CULTURE

Footer Column 2

Footer Legal

Footer Main

Nav Bar

OTHER

SPORTS

Subscribe, at any level, to play

Thanks for your interest in Defector Crosswords!

Become a subscriber today to get unlimited access

Thanks for reading!

Plans start at $8/month.

Subscribers enjoy unlimited, ad-free browsing.

Register to continue

Or click here to subscribe for unlimited, ad-free access!

Our gift to you: This year's post is unlocked. Register your email to get even more free articles.

Welcome to the 2025 Hater's Guide!

Just register your email:

This blog is free to read.

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


<p>charismatic megafauna (they/them)</p>


Sabrina Imbler

Baby monkey named 'Punch' is seen with a stuffed animal at a zoo on February 20, 2026, in north of Tokyo, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. Abandoned by his mother at birth, the monkey found comfort with a stuffed animal.

Creaturefector

The Mournful Ballad Of Punch The Monkey

a screenshot of an email exchange with "Elena Ferrante", which contains six back-and-forth emails out of an exchange of 12

Life's Rich Pageant

What I Learned From My Annoyingly Long Correspondence With “Elena Ferrante”

Lauren Theisen

The U.S. Olympic men's ice hockey team arrives for U.S. President Donald Trump's State of the Union

Olympics

The U.S. Hockey Men Spoil The Fantasy

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


Post-Postdoc

Mech Mind automatic vending robot gives a thumbs-up after fetching beverages from a shelf at the exhibition area of the 2025 World AI Conference (WAIC) and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance on July 27, 2025 in Shanghai, China.

The Machines

Something Of Moderate Size And Importance Is Happening

<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>


Maya Goldberg-Safir

Women's Basketball

Cardte Hicks Played Above The Rim And Ahead Of Her Time

<div id=":1o7" class="ii gt adO">
<div id=":3qc" class="a3s aiL">
<div id="avWBGd-1764">
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr">Georgia Cloepfil is the author of <i>The Striker and the Clock</i> (Riverhead, 2024). Her other writing can be found in <i>The Yale Review</i>, The New York <i>Times</i> Magazine, <i>n+1 </i>and elsewhere.</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id=":1og" class="hq gt"></div>


Georgia Cloepfil

The Suffering Of Lindsey Vonn

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


Nicholas Russell

Interviews

Where Is Cinema?: An Interview With A.S. Hamrah


<p>Michael is a writer who has worked with The Atlantic, The New Yorker, WIRED, Vox, The New York Times, and other publications. His first book, <em>The Other Olympians</em>, which uncovers the stories of several European athletes who transitioned gender in the 1930s, is now available for purchase.</p>


Michael Waters

Officials in hazmat suits remove a medal around an olympian's neck

Chromosome Testing Will Take Sports Back To The Dark Ages

Barry Petchesky

Marc Kennedy of Team Canada competes in the curling men's round robin between Canada and USA during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d’Ampezzo on February 13, 2026. (Photo by Tiziana FABI / AFP)

The Big Canada-Sweden Curling Beef, Explained

Kathryn Xu

Ilia Malinin of Team United States reacts after competing in the Men Single Skating on day seven of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Milano Ice Skating Arena on February 13, 2026 in Milan, Italy.

Even Ilia Malinin Is Mortal

<div id=":6bg" class="ii gt adO">
<div id=":6mo" class="a3s aiL">
<div id="avWBGd-12137">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>Rena Behar is a Brooklyn-based writer and editor specializing in responsible travel and various international oddities.</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id=":74q" class="hq gt"></div>


Rena Behar

An illustration of a skier going down the mountain while holding picket signs

Capital

The Outdoor Industry Needs Workers, And Workers Need Unions

Wojciech Chmielewski and Michal Gancarczyk of Team Poland compete in the Men's Doubles Run 1 on day five of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Cortina Sliding Centre on February 11, 2026 in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy

High-Level, Actionable Insights From Watching Doubles Luge For The First Time

Ilia Malinin (United States of America) competes during the Figure Skating Men Single Skating Short Programme Final Figure Skating competition.

Ilia Malinin Brings Figure Skating To The Crossroads

Brandy Jensen

Sturla Holm Laegreid from Norway reacts emotionally at the award ceremony.

Adulterous Norwegian Biathlete’s Appeal Denied

<p>Libby Watson is a writer, <a href="https://www.twitch.tv/libtron">streamer</a> and <a href="https://www.patreon.com/whatsallthisthen">podcaster</a>.</p>


Libby Watson

The exterior of breakfast, lunch, and pizza

Food

I Traveled 800 Miles To Eat Breakfast, Lunch, And Pizza At Criss Angel’s Breakfast, Lunch, And Pizza

The President of the Lombardy Region, Attilio Fontana, is welcoming the mascots Tina and Milo of the XXV Winter Olympic Games Milano Cortina 2026 in Piazza Citta di Lombardia, in Milan, Italy, on February 27, 2024.

Which Other Olympic Mascots Could Italian Stoats Tina And Milo Slaughter In Cold Blood?


<p>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</p>


Diana Moskovitz

A black and white photo of Laurence Fournier Beaudry and partner Guillaume Cizeron of Team France competing in the Ice Dance - Rhythm Dance on day zero of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Milano Ice Skating Arena on February 06, 2026 in Milan, Italy.

Figure Skating

France’s Viral Ice Dancing Team Has A Dark Backstory

Israel Daramola

Bad Bunny Celebrated America

Eli Cugini

Arts And Culture

Fanfiction’s Total Cultural Victory

<p>Hamilton Nolan is a journalist based in New York City. Subscribe to his work at <a href="https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1687350200913000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0naFbUVOe-5ZgtPDtIM3gz">HamiltonNolan.com</a>.</p>


Hamilton Nolan

Boxing

Look On The Bright Side

Photos of Nicole Good (L) and Alex Pretti are placed among flowers at a makeshift memorial in the area where Pretti was shot and killed by Federal immigration agents in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Politics

How Much Longer Can The Politics Of Grievance Sustain Itself?

<p>Leland Nally is a writer living in Los Angeles.</p>


Leland Nally

Lisbon , Portugal - 3 November 2021; Tarek Mansour, Co-founder, Kalshi on Centre Stage during day two of Web Summit 2021 at the Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal.

Prediction Markets Are Betting On A Grim Future

Alex Pareene

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Gregory Bovino with his security team while a group of citizens opposed to the country's immigration policies protested him in Minnesota on January 21, 2026.

I Have A Great Idea For Retraining ICE Agents

<p>Elon Green is the author of <em>The Man Nobody Killed</em> and <em>Last Call</em>.</p>


Elon Green

Michael Connelly Should Stick To Fake Crime

A statue representing an iceman named Oetzi, discovered on 1991 in the Italian Schnal Valley glacier, is displayed at the Archaeological Museu of Bolzano