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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

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Kelsey McKinney

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Albert Burneko

A barren Dust Bowl wasteland with a single fencepost standing in the foreground.

dust bowl

Life Lessons

Now Let Us Survey Our Summer’s Gardening Bounty

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Rachelle Hampton

A young woman at home, feeling sick. She is, appropriately, holding her lower back.

Young woman feeling sick

I Hurt My Back

<p>Editorial intern</p>
<p>https://www.instagram.com/20grade</p>


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Lucy Bloom

Hed perhap

You Can’t Be Too Careful

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Lauren Theisen

“Annie” Opening Night Celebration

Seeking Closure At Planet Hollywood, Where My Life Once Exploded

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<div class="p-rich_text_section">Puja Patel is a writer, editor, and curator who has served as the Editor-in-Chief of Pitchfork and <em>Spin</em>, a culture editor for Deadspin, and a columnist for MTV and the <em>Village Voice</em>. Her work has appeared in publications such as the <em>New Yorker</em>, <em>Harper&#8217;s Bazaar</em>, and <em>Rolling Stone,</em> among others. She serves on the advisory board of NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music and Building Beats, a nonprofit organization that provides music education to underserved youth across New York City and Los Angeles.</div>
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Puja Patel

Albert Einstein sticking out his tongue

Mods Asleep

Just A Tip

Normal Gossip: portraits

Alex Sujong Laughlin

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Bills Week

I Have Found A Personal Finance Influencer Who Isn’t As Bad As “Personal Finance Influencer” Sounds

Bill Laimbeer #40 takes the ball during the NBA playoffs against the Boston Celtics

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Bill Laimbeer Made Me A Youth Basketball Maniac

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Arts And Culture

My New Glasses Have Ruined My Ability To Read! Help Me!

<p>Emily Bice is a Brooklyn-based writer. Her work centers on explorations of how we navigate love and life in the 21st century. These investigations have taken her to a fishmonger, inspired meditations on dating, and even led to rollerblading a marathon. You can find more on her Substack, <a href="https://129waysto.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://129waysto.substack.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1728739707762000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1SlDWyDATtJJ90_yxFN0B1">129 Ways to Get a Life</a>.</p>


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Emily Bice

a woman bowls into a time travel-like vortex

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Ten Frames Of Time Travel

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Tom Ley

Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 of the Milwaukee Bucks and Bennedict Mathurin #00 of the Indiana Pacers get into an altercation after Game 5 of the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on April 29, 2025 in Indianapolis, Indiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement.

Milwaukee Bucks v Indiana Pacers – Game Five

Bucks Collapse Leads To Giannis Antetokounmpo Delivering Fatherhood Lessons To Tyrese Haliburton’s Dad

<p>Nicholas Russell is a writer from Las Vegas.</p>


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Nicholas Russell

: A COVID face mask dangles from the rear-view mirror of a car

As the omicron variant’s stunning infectiousness¬†sends case counts soaring, some glass-half-full experts opine it may push us more swiftly from pandemic to endemic

Why I Keep Masking

<p>The author can be reached at postpostdoc@protonmail.com.</p>


Post-Postdoc

AI Gig Work

Capital

How I Became Highly Educated Grist For The AI Mill

<div>Rick Paulas is a writer in Brooklyn who made <i><a href="http://www.theladyingreenpoint.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.theladyingreenpoint.com&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1693673714100000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3mdrn4_mwbI7boyzf49u2G">The Lady in Greenpoint</a></i>, a 3-mile walking audio ghost story starting at the Pulaski Bridge, and <i>The Palmer Hotel</i>, a collection of spooky short stories set over a century in a downtown hotel, which has sold out.</div>
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Rick Paulas

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Why Is This So Good?

The Best Thing I Own Is My Tiny TV/VCR

Jen Vafidis

Richard Kind poses at a gala celebrating "All In: Comedy About Love" opening night on Broadway at The Hudson Theatre on December 16, 2024 in New York City.

“All In: Comedy About Love By Simon Rich” Gala Performance

How Meeting Richard Kind Changed The Course Of My Life

<p>Vivian Blaxell grew up in rural Australia and co-founded Tiresias House, Australia’s first shelter and resource centre for and by trans people. Her essay &#8220;Nuclear Cats&#8221; was shortlisted for the 2021 Melbourne Prize for Literature. She lives in Naarm/Melbourne, VIC, Australia.</p>


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Vivian Blaxell

Coke Sign at corner of William Street and Kings Cross, Sydney

GET THE FUCK OFF THIS CORNER

Book Excerpts That Don't Suck

“Get The Fuck Off This Corner. It’s Mine.”

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Brandy Jensen

High angle view of a crowded square

I Will Take An Annoying World Over A Sterile One

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Barry Petchesky

Crowd of people on sidewalk, traffic in street

There Are Other People In The World

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Ray Ratto

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - JANUARY 12: Former NFL Player Tom Brady looks on prior to the NFC Wild Card Playoff between the Green Bay Packers and the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on January 12, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

NFC Wild Card Playoffs: Green Bay Packers v Philadelphia Eagles

Nuisance Is That Which You Cannot Escape


<p>charismatic megafauna (they/them)</p>


Typing

Sabrina Imbler

op down image of a pile of dirty dishes and saucepans sitting on a countertop in a kitchen

Top down image of a pile of dirty dishes and saucepans sitting on a countertop in a kitchen

The Year Of No Dishwasher

a set of homemade toasted subs with ground beef, cheese, green pepper and onion

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How I Got Comfortable With Cooking, And Eating


<p>Investigations Editor. You can contact her at diana@defector.com or dfmoskovitz@protonmail.com. She&#8217;s also on Signal @dmoskovitz.99</p>


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Diana Moskovitz

People stretch and raise their hands during an outside yoga session on Thursday, April 4, 2024 in Long Beach, CA.

People stretching

A Hip Stretch To Help You Stay Sane

A red iPhone 12 mini rests on a wood table. The back of the phone is facing up; it's glass surface is cracked.

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Phone Too Big

<p>Megan Greenwell is the author of <em>Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream</em>, which will be published in June 2025 and is <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/bad-company-megan-greenwell?variant=43151012757538">available for preorder now</a>.</p>


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Megan Greenwell

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The Wonder Of The Regional Art Museum

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Kathryn Xu

A little girl completes a jigsaw puzzle delivered to her by Santa Claus, 24th December 1938.

Christmas Puzzle

It’s Puzzling Time

A wide-angle view of the total eclipse of the Moon of November 8, 2022, with the red Moon at right amid the stars of the northern winter sky and Milky Way, plus with bright red Mars at top. Above and left of the Moon is the blue Pleiades star cluster, while below it and to the left is the larger Hyades cluster with reddish Aldebaran in Taurus. The stars of Orion are left of centre, including reddish Betelgeuse, while at far left are the two Dog Stars: Procyon, at top, in Canis Minor, and Sirius, at bottom, in Canis Major. So this is a gathering of many red stars, planets and the rare red Moon. I shot the frames for this scene beginning at 3:50 am MST, 10 minutes before mid-totality during this 1h25m-long total eclipse. . (Photo by: Alan Dyer/VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Red Moon in the Winter Sky (Nov. 8, 2022)

Look Up!