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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.

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Defector

The Defector Crewneck Sweatshirt Is Back In Stock

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Merch v3

Brad Balukjian, PhD has chosen two careers—journalist and scientist—which converge on pursuit of the truth. He has been published in Rolling Stone, Smithsonian, National Geographic, and many others. His first book, The Wax Pack: On the Open Road in Search of Baseball’s Afterlife, hit #7 on the LA Times bestseller list and was named one of NPR’s Best Books of 2020. He is a Research Associate at the California Academy of Sciences, and he discovered 17 species of insects (green flash bugs) in Tahiti, one of which he named after Harrison Ford. He lives on the road, where he’s in an open relationship with his VCR.

Brad Balukjian author photo courtesy of author

Brad Balukjian

An image of Tito Santana in the ring during his time in WWF, with the cover of Brad Balukjian's book "The Six Pack" visible at lower left.

Tito-Santana-book

Book Excerpts That Don't Suck

Before He Became A Wrestling Legend, Tito Santana Needed A Name

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>.

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Hamilton Nolan

UAW members attend a rally in support of the labor union strike at the UAW Local 551 hall on Chicago’s South Side. UAW president Shawn Fain joined members in solidarity with the ongoing strike on October 7, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois.

Striking UAW Members Hold Rally At Chicago Union Hall

Unions Can Fix What’s Broken

Rafi Kohan is an Atlanta-based writer and editor. His first book, The Arena, 
was a finalist for the 2018 PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing. 
Previously, he has served as deputy editor at the New York Observer and as 
executive editorial director for the Atlantic’s creative studio, Re:think. His 
writing has appeared in numerous publications, including GQ, Men’s 
Journal, Rolling Stone, The Ringer, and the Wall Street Journal.

Rafi Kohan headshot

Rafi Kohan

Gary Payton of the Seattle SuperSonics sneering disdainfully at Jerry Stackhouse, who is trying to guard him in 2002. The cover of Rafi Kohan's book "Trash Talk" is at upper left.

Gary Payton posts up Stackhouse

Gary Payton And The Art And Strategy Of “Talking Crazy”

Alex Squadron is a writer from New York. His byline has appeared in SLAM, the New York Post, The Athletic, Sports Illustrated and SB Nation. His first book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Life-League-Basketball-Relentless-Pursuit/dp/1496235851" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/Life-League-Basketball-Relentless-Pursuit/dp/1496235851&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1700717978074000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3O-s88UE2MyxmV19syo99i">Life in the G: Minor League Basketball and the Relentless Pursuit of the NBA</a>, was released in October 2023.

Alex Squadron

Joe Young of the Birmingham Squadron follows through on a jumper in a 2021-22 G-League game against the Texas Legends.

Birmingham Squadron v Texas Legends

You Don’t Get From The G League To The NBA By Being “The Man”

Mark Dent is a writer at The Hustle. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Texas Monthly, Vox, Wired, The Kansas City Star, and elsewhere. He lives in Dallas.

Mark Dent

Rustin Dodd is a writer at The Athletic and a 2023-24 Knight-Wallace fellow at the University of Michigan. He previously worked as a sportswriter at The Kansas City Star from 2010 to 2017. He lives in Brooklyn.

Rustin Dodd

Mike Garrett of the Kansas City Chiefs rushing against the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl I, on Jan. 15, 1967.

Mike Garrett in Football Action

The Scout Who Integrated The Kansas City Chiefs

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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>.
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Vince Guerrieri

26 Jun 2001: John Rocker of the Cleveland Indians prepares for a pitch during the game against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. The Indians beat the Yankees 5-3. DIGITAL IMAGE. Mandatory Credit: Ezra Shaw/Allsport

Indians v Yankees  X

When Cleveland Was Where Careers Went To End

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Brandi Collins-Dexter

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Pro Wrestling

Dusty Rhodes’s “Hard Times” Promo Still Rings The Bell

Shane Ryan is the author of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hachettebooks.com/titles/shane-ryan/the-cup-they-couldnt-lose/9780306874390/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Cup They Couldn&#8217;t Lose</a>, the story of the modern Ryder Cup, which came out on May 10. He lives in Durham, NC, and his writing appears in Golf Digest, Paste Magazine, and elsewhere. Previously, he wrote on Defector about&nbsp;<a href="https://defector.com/online-quiz-league-is-the-future-of-competitive-trivia/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Online Quiz League</a>. He also runs Apocalypse Sports Trivia, which you can join by contacting him on&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/ShaneRyanHere" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Twitter</a>.

