

This Is So Stupid

Tech CEO: Do Not Say To Me That I Was Not Just Assassinated By The Jackal

Patrick Redford

Striking Touchstone route setters demonstrate in front of a California climbing gym.

Climbing

There’s No Climbing Without Route Setters, And They’re On Strike

David Roth

Elon Musk chats with US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick as they walk with White House Communications Director Steven Cheung and White House deputy chief of staff for policy and US homeland security advisor Stephen Miller on the south lawn of the White House. Everyone absolutely looks like shit.

Politics

Kingdom Of The Biters

Carly Stern is an independent journalist, writer and editor based in Brooklyn. She has written for publications including The New York Times, Vox, The Guardian and The Washington Post.

Carly Stern

Carlos Watson, co-founder of Ozy Media, speaks with press after his sentencing hearing at Brooklyn Federal Court on December 16, 2024 in New York City. Watson was sentenced to almost 10 years in prison for trying to defraud investors and lenders by lying about the company’s finances after being convicted in July. Samir Rao, the other co-founder of Ozy, and Suzee Han, a former Ozy chief of staff, pleaded guilty last year to fraud charges and both cooperated in the case and testified against Watson.

Journalismism

Looking For Closure At Carlos Watson’s Sentencing Hearing

Alex Sujong Laughlin

Chefector

I Found This Guy’s Recipe For Human Kibble Surprisingly Enjoyable

Nicholas Russell is a writer from Las Vegas.

Nicholas Russell

On a gradient background going from tan-ish to pink-ish, the front cover of the book Trauma Plot by Jamie Hood. The book is black with a statue of a woman with wings in the center. It also identifies Hood as the author of How to Be A Good Girl.

Interviews

“Rape Is Political”: Jamie Hood On Trauma Narratives, Writing The Self, And Ethical Obligation

Ray Ratto

Dan Hurley making a skeptical face with his glasses pushed up onto his forehead during UConn's loss to Florida in the second round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament.

College Basketball

Dan Hurley Is The Last Angry Man

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

Dan McQuade

Photo of a white marble room with three archways in the middle. In the middle archway is a giant gold pipe organ, with two more archways on the other side of the room. A huge crowd fills the bottom of the photo, listening to the organ.

Dadfector

One Last Trip To Philadelphia’s Department Store Of Dreams

Lauren Theisen

Devin the dugong with meatloaf glaze on his face

Fans Everywhere Are Slobbering At The Chance To Try Devin The Dugong’s Algorithmically Generated Sandwich

1990s Single Male Anna Hummingbird Calypte Anna Western USA And Canada (Photo by T. Ulrich/Classicstock/Getty Images)

Creaturefector

The Hummingbirds Brought Me Around

Maitreyi Anantharaman

Diana Taurasi #3 of the Phoenix Mercury reacts during the first quarter against the Seattle Storm at Climate Pledge Arena on June 04, 2024 in Seattle, Washington

WNBA

Who Had Diana?

Samer Kalaf

A protestor with a sign that reads "Release Mahmoud Khalil."

Mahmoud Khalil Is The Target Of A Desperate Agenda

a photo of Sabrina Valenti, formerly a budget analyst for NOAA. Sabrina has brown curly hair and is standing against a floral background.

An Interview With A Fired NOAA Budget Analyst

Alex Prewitt is a writer in Brooklyn. He shoots free throws the normal way.

Alex Prewitt

How “Ball Don’t Lie” Became More Than A Basketball Mantra

Robert Pastore

New York correctional officers and sergeants continue their strike for a second week outside of the Coxsackie Correctional Facility on February 28, 2025 in Coxsackie, Greene, New York.

Policing

What The Corrections Officer Strike Means To Incarcerated People Like Me

Diana Moskovitz is Defector&#8217;s investigations editor. You can contact her at diana@defector.com or dfmoskovitz@protonmail.com. She&#8217;s also on Signal @dmoskovitz.99

Diana Moskovitz

A photo of three women's basketball players. They all stand with their backs to the camera. On the back of their shirts are the 37 words that make up Title IX, the law that gave women equal access to school sports

Women’s Sports Happened By Accident, And Could Be Taken Apart On Purpose

Staff Writer
Find me on Signal @DefectorChris.19

Chris Thompson

The Virgin River flows through the valley floor as viewed on November 9, 2019 in Zion National Park, Utah

Why Bully The National Park Service?

Dennis M. Hogan

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - FEBRUARY 19: People including researchers from Chicago area universities gather on the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) campus to voice concerns about the potential loss of federal funding for medical research on February 19, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. The researchers are worried about the future of their projects as the Trump administration cuts grant funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The NIH Cuts Are Part Of An All-Out War On Higher Education

Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin during player introductions at the 2017 skills competition

A Pittsburgh Pilgrimage

A news chyron that reads: Man arrested for shooting two people in Miami Beach

Life's Rich Pageant

This Is The Logical Endpoint Of Zionism

Eva Holland is a freelance writer and editor based in Whitehorse, Yukon. She&#8217;s a correspondent for Outside magazine and the author of the books Nerve and <a href="https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/no-sleep-til-fairbanks#/">No Sleep &#8216;Til Fairbanks</a>.

Eva Holland

The Great Outdoors

What’s The Yukon Quest Without The Yukon River?

Lindsey Adler is a writer based in Brooklyn. She exclusively covered sports for a decade but has other interests, too.

Lindsey Adler

A woman stands in front of the Yoko Ono, »Cut Piece«, 1965, during a press preview at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Duesseldorf, western Germany on September 26, 2024. In cooperation with the Tate Modern, the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen is presenting the influential work of artist and activist Yoko Ono in a comprehensive solo exhibition taking place from September 28, 2024 to March 6, 2025.

Arts And Culture

My Weekend With Yoko

<a href="http://www.ddavisla.com">David Davis </a>is the author of Wheels of Courage: How Paralyzed Veterans From World War II Invented Wheelchair Sports, Fought for Disability Rights, and Inspired a Nation and Waterman: The Life and Times of Duke Kahanamoku. He lives in Los Angeles.
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David Davis

Photo of Gidget running through the Malibu Pier. Fifty years after Kathy Kohner Zuckerman, aka Gidget, learned to surf in Malibu, the surfing world has accepted her as surfing's early pioneers, mascots and avid promoters. April 27, 2006, (Photo by Ken Hively/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)