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

Dave McKenna

Lauren Sánchez Bezos and Jeff Bezos are seen on December 24, 2025 in Aspen, Colorado.

Media Meltdowns

Jeff Bezos Is Putting The Washington Post Into Hospice

Danny Funt

Journalismism

How Bill Simmons Went All In

Albert Burneko

A single bullet hole can be seen on the driver’s side of the windshield of a vehicle that a woman was shot and killed in by federal officers on Portland Ave. in Minneapolis, Minn. on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026.

CBS News Is The Trump Administration’s New Laundromat

Tom Ley

CBS Anchor Tony Dokoupil Is Stuck In An Endless Loop Of Humiliation

Tommy Craggs is an editor and writer, late of Game Theory With Bomani Jones on HBO, Mother Jones (no relation), HuffPost, Slate, Gawker Media, and Deadspin. He&#8217;s part of the <a href="https://flaminghydra.com/">Flaming Hydra</a> cooperative of independent writers and artists, and one of the many founders of the <a href="https://www.oaklandreviewofbooks.org/">Oakland Review of Books</a>.

Tommy Craggs

Bari Weiss seated onstage at a Free Press event in 2024.

Bari Weiss Is The Symptom

Samer Kalaf

Young Palestinian choir members, attending an UNRWA-funded school, sing during a performance on July 18, 2023, in Gaza City.

Rolling Stone Makes The Absurd Claim That Women Are Not Allowed To Sing In Gaza

Staff Writer
Find me on Signal @DefectorChris.19

Chris Thompson

Politics

Which Lives Are Worthy Of The Media’s Protection?

Tony Dokoupil Eats Heaps Of Shit In First Week As CBS News Anchor

Giri Nathan

Year In Review

Presenting The 2025 Shams Charania Award For Excellence In Divulging Of Information Through Syntax Comprehended By Many

Bari Weiss Keeps CBS News Groveling At The Feet Of Donald Trump

Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford screaming "No wire hangers!" in 'Mommy Dearest' (1981).

Who Can Imagine Why Anyone Would Want To Cut This Lovely Mom Out Of Her Life?

The front entrance of the Washington Post's offices in D.C.

Law Enforcement Teams Up With Washington Post To Make A Mess Of Investigation Into Brown University Shooting

CBS News Hitches Its Wagon To These Two Duds

Patrick Redford

A general view of an NBA on NBC camera during the game between the Orlando Magic and Philadelphia 76ers on Nov. 25, 2025.

Let’s Check In On The State Of The NBA’s National Broadcasts

Shams Charania breaks some news, grainily

Podcasts

Sources: The Opening Domino Of The 2025 Shamsy Selection Process Has Fallen Invariably, Will Spawn Numerous Pathways For Unique News

Suns Reporter Describes Death Threats And Moving His Family Out Of Phoenix After Charlie Kirk Tweets

Boston, MA - November 12: Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla high fives guard Payton Pritchard in the second quarter. The Celtics played the Memphis Grizzlies at TD Garden on November 12, 2025. (Photo by Danielle Parhizkaran/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Boston Sports Franchise Removes The Phrase “White Power” From Its Website

Alex Sujong Laughlin

Capital

The Bad News Is There’s No More Money, But That’s Also The Good News

A detailed view of a hand holding a Fanduel Sports Network–branded microphone during an interview after the Detroit Pistons defeated the Boston Celtics on February 26, 2025 in Detroit, Michigan.

Gambling

The NBA Media Is Not Built To Cover A Gambling Scandal

Shams Charania Tries Out Legal Commentary, With Perplexing Results

Donald Trump delivers an announcement on his Homeland Security Task Force in the State Dining Room of the White House on October 23, 2025 in Washington, DC

What Can’t The President Do?

Free Press Reporter Discovers That Being An Amoral Dickhead Can Cost You Friends

Country singer/songwriter Johnny Cash performs onstage with an acoustic guitar in Sun Records publicity shot in 1957.

Breaking: Some Guy Now Aware Of Most Revered Country Artist Who Ever Lived

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - FEBRUARY 07: ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter on set ahead of Super Bowl LIX on February 07, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs will face each other on Sunday. (Photo by Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Images)

Adam Schefter Reports That Mark Sanchez Was Stabbed In “Robbery,” Doesn’t Explain His Error

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 18: The Free Press' Honestly with Bari Weiss (pictured) hosts Senator Ted Cruz presented by Uber and X on January 18, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Leigh Vogel/Getty Images for Uber, X and The Free Press)