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_article_featured_16x9

lede_article_featured_3x2

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

The Defector Crewneck Sweatshirt Is Back In Stock

back-in-stock-for-a-limited-time

Merch v3

headshot1

Patrick Redford

PHOENIX, AZ - MARCH 7: Mat Ishbia speaks during a press conference announcing Phoenix as the host of the NBA All-Star 2027 on March 7, 2024 at Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona. 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. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2024 NBAE (Photo by Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images)

2027 All-Star Announcement

Mat Ishbia Revealed To Be Familiar Kind Of Asshole

2019-01-01 00:15:14.989

Maitreyi Anantharaman

Kauffman Stadium is the home of the Kansas City Royals and beyond it is GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium which is the home of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Kansas-city-Stadiums

Capital

The Chiefs And Royals Got What They Deserved

Profile Pic

Chris Thompson

Ted Leonsis talks into a Wizards-branded microphone.

Ted Leonsis

Ted Leonsis Finally Abandons Glenn Youngkin’s Doomed Virginia Gambit

<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

Attorney Peter Angelos talks about his law practice and his hopes about buying the Orioles.

Peter-Angelos

Peter Angelos Was The Ultimate Team Owner

Alex Rodriguez in shades.

Whew! A-Rod’s Ownership Team Finally Secured Someone Else’s Money To Buy The Timberwolves

VictorPortraitWClaw

David Roth

Vice co-founders and executives Shane Smith and Suroosh Alvi looking kind of wet at the 20th Webby Awards in 2016.

The 20th Annual Webby Awards – Arrivals

The Coffee Machine That Explained Vice Media

A topiary of Goofy stands with the Spaceship Earth ball in the background.

EPCOT in Disney World

A Disney World Pervert’s Take On: The Existential War Of Investor Aggression

<p>I am an independent writer/journalist based in New Delhi, India. I mainly work on long-form reportage on conflict, gender, climate, culture, intersection of technology and human agency. Published with the Al Jazeera Journalism Review, Aljazeera Digital, Defector, C S Monitor.</p>


IMG_20220202_141357_Original

Meher Qadri

Two divers jump into the foamy Yamuna River

Divers

Climate

The Yamuna River’s Treasure Divers Fight More Than Poverty To Survive

IMG_6025-800

Albert Burneko

G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller speaking at a conference with one of those microphones you wear on your ear.

Collision 2022 – Day Two

Jim Spanfeller Is A Third-Rate Parasite

Ted Leonsis’s Suburban Arena Scam Is Nearly Kaput

The rostrum of the U.S. House of Representatives, with the entire chamber empty.

House Of Representatives Allows Media Rare View Of House Chamber

Margin Of Error

My Fellow Americans


<p>Investigations Editor. You can reach her at diana@defector.com or, if you prefer protonmail, dfmoskovitz@protonmail.com. If security is a concern, download the Signal app and send her a text at 929-251-8187.</p>


DFM New Headshot

Diana Moskovitz

A VICE Media Group location is seen on February 23, 2024 in the Venice section of Los Angeles, California.

Vice Media Sign

“The Locusts Of The Newspaper World”: How Fortress Investment Group Decimated Newspapers Before Gutting Vice

A guest wears new Apple Vision Pro outside Bora Aksu during London Fashion Week February 2024 on February 16, 2024 in London, England.

Street Style – LFW February 2024

Podcasts

The Future Doesn’t Work, With Ed Zitron

<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>


R1byyuOh_400x400

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

Book Excerpts That Don't Suck

Unions Can Fix What’s Broken

<p>Jen Ramos Eisen is a Central California-based minor league baseball writer.</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.

Minors

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

Journalismism

Vice’s Avaricious Stewards Finally Succeeded At Bleeding It Dry

<p>Brian Merchant writes, mostly about technology, culture and labor. He&#8217;s the former tech columnist at the <em>LA Times</em>, and the author of <a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/brian-merchant/blood-in-the-machine/9780316487740/?lens=little-brown" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/brian-merchant/blood-in-the-machine/9780316487740/?lens%3Dlittle-brown&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1708054039723000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3ZYJqk866F8lCizxq0W5MD"><em>Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech</em></a> and the <a href="https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1708054039723000&amp;usg=AOvVaw38SvjFhr3e98pTryqBSmV9">newsletter</a> of the same name.</p>


Brian Merchant

Firemen extinguish a Waymo autonomous vehicle that was set on fire by a crowd in San Francisco. It's a screengrab of news footage.

mob-mentality-waymo

Life's Rich Pageant

Torching The Google Car

justin

Justin Ellis

A man sitting in an Apple Store in Los Angeles demos the Apple Vision Pro with his hands held wide apart in a very silly way.

US-TECH-APPLE-VISIONPRO

The Problem With The Goggles Of The Future Is Today

image0 (5)

Israel Daramola

A display for CBS Sports Streaming on Paramount+ is shown in front of the Bellagio Hotel & Casino.

paramount-super-bowl-cbs

Paramount CEO Announces Layoffs One Day After Boasting About Super Bowl Revenue

Logo for The Messenger, with letters flickering out and then going blank. First the 'h', then the 'nge', then the 'T e e r.' Blue background, white text.

The Mess – GIF logo – Messenger story

The Messenger Was Built To Fail, And Did

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.

US-aviation-travel-UnitedAirlines-Boeing

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

A screenshot of one of the scammy AI-generated listings on Amazon; the product's name is just the boilerplate apology text created by OpenAI when it's asked to do something it can't do.

AmazonAIChairListing

The Future Of E-Commerce Is A Product Whose Name Is A Boilerplate AI-Generated Apology

Mary Lou Retton signs a Wheaties box in 2003. By her side is her longtime coach, Bela Karolyi

Mary Lou Retton and Bela Karolyi

Gymnastics

Mary Lou Retton’s Third Act Is Her Most All-American

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

minnesota-boston-pwhl

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.

2021 US Open – Day 11

Politics

Hiding And Seeking With The New York Times