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

<div class="r43lxo-0 gqfcxx js_post-content">
<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>
</div>
<div class="sc-18b1b2r-5 eTUqHn">
<div></div>
</div>


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?

David Roth

TWO HARBORS, MN - NOVEMBER 9: A bright moon shone over the horizon near the Split Rock Lighthouse on November 10, 2019. It was lit to honor the lives of the 29 men that died aboard the Edmund Fitzgerald 44 years ago. The lighthouse is only lit for approximately two hours and fifteen minutes each year. (Photo by Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via Getty Images)

College Football

The Edmund Fitzgerald Is Inspiring Jim Harbaugh And Michigan Football To Achieve “Lake Mindset”

Samer Kalaf

A man carries a child, wounded by Israeli airstrikes, into Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City

Politics

Subjugation And Dehumanization Lead To Only One Result

Dave McKenna

Baltimore Orioles left-hander Tippy Martinez, from a 1983 game against the Chicago White Sox.

Recalling “The Pickoff Game,” Forty Years Later

<div id=":g4.ma" class="Mu SP" title="January 26, 2021 at 2:34:42 PM UTC-5" data-tooltip="January 26, 2021 at 2:34:42 PM UTC-5"><span id=":g4.co" class="tL8wMe EMoHub" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/GoStevenGoldman">Steven Goldman</a> is a former BP editor-in-chief and current consulting editor. He is the author of the Casey Stengel biography <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Forging-Genius-Making-Casey-Stengel/dp/1574888749">Forging Genius</a> </i>and host of the long-running <a href="https://www.baseballprospectus.com/show/the-infinite-inning/"><i>Infinite Inning </i>podcast</a>, which sits at the crossroads of baseball, history, politics, and culture. His most recent book, which has an introduction by David Roth, is <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Baseballs-Brief-Lives-Inspired-Infinite/dp/B0BBJTPGDF"><i>Baseball&#8217;s Brief Lives: Player-Stories Inspired by the Infinite Inning</i></a>.</span></div>
<div id=":g5.ma" class="Mu SP" data-tooltip="January 26, 2021 at 2:34:45 PM UTC-5"></div>


Steven Goldman

Domingo German of the New York Yankees leaves the mound during a home game against the Chicago Cubs in July of 2023.

Underneath The Bottle

Ray Ratto

(Original Caption) 8/27/1951-St. Louis, MO-: Bill Veeck, new owner of the St. Louis Browns, who believes that a zany atmosphere in baseball is good "box office," carried his idea to a new high when he staged a "grandstand managers" night when the Brownies played the Philadelphia Athletics. Fans who always know what the managers of the opposing teams "shouldda done" were given the opportunity to vote on decisions. Here, Jay Edson, of the Browns publicity staff, is asking the Board of Managers to decide on a pitcher.

The Best Team Is One That Can’t Hurt You Anymore

An American soldier stands in the Zeppelin stadium and looks towards a Nazi swastika, Nuremberg, Germany, 1945. The stadium, along with two others, was used by Adolf Hitler to hold many Nazi rallies. (Photo by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

They Almost Played An All-Star Game At Nuremberg

<p>Keith Paradise is a freelance writer who somehow won a Keystone Press Award during his<br />
decade spent as a newspaper reporter in Pennsylvania, where he covered sports, education, and<br />
the murder of a neighborhood turkey. Originally from Pittsburgh, he is a senior writer for<br />
Billiards Digest magazine and his name has appeared twice in the notable section of The Year’s<br />
Best Sports Writing anthology—including in 2024 for his Defector article on the rise and fall of<br />
sports clothing icon Starter.</p>


Keith Paradise

A rack of Starter jackets, satin and pullover and polyester. Colorado Rockies is in the front.

Arts And Culture

The Rise And Fall Of Starter, The Coolest Company On Earth

Boxing

Whoever Killed Davey Moore Also Killed Boxing At Dodger Stadium

<div dir="auto"><a href="https://twitter.com/nkulw">Noah Kulwin</a> is a writer and co-host of the podcast <a href="https://blowback.show/">Blowback</a>. He lives in New Jersey.</div>


Noah Kulwin

A photo of Lee Harvey Oswald being taken away by officials. In the corner is the join or die cartoon with the words THE AMERICAN FRIEND on it

Decades Later, The JFK Assassination Still Keeps Some Secrets


<p>A founding member of the Billings, Montana-to-Brooklyn sportswriting pipeline, Patrick Sauer has written for many large digital publications you’ve heard of and even more smaller ones that no longer exist. Check out his work at <a href="http://patricksauer.contently.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://patricksauer.contently.com&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1782568830003000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2lJRPIa8YxoLI3taZ9zsro">patricksauer.contently.com</a> or follow him on Bluesky <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/pjsauer.bsky.social" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://bsky.app/profile/pjsauer.bsky.social&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1782568830003000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1pDFKunGJ4lkfhBy4EMrEt">@pjsauer.bsky.social</a>.</p>


Patrick Sauer

The Cannon Street All-Star Team of 1955 is honored at an event in 2015.

