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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.

Defector

Albert Burneko

A young John F. Kennedy sits at a typewriter

Chefector

Plagiarism Is The Weirdest Of All The Frauds

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

Dan McQuade

An ad for the Carlos Watson show. A quote calls him "Anderson Cooper Meets Oprah" on it.

Media Meltdowns

Ozy Media Is A Monumental Bummer

Kalyn Kahler

My White Whale Is The Story Of An MLB Veteran Paying His Teammates To Get Vaccinated

Staff Writer
Find me on Signal @DefectorChris.19

Chris Thompson

Jonathan Isaac answers questions at the podium on media day.

Glenn Greenwald Demonstrates Breathtaking Ignorance In Stunningly Arrogant Screed About Vaccine Hesitancy

Laura Wagner

Journalismism

NYT: People Would Trust Us If They Understood How Great We Are

Tom Ley

Adam Schefter Gives Up On Journalism

Hack Meekly Endorses Hack

Maitreyi Anantharaman

Women's Basketball

The “Guru” Of Women’s Basketball Gets His Due

Some Baltimore Orioles crash into each other

Someone, Please, Explain To Me What This Sentence Is Trying To Say

CNN’s Brian Stelter Tries A New Job

Olympics

What Kind Of Toilet Destruction Are We Talking About, Here?

This Stupid Basketball Cliche Impacts Puking Out My Fucking Breakfast

A man walks past The Washington Post on August 5, 2013 in Washington, DC after it was announced that Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos had agreed to purchase the Post for USD 250 million. Multi-billionaire Bezos, who created Amazon, which has soared in a few years to a dominant position in online retailing, said he was buying the Post in his personal capacity and hoped to shepherd it through the evolution away from traditional newsprint.

Objectivity Is A Workplace Hazard

Samer Kalaf

ESPN sports broadcaster, Rachel Nichols at American Airlines Center on February 06, 2021 in Dallas, Texas.

The Current Version Of Deadspin Can’t Even Eat Shit Correctly

The Staff Of The Appeal Is Ready To Make Something New

Damian Lillard gestures to the crowd during a playoff game.

Scoopbrain Is A Contagious Illness

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

Frank Bruni, I’m Not Sorry

Dan McQuade’s New Balance Gesture Followed By $4.1 Billion Drop In Company’s Market Value

This Is So Stupid

Experts: Albert Burneko Is Handsome And It’s Cool To Just Give Him Money

Long Live Open Locker Rooms, Where Today’s Secrets Become Tomorrow’s Stories

Giri Nathan

Tennis Doesn’t Have To Taste This Bad

The AP Reaches New Level Of Sleaziness With FanDuel Deal

It’s Never About Fairness

Camille Bromley is a features editor at The Believer and a story editor at the Columbia Journalism Review.

Camille Bromley

What’s Happening At ‘The Believer’ Is About More Than Just A Zoom Incident

Barry Petchesky

CHICAGO, IL - APRIL 15: Chicago Police officers guard the front entrance the their headquarters building during a rally on April 15, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois. The rally is held in protest of the killing of 13-year-old Adam Toledo by a Chicago Police officer on March 29th. The video of the fatal shooting was released on Thursday to the general public by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability more than two weeks after the incident took place. (Photo by Kamil Krzaczynski/Getty Images)

Police Say A Lot Of Things