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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

New Defector Merch For Your Baby

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Merch v3

Dayna Evans is a baker and writer who got really into surfing recently. She runs Downtime Bakery in Mt. Airy, Philadelphia.

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Dayna Evans

The Great Outdoors

East Coast Surfing’s Rich, Overlooked Legacy Gets Its Due

Justin McHenry is an archivist and historian from West Virginia, and the author of <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/lemuria-the-true-story-of-a-fake-place/19663689">Lemuria: A True Story of a Fake Place</a> and the upcoming book, <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/raising-philadelphia-the-making-of-america-s-first-great-city-1750-1775-justin-mchenry/20390701?ean=9781955041201">Raising Philadelphia: The Making of America&#8217;s First Great City</a>.

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Justin McHenry

MILL CREEK, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 6: Smoke shrouds Mt. Shasta as the Park Fire burns on August 6, 2024 in Mill Creek, California. (Photo by Ethan Swope/Getty Images)

Park Fire Grows In Size Sparking New Evacuation Orders

History

How AI Copyright Law Is Being Guided By Spirits From Atlantis

Rose Eveleth is the host of the podcast&nbsp;<a href="https://www.flashforwardpod.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Flash Forward</a>, and author of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.flashforwardpod.com/book/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the book by the same name</a>.&nbsp;

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Rose Eveleth

An illustration of a skeleton with running shoes on sliding into an MRI machine

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Olympics

What Can We Learn From The Biology Of Dead Athletes?

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Barry Petchesky

A basalt head portrait of Roman Emperor Nero is pictured at the exibition "Nero" in Rome on April 11, 2011. Nearly two hundred pieces, including sculptures, reliefs, frescoes, paintings and artifacts from recent excavations will be shown during the exhibition from April 12 to September 18. AFP PHOTO / ALBERTO PIZZOLI (Photo by ALBERTO PIZZOLI / AFP) (Photo by ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images)

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Nero Was The Worst Best Olympian Ever

Michael is a writer who has worked with The Atlantic, The New Yorker, WIRED, Vox, The New York Times, and other publications. His first book, The Other Olympians, which uncovers the stories of several European athletes who transitioned gender in the 1930s, is now available for purchase.

Michael Waters

Helen Stephens running in the 1936 Olympics

Olympische Spiele 1936 in Berlin – 2. Vorlauf 100-m Damen, Zieleinlauf

Olympian Helen Stephens Suffered Through An Anti-Queer Panic That Still Reverberates