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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

<p>Jen Ramos Eisen is a Central California- and Las Vegas-based baseball labor and economics reporter.</p>


Jen Ramos Eisen

A cartoon of an outfield wall with an encroaching shadow over the player standing looking at it. It feels dark and desolate. The baseball stadium is empty.

The Life Of An International Minor League Baseball Player Has Never Been Simple

Barry Petchesky

Birdfector

Flaco Never Escaped

<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Dennis Young is the news editor at Front Office Sports.</span></p>


Dennis Young

Amy Cragg from Portland, Oregon, celebrates at the finish line after winning the US Women's Marathon Olympic Team Trials with a time of 2:28:27 in Los Angeles, California on February 13, 2016. Highlighted Joanna Zeiger behind her, who finished last, the image is a GIF and zooms into her

Olympics

At The Olympic Trials Marathon, DFL Means Pain Over Regret

<div>Nate Jackson is a former NFL tight end and author of <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/slow-getting-up-a-story-of-nfl-survival-from-the-bottom-of-the-pile-nate-jackson/6430451?gclid=Cj0KCQjwpc-oBhCGARIsAH6ote9JzWMngZDpSjF2eoL1_JlyPm2QhDfkNgOzqvaB4n9ic0qqUNQ4iCwaAsasEALw_wcB"><em>Slow Getting Up</em></a>. He lives in Denver.</div>
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Nate Jackson

A football is being balanced on top of a syringe and vaccine vial.

My NFL Career Ended With A Needle And A Scam

Giri Nathan

Life Lessons

On Moving Out


<p>Richard Staff is a <a href="https://twitter.com/RichardStaff" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">weapons-grade Twitter goblin</a> and hostage of the Mets. That is his real name.</p>


Richard Staff

View from seats on the first-base side of Ebbets Field as the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers opened the 1939 baseball season, Brooklyn, New York, New York, 1939.

The Last Of The Brooklyn Dodgers

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<p>Mike Tanier has covered the NFL for 20 years for Football Outsiders, the New York Times, The Messenger, Bleacher Report, Sports on Earth, and other ancient empires. He&#8217;s a co-author of Aaron Schatz&#8217;s FTN Football Almanac and the author of the Y/A novel for grownups <i>Long Snapper&#8217;s Blues. </i>He lives off Exit 3 of the New Jersey Turnpike with his long-suffering wife, two sons and a 70-pound American Bully named Frank the Tank. <span style="font-weight: 400">His newsletter, <a href="https://too-deep-zone.ghost.io/">Too Deep Zone</a>, has officially launched.</span></p>
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Mike Tanier

STILL LIFE OF SKELETON WRITING IN LARGE BOOK WITH QUILL PEN (Photo by H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty Images)

Journalismism

Three Newsrooms Imploded Around Me In Under A Year

David Roth

Boeing CEO David Calhoun speaks during a joint press event with United Airlines at the Boeing manufacturing facility in North Charleston, on December 13, 2022.

Capital

How Will The Golden Age Of “Making It Worse” End?

Lauren Theisen

Defector At The Movies

Stuck In The One-Woman Myth

Justin Ellis

Illustration of a father looking surprised at a baby on a changing table, surrounded by a pile of laundry and a vacuum cleaner.

Dadfector

No One Can Tell You How To Dad

Albert Burneko

ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE - JANUARY 17: Republican presidential candidate, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks to supporters at LaBelle Winery on January 17, 2024 in Rockingham County, New Hampshire. DeSantis, who finished second behind frontrunner, former U.S. President Donald Trump in this week's Iowa caucuses, is campaigning in New Hampshire ahead of that state's primary on January 23 before moving on to South Carolina on Friday. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Politics

Nation Rejects Sweaty Pig

CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE, CO - OCTOBER 13: Former Denver Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan poses for a portrait at his home on Wednesday, October 13, 2021. Shanahan, who won back to back Super Bowls as Denver’s head coach in the 1990s, will be inducted into the team’s ring of fame during the Broncos’ matchup with the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

