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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

The Defector Crewneck Sweatshirt Is Back In Stock

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Merch v3

Normal Gossip: portraits

Alex Sujong Laughlin

Podcaster Alex Cooper poses before a game between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on June 26, 2024

Toronto Blue Jays v Boston Red Sox

Journalismism

For Wondery And SiriusXM, Spending Big Isn’t The Same As Thinking Big

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Luis Paez-Pumar

Italian Sports Journalist, Fabrizio Romano, looks on with his phone prior to the Emirates FA Cup Final match between Manchester City and Manchester United at Wembley Stadium on May 25, 2024 in London, England.

Manchester City v Manchester United – Emirates FA Cup Final

Soccer

Why Is Soccer’s Most Famous Scoopster Doing PR Work For Mason Greenwood?

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Tom Ley

Screenshot 2024-08-02 at 10.27.34 AM

Media Meltdowns

Bigots Need Their Useful Idiots

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Barry Petchesky

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JUNE 26: An exterior general view is seen of Sphere prior to the 2024 Upper Deck NHL Draft on June 26, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The 2024 Upper Deck NHL Draft will be held at the Sphere on June 28 and 29, 2024. (Photo by Eliot J. Schechter/NHLI via Getty Images)

2024 Upper Deck NHL Draft – Previews

Jeff Marek Got Fired For Leaking Draft Picks To The Wrong Person

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Ray Ratto

Sideline reporter Pam Oliver interviews head coach Mike Vrabel of the Tennessee Titans at halftime against the San Francisco 49ers at Nissan Stadium on December 23, 2021 in Nashville, Tennessee.

San Francisco 49ers v Tennessee Titans

The Scourge Of In-Game Coach Interviews Spreads To The NFL

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<div class="p-rich_text_section">Tom Scocca is the editor of <a href="http://indignity.net">Indignity</a>, a subscription-supported newsletter of news, essays, and commentary.</div>
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Tom Scocca

A flyer with information about Project 2025's plan to expand oil drilling inside the United States, stapled to a pole on a city street in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

2024 Republican National Convention

Margin Of Error

Who Wants To Talk About The Issues

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Albert Burneko

The New York Times building is seen on September 6, 2018 in New York. - A furious Donald Trump called September 5, 2018 for the unmasking of an anonymous senior official who wrote in the New York Times that top members of his administration were undermining the president to curb his "misguided impulses." Trump asked if the unsigned op-ed could be considered treasonous, assailed the newspaper for the "gutless" piece and questioned whether the senior official it was attributed to actually existed. "TREASON?" Trump posted in response to the article entitled "I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration," which claimed the president's own staff see him as a danger to the nation."Does the so-called 'Senior Administration Official' really exist, or is (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP) (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)

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Why Did The New York Times Delete A Notorious Fraudster’s Election Take?

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JULY 16: U.S. President Joe Biden speaks at the 115th NAACP National Convention at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center on July 16, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Biden returned to the campaign trail, delivering remarks at the NAACP convention today, and will tomorrow to the UnidosUS Annual Conference during a visit to the battleground state of Nevada.

President Biden Addresses NAACP Convention In Las Vegas

Politics

BidenWatch: We’re In The Take Zone [Update]

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Wings Week

BuzzFeed Is The Reason It Can’t Sell ‘Hot Ones’

<p>Heather Chen is a former Defector intern and the sports editor at the <em>Columbia Daily Spectator</em>. She loves hockey, photography, and the good ol’ state of Michigan.</p>


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Heather Wei-Xi Chen

CHICAGO - MAY 27: of the Chicago Blackhawks of the Philadelphia Flyers during Stanley Cup media day at the United Center on May 27, 2010 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Stanley Cup Media Day

What’s The Use Of Insiders If They Only Scoop Press Releases?

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Samer Kalaf

Klay Thompson #11, Andrew Wiggins #22, Jonathan Kuminga #00, and Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors look on from the bench during the game against the Sacramento Kings during the 2024 Play-In Tournament

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This Is So Stupid

An Attempt To Draw This Overstuffed Sentence About Klay Thompson Leaving The Warriors

Baseball Fans Rooting For Their Teams

The Podcast Industry Has Learned Nothing

<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>


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Drew Magary

The Washington Post Building at One Franklin Square Building on June 5, 2024 in Washington, DC.

