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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>Staff Writer</p>
<p>Find me on Signal @DefectorChris.19</p>


Chris Thompson

JT Snow pulls three-year-old Darren Baker out of harm's way at homeplate.

Minor Dilemmas

How Do I Direct My Kid To The Stuff They’ll Enjoy And Be Good At?

<p>Sean T. Collins has written for The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Vulture, Decider, Pitchfork, and many others. He lives with his family on Long Island.</p>


Sean T. Collins

Dadfector

This Is Awesome

<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

Denver Broncos Training Camp at their training facility on July 29, 2008 in Englewood, Colorado.

I Played In The NFL. Should I Care If My Son Doesn’t Like Football?

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<div>Casey Taylor is a writer living and working in Pittsburgh. He is currently writing a book for St. Martin&#8217;s Press about cannabis religions, Haile Selassie I, and the Cold War in the Caribbean. He also writes a free newsletter called <a href="https://weedchurch.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://weedchurch.substack.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1709306863919000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1mVH2xiID6S0zvlyj6yHco">Weed Church</a> covering foolish spiritual things that occur to him. His work has appeared in The New Republic, WIRED, New York Magazine, and a sports blog he can’t currently recall the name of. You can <a href="mailto:caseyt7@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">email</a> him if you’d like.</div>
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Casey Taylor

Politics

Kim Jong Un, Girl Dad

<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

KNUTSFORD, UNITED KINGDOM - (FILE) In this file photograph taken in March 12, 2007, a two-week-old boy eyes his new world. Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt announnced, April 3, 2007 that for the first time, mothers-to-be will have a guarantee that the NHS will provide them with a full range of birthing choices - including home births - and a midwife they know and trust to care for them. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

I Still Know Babies

Why Your Children’s Toy Sucks: Playhut

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


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.

One Last Trip To Philadelphia’s Department Store Of Dreams

Jamboroo

I Am The Passenger Now

Father cooking on barbecue with wife and daughters

I Have Given My Sons The Gift Of Fire

Albert Burneko

A toilet, viewed from above, mid-flush but thankfully with nothing but clear water in it.

Elder Wisdom

When The Toilet Rings, You Must Answer The Call

CLEVELAND - 1987: Defensive backs Hanford Dixon #29 and Frank Minnifield #31 of the Cleveland Browns draw plays in the dirt on the field before a game at Municipal Stadium circa 1987 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by George Gojkovich/Getty Images)

A Well-Executed Day

Dave McKenna

Viewer discretion warning at the start of FBI PSA

Run, Hide, Fight, Die

Swimming pool , family , legs - stock photo

I Told My Kids I Peed In The Pool

Wings Week

Cherish Every Wing Wednesday

Students at the University of Birmingham take part in their degree congregations as they graduate on July 14, 2009 in Birmingham, England. Over 5000 graduates will be donning their robes this week to collect their degrees from The University of Birmingham. A recent survey suggested that there are 48 graduates competing for every job.

To My Daughter, The Graduate: This Is All Your Fault

Mother trying to make daughter (4-5) finish food at table. It's an old stock photo from the 1940s.

A Taxonomy Of Mom Sounds

Ray Ratto

GREEN BAY, WI - JULY 24: Green Bay Packers shareholders fill Lambeau Field for the Green Bay Packers Shareholders meeting on July 24, 2019 at Lambeau Field, in Green Bay, WI. (Photo by Larry Radloff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

God Help Me, My Son’s Marrying A Packers Shareholder

Group portrait of a company playing cards around a table, Frits L.J. Moormans (mentioned on object), Den Bosch, c. 1865 - c. 1880, photographic support, albumen print, height 74 mm × width 91 mm. (Photo by: Sepia Times/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

I Am The Bullshit King Of My Household

A man walks on a pockmarked road, carrying another man across his shoulders, from the TV series 'Top Boy.'

Arts And Culture

I Am A ‘Top Boy’ Boy Now

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.

No One Can Tell You How To Dad

A mother marks her son's height on the door with a pencil, circa 1950. (Photo by FPG/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

When Your Kids Are Kids Again

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


Sabrina Imbler

A brown male golden rocket frog carrying an enormous tadpole on his back

Creaturefector

As A Father Of Tadpoles

Life Lessons

Life Comes At You Fast

In Praise Of Food Tourism

STOCKTON, CA - SEPTEMBER 29: A school bus carries children at sunrise on Bethel Island, one of the residential islands surrounded by levees that hold back the higher waters of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta on September 29, 2005 west of Stockton, California. Officials say that the dikes of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta are in worse shape than those that broke and flooded New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. There is a two-in-three chance that a catastrophic earthquake or storm in the next 50 years may damage the levees enough to cause the kind of destruction that engulfed New Orleans, according to experts. Such an event would affect the water supply that serves two-thirds of California and create a nightmare traffic jam on Highway 4, the two-lane road that would be the major evacuation route, if it is not damaged beyond usability. Approximately 1,600 miles of levees protect the delta's islands, which lie well below sea-level, and most were built more than 100 years ago. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

The Last Bus

BOULDER, COLORADO - APRIL 22: Head coach Deion Sanders of the Colorado Buffaloes watches as his team warms up prior to their spring game at Folsom Field on April 22, 2023 in Boulder, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

Don’t Rank Your Children, You Domineering Prick

A Scrabble board with "I LOVE YOU" across and "NEENIE" down. In front are two tile racks with "DREW MAGARY" on them.

Scrabble Is Home

HUNTINGTON BEACH CA - FEBRUARY 4 : A SWAT team member enacts defense against school violence . SWAT teams from many Police forces throughout America and Canada participate in a realistic training exercises at various High Schools throughout America to help combat the rise in shooting and violence on Campus. April 19, 2001 Huntington Beach High School, Huntington Beach California (Photo By Paul Harris/Getty Images)

How To Train A Lamb For The Slaughter

Free Things My Small Child Was Given In France And Italy, Ranked

What It’s Like Here

You Deserve A Dad Pat Today

Father entertains five children with a toy airplane as mother carries in a tray of food circa 1950. (Photo by FPG/Getty Images)