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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

<p>Staff Writer</p>
<p>Find me on Signal @DefectorChris.19</p>


Chris Thompson

LeBron James smiles and gestures from the stage of some dumb event.

Life's Rich Pageant

LeBron James Wants Your Paycheck To Become His Paycheck, By Way Of Polymarket

Giri Nathan

A huge group of fans mill around at the 2026 U.S. Open

Tennis

The State Of The U.S. Open Is The State Of Us

Tom Ley

Daejon Love Will Go Down As A Scammer For The Ages

Dave McKenna

Close view of gloved hands priming a fine syringe for local anesthesia during surgery in a modern sterile clinic

Reds Week

I’m A Redhead, So Hit Me With Your Best Shot (Of Lidocaine)

marge schott addresses the crowd before game 1 of the 1990 world series

Marge Schott Was A Five-Tool Bigot Who Would Have Thrived In Any Era


<p>Noelle Mateer is a writer in Pittsburgh. Her work appears in Wired, The Baffler, The Guardian and more. Her Substack is <a href="https://pathenewsletter.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://pathenewsletter.substack.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1786567070811000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1LOAnbsGrpau8RvDRBu5SF">Pennsylvania: The Newsletter</a>. </p>


Noelle Mateer

Big Boy, the largest operating steam locomotive, arrives in Silver Springs, New York, on its only East Coast tour this month to celebrate its 250th anniversary. (Photo by John Whitney/NurPhoto)

Everybody Loves Big Boy

Sohini Desai

AI Listings Have Made Apartment Hunting Even More Debasing

20-year-old fish sauce spews out of a rupture in a vat at an abandoned plant

Let Me And A Food Scientist Sample The Abandoned Fish Sauce Terrorizing A Small Canadian Town

FIFA President Gianni Infantino directs U.S. President Donald Trump after the team’s victory following during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Final match between Spain and Argentina

Soccer

Looking Good, Sir!

A National Guard officer walks through an emptied out area of The Great American State Fair

Politics

Trump’s State Fair Was Ass In All The Ways I’d Been Warned 

Sarah Borus

America’s Birthday, Brought To You By Gas Station Hoagies

<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>


Drew Magary

Only A Complete Asshole Would Get Married At Madison Square Garden

<div>John Garrison Marks is a historian and writer who explores how Americans engage with the past. He is the author of <i><a href="https://uncpress.org/9781469693521/thy-will-be-done/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://uncpress.org/9781469693521/thy-will-be-done/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1781017423627000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1jL0F6t9RI1FoZYDei0VCw">Thy Will Be Done: George Washington&#8217;s Legacy of Slavery and the Fight for American Memory</a>.</i> He&#8217;s on Bluesky at <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/johngmarks.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://bsky.app/profile/johngmarks.com&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1781017423627000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0S-WpY5TzWTHvzMhKssu2S">@johngmarks.com</a>.</div>
<div></div>


John Garrison Marks

A drawing of the State of Liberty wearing a bunch of cheaply made America250 merchandise.

“We Hold These Truds”: A Search For The Weirdest Piece Of America 250 Merchandise


<p>A founding member of the Billings, Montana-to-Brooklyn sportswriting pipeline, Patrick Sauer has written for many large digital publications you’ve heard of and even more smaller ones that no longer exist. Check out his work at <a href="http://patricksauer.contently.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://patricksauer.contently.com&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1782568830003000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2lJRPIa8YxoLI3taZ9zsro">patricksauer.contently.com</a> or follow him on Bluesky <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/pjsauer.bsky.social" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://bsky.app/profile/pjsauer.bsky.social&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1782568830003000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1pDFKunGJ4lkfhBy4EMrEt">@pjsauer.bsky.social</a>.</p>


Patrick Sauer

Horse Racing

A Final Day At Aqueduct, New York’s Forlorn And Forgotten Racetrack

Alan Greenspan, Influential Economic Policymaker Whom I Once Terrified At A Party, Is Dead

Seen through algae-laden green water, a tear in the recently applied sealant can be seen on the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on June 18, 2026 in Washington, DC.