Washington Post Shakes Up Leadership

Journalism Is Activism

<p>Owen Lewis is a former Defector intern and co-founded the website <a href="http://popcorntennis.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://popcorntennis.com&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1726234676777000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0PFWw6PL-FUqaCMME5TLqP">popcorntennis.com</a>. He wrote 63,000 words about the Novak Djokovic-Rafael Nadal rivalry that can be accessed for free at <a href="https://thegoldenrivalry.substack.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://thegoldenrivalry.substack.com&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1726234676777000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2OjAHpo4PVIhkx8Xd21lRJ">thegoldenrivalry.substack.com</a>.</p>


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Owen Lewis

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The ‘Longform’ Podcast Told The Story Of An Industry

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Patrick Redford

NBA reporters Adrian Wojnarowski and Shams Charania

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Lakers’ Messy Coaching Search Revives The Scoopster Standoff Between Woj And Shams

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Tennis

Defector Blogger Calls Aggregator Tweets “Pathetic” In Furious Takedown. Do You Agree?

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David Roth

Paul Schrader attends the "Oh, Canada" press conference ahead of the 77th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 18, 2024 in Cannes, France.

“Oh, Canada” Press Conference – The 77th Annual Cannes Film Festival

Podcasts

Staying On Paul Schrader’s Good Side, With Stephen Rodrick

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Justin Ellis

A photo of the scoreboard screen at the Target Center in Minneapolis displaying the words "Bring Ya Ass"

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Whomst Has Brought The Ass?

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Maitreyi Anantharaman

Caitlin Clark #22 of the Indiana Fever looks on during the game against the New York Liberty on May 16, 2024 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.

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WNBA

On The Caitlin Clark Beat, Everyone’s Plotting

"Motoman" robots from Japan's largest industrial robot maker Yasukawa Electric, beats a drum during a demonstration at the International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo, 29 November 2007.

JAPAN-INDUSTRY-ROBOT

The Machines

If Kevin Roose Was ChatGPT With A Spray-On Beard, Could Anyone Tell?

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Israel Daramola

Gregory Gerami poses with an oversized check demonstrating his nine-figure donation to Florida A&M University at the FAMU graduation.

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Why Don’t People Trust The Man That Gave FAMU $237 Million?

An NYPD officer in riot gear looms over a student protestor on the ground and appears to be gripping her arm.

Columbia encampment

Going Off Script

A group of Columbia University students, advocating for Palestinians, access the iconic Hamilton Hall building as they gather to stage a demonstration at the campus in New York, United States on April 30, 2024. Protests are sweeping college campuses across the US following a police attempt to clear a pro-Palestinian encampment at Columbia University, resulting in the arrest of over 100 students. Columbia University asked students on Monday to 'voluntarily disperse' amid stalled talks, threatening the students with suspension.

Columbia University students gather for Palestinians and enter iconic Hamilton Hall

They Are Insecure For A Reason

New York Times Managing Editor Joseph Kahn gives the keynote speech at the Andrew Olle lecture 2017 at ICC darling Harbour on October 27, 2017 in Sydney, Australia.

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The New York Times Ignores Reality In Pursuit Of Objectivity

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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

Having escaped a raging war at home, Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia face more conflict and insecurity as the border region of Amhara is plagued by unrest and clashes that sees the Ethiopian National Defense Force battling an ethnic Amhara militia known as 'Fano'. According to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) over 100,000 people have crossed into Ethiopia from Sudan since April 2023. Sudanese and other refugees in the border camps in Amhara lament a lack of security, difficult communication with the outside world - the Ethiopian government has disrupted access to mobile internet in the region since August 2023 - and a general sense of abandonment, raising the question if they fled a dire situation to end up in similar one. (Photo by )

ETHIOPIA-SUDAN-CONFLICT-REFUGEES

How Do You Get Americans To Care About A War?