Shane Ryan

Golfers Tony Jacklin and Seve Ballesteros (right) celebrate the victory of the European team in the Ryder Cup in 1987.

Jacklin With Ballesteros

The Mysteries Of Seve Ballesteros, And The Ryder Cup Loss That Changed Everything

Britni de la Cretaz is a freelance writer who focuses on the intersection of sports and gender. They are the former sports columnist for Longreads and for Bitch Media. Their work has appeared in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, espnW, Vogue, the Washington Post, Teen Vogue, The Ringer, Bleacher Report, The Atlantic, and more. Their work on racism in Boston sports media received the 2017 Nellie Bly Award for Investigative Journalism from the Transformative Culture Project, and that story was also a Notable Story in the 2018 Best American Sports Writing. Their writing on the queer history of women’s baseball for Narratively was nominated for the 2019 SABR Analytics Research Award. They live in the Boston area.

Britni de la Cretaz

Lyndsey D’Arcangelo writes about women’s college basketball and the WNBA for The Athletic. Her articles, columns, and profiles on female/LGBTQ+ athletes have previously appeared in The Ringer, Deadspin, espnW/ESPN, Teen Vogue, the Buffalo News, the Huffington Post, NBC OUT, and more. She received a Notable Mention in the 2018 Best American Sports Writing anthology for her story, “My Father, Trump and The Buffalo Bills.” Lyndsey lives in Buffalo, NY.

Lyndsey D’Arcangelo

A photo of three NWFL players in their Houston Herricanes uniforms. They are all sitting on the bench, with their helmets off.

Hail Mary

How A Whim And Some Hustle Gave Rise To The Women’s Pro Football Team The Houston Herricanes

Trevor Strunk is a longtime Philadelphia sports fan and sports belligerent. He is also the host of <a href="https://www.no-cartridge.net/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">No Cartridge Audio</a>, a podcast about video games and culture. His book Story Mode considers games series over time and the way they respond to audience and authorial demands. You can see more from him at <a href="https://twitter.com/Hegelbon" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">@Hegelbon</a> on Twitter and all across the finest freelance publications online.

Trevor Strunk

A fan cheers for id Software executive producer as he speaks about DOOM. The cover of Trevor Strunk's book, Story Mode, is in the lower right corner.

Video Game Company Bethesda Holds Press Event Ahead Of Start Of E3 Gaming Conference

How To Get Away With Making An Ultraviolent Video Game

Damon Young is a writer in Pittsburgh.

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Damon Young

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Thursday Night Hoops

Patrick Wyman is the host of the Tides of History podcast, which is currently covering prehistory from the dawn of humanity to the Bronze Age. Prior to that, he was the host of the Fall of Rome podcast, which you might remember from Deadspin back in the day, where he also contributed pieces on mixed martial arts. In previous lives, he wrote about MMA for Bleacher Report and the Washington Post, and completed a PhD in History at the University of Southern California.

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Patrick Wyman

Medieval Arms And Armor

Götz von Berlichingen Had A (Literal) Iron Fist And A Front-Row Seat To The Military Revolution

Richard Marx has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide over the course of his career. He is the only male artist whose first seven singles reached the Top 5 on the Billboard charts, and he has written on a number one single in each of the last four decades—an accolade previously only reached by Michael Jackson. He won a 2004 Song of the Year Grammy and has scored fourteen number-one singles, both as a performer and as a songwriter/producer. He is also a committed philanthropist, supporting charitable causes such as the American Cancer Society and the Ronald McDonald House Charities, Mercy For Animals, ASPCA, Humane Society, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and the charity closest to his heart, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. He lives in Malibu, California, with his wife, Daisy Fuentes.

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Richard Marx

Oilers v Kings

Not Even Richard Marx Gets The Girl When The Other Guy Is The Great One

<a href="https://twitter.com/kylebeachy">Kyle Beachy</a> is still in Chicago.

Kyle Beachy

US skateboarder Jagger Eaton in the 2021 Street World Championships

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Good Old Street League

Charles Farrell has spent his professional life moving between music and boxing, with occasional detours. He has managed five world champions, and has played and recorded with many of the musicians he most admires&#8211;Evan Parker and Ornette Coleman among them. Farrell currently resides in the Boston, Massachusetts area.



His new book, <a href="https://hamilcarpubs.com/books/lowlife-a-memoir-of-jazz-fight-fixing-and-the-mob/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">(Low)life: A Memoir of Jazz, Fight-Fixing, and The Mob</a>, will be published June 29.

Charles Farrell

on October 14, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada.