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

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 Point B. Handsomest man in the world.

Drew Magary

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 2: A model of COVID-19, known as coronavirus, is seen ahead of testimony from Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), during a US Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on the plan to research, manufacture and distribute a coronavirus vaccine, known as Operation Warp Speed, July 2, 2020 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (Photo by Saul Loeb-Pool/Getty Images)

Elder Wisdom

COVID-19: The Drew Magary Review

<div class="author-header-content">
Charles P. Pierce is a writer at Esquire and the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976. He lives near Boston with his wife but no longer his three children.
&nbsp;
</div>
<div class="author-header-shares"></div>

Charles P. Pierce

The Coach Who Made Fencing Fun

Albert Burneko

An old-timey photo of some kids gardening in New York City

Grow A Little Herb Garden

A picture taken on February 13, 2022 shows a cup of espresso coffee at the historic Gran Caffe Gambrinus in Naples, Italy. - A shot of dark, velvety coffee is more than just a quick caffeine hit: Italy's espresso is a prized social and cultural ritual the country considers a national heritage worthy of Unesco status. Gran Caffe Gambrinus is a historic cafe, pasticceria, and gelateria that opened in Naples in 1860. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP) (Photo by ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images)

Coffee: A Delayed Love Story

Dave McKenna

The Little Font That Could

circa 1955: Portrait of a teenage girl lying on a sofa with a bottle of ginger ale and a telephone. A box of popcorn sits in front of her.

The Drunkest Generation

Defector At The Movies

Down With Sympathetic Villains

American vaudeville actor Ray Bolger (1904 - 1987) prepares for the opening of WJZ-TV by the American Broadcasting Company at the Palace Theater in New York City, 10th August 1948. (Photo by Graphic House/Archive Photos/Getty Images)

The Best Time To Watch A Movie Is First Thing In The Morning

Felix Kent

A group of teenagers having fun in a convertible car in the 1950's. (Photo by FPG/Getty Images)

Life Lessons

This Is Not Actually An Endorsement Of Ditching Your Childhood Friends

Amy Schneider is a software engineer, cat owner, and Jeopardy champion who posts about her experiences on Twitter @Jeopardamy. She used to have a podcast, and odds are she will again some day.

Amy Schneider

How I Got Smart

Ray Ratto

A graveyard near a steelmill in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Life's Rich Pageant

Can Andy Corren Do My Obit When The Time Comes?

Julien Ingrassia traditionally drinks from a shoe as he celebrates his 8th World title on November 21, 2021 after the ACI Rally Monza 2021

Racing

The Lottery In Secaucus

Dan McQuade was a founding member of Defector. He died in January 2026.

Dan McQuade

A bowl of candy. It's orange. It has a bunch of regular-sized Hershey and Kit Kat bars in it.

Giving Out Big Candy Bars On Halloween Was Worth The Money

Nicholas Russell is a writer from Las Vegas.

Nicholas Russell

Running Towards Nothing

Giri Nathan

Farewell To A Man’s Prose

Media Meltdowns

Either Wirecutter Or I Are Doing Toilet Brush Ownership EXTREMELY Wrong

Tom Ley

Animals

If You Really Want A Dog, You Can Get A Damn Dog

Overexplained Lists

Worst Places To Get A Sunburn, Ranked

393787 01: Hector Ofunio applies suntan lotion to the back of his friend Leandro Munoz August 28, 2001 at the beach on Key Biscayne, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Lemme Explain The Sunscreen

<a href="https://jeremygordon.xyz/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jeremy Gordon</a>&#8216;s writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Nation, and Pitchfork.

Jeremy Gordon

A Grand Unified Theory For Achieving Total Basketball Enlightenment

CEO of Amazon Jeff Bezos (R) gestures during the Amazon's annual Smbhav event in New Delhi on January 15, 2020. - Bezos, whose worth has been estimated at more than $110 billion, is officially in India for a meeting of business leaders in New Delhi. (Photo by Sajjad HUSSAIN / AFP) (Photo by SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP via Getty Images)

The Dream Is To Be A Boring Asshole

A very tiny green baby tomato on the vine

Chefector

It Is Not Yet Tomato Time, Blasphemers

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 02: Jack Eichel #9 of the Buffalo Sabres stretches in warm-ups prior to the game against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on March 02, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

How Does Coachspeak Work?

The crew of NASA's STS-30 mission pose in front of the mid-deck starboard wall-mounted sleep restraints on the Space Shuttle Atlantis (Orbiter Vehicle OV 104), 8th May 1989. Clockwise from top right, they are Commander David M Walker, mission specialists Mary L Cleave, Mark C Lee and Norman E Thagard, and pilot Ronald J Grabe. They are wearing red, white and blue mission polo shirts and light blue flight overalls. (Photo by Space Frontiers/Getty Images)