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

Owen Lewis is a former Defector intern and has written for The Guardian, The Second Serve, The Athletic, and other publications.

Owen Lewis

Life Lessons

I Don’t Ever Want My Favorite Things To Change

Justin Ellis

Bad Bunny performing on stage in Philadelphia in 2022, wearing an outfit with red shorts while sitting on a beach chair while enjoying a beverage.

Fellas, Our Horrible Climate Future Demands You Wear Short Shorts

The Great Outdoors

I Hate Running. I Miss Running.

Alex Sujong Laughlin

Women sit under hair dryers in a Paris beauty shop, smoking and reading magazines while their hair dries.

You Should Cut Your Own Hair

Kelsey McKinney

Berry Thief, My Enemy; Berry Thief, My Friend

charismatic megafauna (they/them)

Sabrina Imbler

A young woman in a swimsuit and sun hat poses with a drink at the edge of a pool

Announcements

The Normal Gossip Summer Guide To Eavesdropping

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

1956: EXCLUSIVE Full-length image of stunt performers on Muscle Beach, Santa Monica, California. Four men lift four women in the air, all in bathing suits, on the boardwalk stage. (Photo by Gene Lester/Getty Images)

Elder Wisdom

IT’S SUMMERTIME, MOTHERFUCKERS

Two men celebrate the July Fourth holiday on the Coney Island boardwalk in New York, one wearing a hot dog costume and the other in red, white and blue overalls.

Bro Summer Waits For Us All

A woman stands with her cellphone in Grand Central Terminal, the historic world-famous landmark and transportation hub in Midtown Manhattan July 21, 2020 in New York. - The station is the southern terminus of the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem, Hudson and New Haven Lines and ridership has been down during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP) (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)

Metro-North Is My North Star

Nicholas Russell is a writer from Las Vegas.

Nicholas Russell

End of life petrol and diesel cars and vans are piled on top of one another as they wait to be recycled in a car scrapyard on November 29, 2022 in Glastonbury, England. The UK scraps over one million cars a year and many more petrol and diesel cars will need to be taken off the road if the Government is to reach its target for the number of electric cars to be reached.

Mods Asleep

I Will Drive This Fucked-Up Car Until One Of Us Dies

B.D. McClay is an essayist and critic.

B.D. McClay

11 February 2020, Berlin: Bottles of the brand "Coca Cola" are lined up in the cinema Zoo Palast.

I Will Never Abandon My Special Little Drink

1950s 1960s MAN IN STRIPED PAJAMAS SMILING ASLEEP IN BED (Photo by ClassicStock/Getty Images)

I Love My Jammy-Jams

Staff Writer
Find me on Signal @DefectorChris.19

Chris Thompson

How To Make (Or Possibly Not To Make) A Vegetable Garden

Barry Petchesky

SHAOYANG, CHINA - FEBRUARY 16: People read books at Songpo bookstore during the Spring Festival holiday on February 16, 2021 in Shaoyang, Hunan Province of China. (Photo by Teng Zhizhong/VCG via Getty Images)

Buy Yourself A Gift Card

A General view showing a shoe store on August 7, 2022 in Hong Kong, China. Hong Kong residents received Phase 2 of the Consumer Voucher Scheme.

These Dad Shoes Are Made For Workin’

BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - MARCH 06: A Boxer dog looks out from its kennel on first day of Crufts dog show at the NEC on March 6, 2014 in Birmingham, England. Said to be the largest show of its kind in the world, the annual four-day event, features thousands of dogs, with competitors travelling from countries across the globe to take part. Crufts, which was first held in 1891 and sees thousands of dogs vie for the coveted title of 'Best in Show'. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

It Happened To Me: I Thought I Bought People Treats But They Were Dog Treats

Felix Kent

Why Can’t I Turn Off The Game?

Wooden and iron spoons lie on the table at the folk museum, Kovpakivka village, Mahdalynivka district, Dnipropetrovsk Region, central Ukraine.

The Fork And Spoon Method To A Better Life

Melted chocolate with a heart shape in it.

My Sweet Tooth

<div>Nate Jackson is a former NFL tight end and author of <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/slow-getting-up-a-story-of-nfl-survival-from-the-bottom-of-the-pile-nate-jackson/6430451?gclid=Cj0KCQjwpc-oBhCGARIsAH6ote9JzWMngZDpSjF2eoL1_JlyPm2QhDfkNgOzqvaB4n9ic0qqUNQ4iCwaAsasEALw_wcB">Slow Getting Up</a>. He lives in Denver.</div>
<div></div>

Nate Jackson

A football is being balanced on top of a syringe and vaccine vial.

My NFL Career Ended With A Needle And A Scam

Giri Nathan

On Moving Out

Patrick Redford

A hacker is an individual who uses computer skills to overcome a technical problem.

Here Are Our Stories Of Being Scammed

Dave McKenna

(Original Caption) Frankenstein starring Boris Karloff as The Monster. Scene in the laboratory.

I Have Become The Dr. Frankenstein Of Amps

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

Dan McQuade

A poster of Jerry Seinfeld showing his perfect teeth. It's Dental Health Adviser from Fall 1993, and it's a large poster. It's telling you to floss.

This Giant Visage Of Jerry Seinfeld Is What Finally Got Me To Floss

Illustration of a father looking surprised at a baby on a changing table, surrounded by a pile of laundry and a vacuum cleaner.