In Search Of The Shanahan Offense

<p>A. Andrews is a thirty-something disabled queer/trans writer and illustrator. They spent the majority of their young life sketching in hospitals and experienced their first heartbreak at age 8 during Game 6 of the &#8217;96 NBA championships. When they aren’t writing and drawing their guts out, they’re hanging with their dog, George, and drinking too many coffees. They will probably never tell you “what’s <em>wrong</em> with [them]” and you shouldn’t ask! They were named one of <em>The Advocate</em>&#8216;s 2021 People of the Year, are a 2020 Tin House Summer Workshop scholar, and their debut graphic novel, <em>A Quick and Easy Guide to Sex &amp; Disability</em> topped 2020 lists for the NYPL best books for teens, and YALSA&#8217;s best books for teens, and is available anywhere books are sold. You can find more of their work at <em>Washington Post</em>, <em>Esquire</em>, the Nib, and other fun corners of the internet.</p>


A. Andrews

Art of a person seen from behind wearing a hoodie and shorts, with tattoos on their legs, in the process of lifting a barbell

Lost And Found At The Weight Machines

Maitreyi Anantharaman

A view of the first period of the PWHL game between Minnesota and Boston at Tsongas Center on January 03, 2024 in Lowell, Massachusetts.

Women's Hockey

The First CBA In Women’s Hockey Is A Picture Of The Future, And A Story Of The Past

Investor Bill Ackman, wearing one of those goofy headsets you can rent that play the radio broadcast, watches Emma Radacanu play at the 2021 U.S. Open in Queens, NY.

Hiding And Seeking With The New York Times

Ray Ratto

Media Meltdowns

ESPN’s Paying How Much For This?

<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

Hater's Guide

The 2023 Hater’s Guide To The Williams-Sonoma Catalog

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<p class="sc-77igqf-0 bOfvBY">Vince Guerrieri is an award-winning journalist and author in the Cleveland area. He likes Lake Erie perch sandwiches, Jim Traficant and long walks on the field at League Park. His website is <a class="sc-1out364-0 hMndXN sc-145m8ut-0 kGbjEv js_link" href="http://vinceguerrieri.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ga="[[&quot;Embedded Url&quot;,&quot;External link&quot;,&quot;http://vinceguerrieri.com/&quot;,{&quot;metric25&quot;:1}]]">vinceguerrieri.com</a>, and you can follow him on Twitter <a class="sc-1out364-0 hMndXN sc-145m8ut-0 kGbjEv js_link" href="https://twitter.com/vinceguerrieri" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ga="[[&quot;Embedded Url&quot;,&quot;External link&quot;,&quot;https://twitter.com/vinceguerrieri&quot;,{&quot;metric25&quot;:1}]]">@vinceguerrieri</a>.</p>
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Vince Guerrieri

Balloons, 1.5 million of them, curl around the Terminal Tower Building during Balloonfest '86 sponsored by the United Ways Services of Cleveland. The lift off will be entered into the Guinness World Book of Records.(Photo by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

History

Balloonfest Made Cleveland A Laughingstock. Did It Deserve It?

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


Sabrina Imbler

at the Extinction: Not the End of the World exhibition at The Natural History Museum on February 5, 2013 in London, England. More than 99 percent of species that once roamed the planet are now extinct. Organisers of the exhibition hope to show that a diverse range of plants and animals survived. 80 Museum specimens are on display from February 8-8, September 2013.

Science

What Kind Of Future Does De-Extinction Promise?

Elon Musk wearing a black leather jacket with a shearling collar to a stage interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin, lol.

Looking Good, Elon! Feeling Good, Trashcan Man!

Patrick Redford

BOSTON, MA - JUNE 1: Larry Bird #33 of the Boston Celtics answers questions during media day during the NBA Finals on June 1, 1986 in Boston, Massachusetts. 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. (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)

The State Of Basketblogging

A coffee table with some Vogue magazines on it, and a Sports Illustrated on top. It's the famous "Why the University of Miami should drop football" cover but it's been edited to say "Why it's hard to play volleyball without a volleyball."

Scorn Illustrated

<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

TOPSHOT - US director Martin Scorsese poses as he arrives on May 8, 2018 for the screening of the film "Todos Lo Saben (Everybody Knows)" and the opening ceremony of the 71st edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France. (Photo by Antonin THUILLIER / AFP) (Photo by ANTONIN THUILLIER/AFP via Getty Images)

Arts And Culture

Martin Scorsese’s Second Life As An Adman

Samer Kalaf

A.J. Hawk’s Role On ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ Seems To Be Easily Deceivable NPC

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


Dan McQuade

A photo collage of Princess Diana wearing a Philadelphia Eagles jacket in 1991 while dropping her kids off from school