The Little League Team That Never Got The Chance To Play


<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

Richard Nixon preparing to go on Meet The Press in 1988.

The Secret History Of Richard Nixon, Mets Sicko

<p><a href="http://www.ddavisla.com"><span style="font-weight: 400">David Davis </span></a>is the author of <i>Wheels of Courage: How Paralyzed Veterans From World War II Invented Wheelchair Sports, Fought for Disability Rights, and Inspired a Nation</i> and <i>Waterman: The Life and Times of Duke Kahanamoku</i>. He lives in Los Angeles.</p>
<div></div>


David Davis

The Mostly Untold Story Of How The Sports Bra Conquered The World And Tore Its Inventors Apart

<div>
<div dir="ltr">
<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>
</div>
<div class="yj6qo ajU"></div>
</div>
<div></div>


Casey Taylor

The statue of Saint George as he vanquishes the dragon of nuclear war is made of actual pieces of Soviet SS-20 and United States Pershing nuclear missles which were destroyed as a result of their historic disarmament treaty. AFP PHOTO TIMOTHY A. CLARY (Photo credit should read TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)

This Family Has Tattooed The Holy Land For Centuries

Barry Petchesky

Wait, Second Base Has Been WHERE This Whole Time?

Robin Ficker, seen here wearing a Washington Bullets hat and screaming.

Stories

NBA Heckler, Friend Of Ali, And Wannabe Governor Robin Ficker Gets Disbarred

Tom Ley

They Found The Freaking ‘Endurance’


<p>Jasper Hutson is a lapsed journalist.</p>


Jasper Hutson

The All-Black League That Invented Hockey As We Know It

Kelsey McKinney

An Historical Correction Needs To Be Seen


<p>Louis Keene is a writer for the Forward and the creator of <a href="http://unstatable.com">Unstatable</a>, a newsletter about the Clippers. He’s on Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/thislouis">@thislouis.</a></p>


Louis Keene

The late Malik Sealy and Brent Barry at a Los Angeles Clippers game in the Arrowhead Pond, in 1997.

25 Years Ago, The Clippers Came Closer To Moving To Anaheim Than Anyone Knew

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/ericnus">Eric Nusbaum</a> (words) is a writer based in Tacoma, Washington. He is the author of the book <i><a href="https://bookshop.org/books/stealing-home-los-angeles-the-dodgers-and-the-lives-caught-in-between-9781541742222/9781541742215">Stealing Home: Los Angeles, the Dodgers, and the Lives Caught in Between</a></i>. He is also a former editor at VICE.</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/adamvillacin">Adam Villacin</a> (pictures) is an illustrator based in Joshua Tree, California. He has written, illustrated, and self-published roughly one hundred zines. He has worked with clients such as Nike, Jordan Brand, Adidas, Dr. Martens, and Fender in addition to editorial work for VICE and The Ringer. He’s also been drawing a musician every day for the last year and a half.</p>


Eric Nusbaum and Adam Villacin

Bodybuilder Rachel McLish, as drawn by Adam Villacin.

Women’s Bodies, Men’s Rules, And The Indiscreet Draw Of ‘Pumping Iron 2: The Women’


<p><a href="http://Feldman.cool" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brian Feldman</a> is a software engineer living in Brooklyn.</p>


Brian Feldman

Defector At The Movies

At The Turtle Club In The Shadow Of 9/11

The biggest crowd in Europe on Saturday will not be watching detached professionals kissing the badge of their latest football team, but at the All-Ireland Gaelic football final. Two amateur teams, Dublin and Mayo, will attempt to win the coveted All-Ireland trophy for Gaelic football in a replay following a rare draw two weeks ago.

Bottled Up In Cork: A Loss In Hurling Is More Than A Loss


<div id=":2fi" class="ii gt adO">
<div id=":2ee" class="a3s aiL ">
<div id="avWBGd-876">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>Hallie Lieberman is a historian and journalist. Her book <em>Gigolos: An Exploration of the Men Who Sell Sex and The Women Who Buy It</em> will be published by Beacon Press in January 2027. She is also the author of <em>Buzz: A Stimulating History of the Sex Toy</em>. Her writing has appeared in <em>Esquire</em>, <em>The New York Times</em>, <em>The Washington Post</em>, and other outlets. </div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id=":2gy" class="hq gt "> </div>
