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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

Justin Ellis

A dish filled with baked macaroni and cheese

Chefector

When Does A Recipe Become Your Own?

Kathryn Xu

Cup of rose hip berries herbal tea and glass teapot standing on old wooden plank table with wild autumn berries around.

Life Lessons

Consider The Fruit Tea Dilemma

Tom Ley

1940s YOUNG BOY STUDYING IN ROOM WITH ARMY NAVY PENNANTS ON WALL

Journalismism

How To Be Sure You Are Reading Some Dumb Bullshit

Alex Sujong Laughlin

Risk Week

Everything I Expect From Atlantic City, Based On The ‘Rugrats’ Vacation Episode

Ray Ratto

A black and white photo of people around a craps table gambling in Las Vegas in 1963

If You Must Gamble, Gamble In Person, Like An Adult

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>.

Emily Bice

Emily skates in the final stretch of the marathon

The Great Outdoors

The View From The Way, Way Back Of The Berlin Inline Skating Marathon

Nicholas Russell is a writer from Las Vegas.

Nicholas Russell

The new Alchem-E Gold Ex drum set, made by Zildjian.

Tom-Tom C’est Moi

Michael Rosen is a transportation planner and author of the <a href="https://pitchplots.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://pitchplots.substack.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1725119706246000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3LfT9S-qtmoiPwAXtsicWT">&#8220;Pitch Plots&#8221;</a> Substack. He lives in Los Angeles.

Michael Rosen

An umpire mediates between two people networking

Looking For Friends Among Baseball’s Most Passionate Nerds

Owen Lewis is a former Defector intern and has written for The Guardian, The Second Serve, The Athletic, n+1, Texas Monthly, Air Mail, and other publications.

Owen Lewis

Heather Chen is a former Defector intern and the managing editor at the Columbia Daily Spectator. She loves hockey, photography, and the good ol’ state of Michigan.

Heather Wei-Xi Chen

circa 1955: Two elementary school students complete homework assignments together, the girl has a book, 'Living By God's Law,' next to her on the table.

Announcements

The Defector Summer Interns Say Farewell

I Don’t Ever Want My Favorite Things To Change

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

I Hate Running. I Miss Running.

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

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

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)