defector-orange-no-empty-space

lede_post_card_default

lede_post_card_stacked

lede_post_card_featured_post

lede_post_card_featured_posts_hero

lede_post_card_featured_posts_sidebar

lede_post_card_highlighted_post

lede_post_card_horizontal_a

lede_post_card_horizontal_c

lede_post_card_related_post

lede_post_card_square

lede_article_featured_16x9

lede_article_featured_3x2

lede_article_featured_1x1

lede_article_featured_flexible

lede_article_content

lede_article_content_wide_width

lede_article_content_full_width

lede_byline_avatar_post_card

lede_byline_avatar_highlight

lede_profile_coral_avatar

lede_logo

lede_logo_banner

lede_logo_footer_banner

lede_logo_simple_header

lede_sponsorship_logo

lede_sponsorship_logo_river_card

lede_sponsorship_homepage_card_logo

lede_sponsorship_homepage_card

Footer Legal

Header - Categories

Header Menu

The last good website.

Topics

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-no-empty-space

Defector

photo

Rafaela Bassili

Nicolas Cage on a beach holding a surfboard.

thesurfer

Arts And Culture

‘The Surfer’ Mostly Sputters And Flails

Staff Writer
Find me on Signal @DefectorChris.09

Profile Pic

Chris Thompson

The Virgin River flows through the valley floor as viewed on November 9, 2019 in Zion National Park, Utah

Zion National Park

Politics

Why Bully The National Park Service?

headshot1

Patrick Redford

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 28: U.S. President Donald Trump (C) and Vice President JD Vance (R) meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) in the Oval Office at the White House on February 28, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump and Zelensky are meeting today to negotiate a preliminary agreement on sharing Ukraine’s mineral resources that Trump says will allow America to recoup aid provided to Kyiv while supporting Ukraine’s economy. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

President Trump Hosts Ukrainian President Zelensky At The White House

JD Vance Screamed Out Of Planned Ski Vacation In Vermont

A canyon and waterfall in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

Yellowstone National Park Exteriors And Landmarks – 2021

The Great Outdoors

What Are Public Lands For?

Eva Holland is a freelance writer and editor based in Whitehorse, Yukon. She&#8217;s a correspondent for Outside magazine and the author of the books Nerve and <a href="https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/no-sleep-til-fairbanks#/">No Sleep &#8216;Til Fairbanks</a>.

20190624_Eva_Holland_005_Web

Eva Holland

Alaskan Dogs In United States –

What’s The Yukon Quest Without The Yukon River?

<a href="http://www.ddavisla.com">David Davis </a>is the author of Wheels of Courage: How Paralyzed Veterans From World War II Invented Wheelchair Sports, Fought for Disability Rights, and Inspired a Nation and Waterman: The Life and Times of Duke Kahanamoku. He lives in Los Angeles.
<div></div>

91QDg1THB8L._US230_

David Davis

Photo of Gidget running through the Malibu Pier. Fifty years after Kathy Kohner Zuckerman, aka Gidget, learned to surf in Malibu, the surfing world has accepted her as surfing's early pioneers, mascots and avid promoters. April 27, 2006, (Photo by Ken Hively/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Photo of Gidget running through the Malibu Pier. Fifty years after Kathy Kohner Zuckerman, aka Gidg

Gidget The Survivor

parkcity

Capital

The Logic Of Private Equity Explains The Park City Ski Patrol Strike

Lael Wilcox pedaling past a field of poppes in Spain

447815749_454062400568427_6413147130362967175_n

Cycling

Trying To Catch Up With Lael Wilcox As She Biked Around The World In 108 Days

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>.

IMG_7041

Emily Bice

Emily skates in the final stretch of the marathon

Sportgraf High Res

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

headshot

Barry Petchesky

BROOKS FALLS, ALASKA - AUGUST 11: A brown bear shakes his fur while fishing for sockeye salmon on August 11, 2023 at Brooks Falls, Alaska within the Katmai National Park and Preserve. The bears feast at the falls between July and September, as millions of salmon swim upstream to spawn. Many of the same bears return to the falls annually, gorging on salmon to fatten up before hibernating for winter. The bears have become something of an internet sensation, as "bearcams" livestream bear activity at and around the falls to viewers worldwide. Commercial salmon fishing in Alaskan waters has often pitted business interests against wildlife conservationists in Alaska, which has more national park and wilderness land than anywhere in the United States. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

Brown Bears At Brooks Falls Gorge On Sockeye Salmon In Alaska’s Katmai National Park

Animals

Bear Wins Fat Bear Week By Defeating Bear That Killed Her Cub

UNITED STATES - 2013/08/27: Brown bear (Ursus arctos) or grizzly in Brooks River near Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska, USA. (Photo by Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Brown bear (Ursus arctos) or grizzly in Brooks River near

Fat Bear Week Delayed By Bear Killing Bear

Dayna Evans is a baker and writer who got really into surfing recently. She runs Downtime Bakery in Mt. Airy, Philadelphia.

IMG_8056

Dayna Evans

East Coast Surfing’s Rich, Overlooked Legacy Gets Its Due

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.

heatherchen_baby

Heather Wei-Xi Chen

A surfer in a blue wetsuit carries a light blue surfboard with him as he walks into the ocean. He is holding a Palestinian flag in his right hand and wearing a keffiyeh around his head.

rockawaysurf-heather-01

Surfers Show Solidarity At A Paddle-Out For Palestine

The beach

This Is So Stupid

What Would You Do Right Now For A Free Beach Vacation?

IMG_5859

Giri Nathan

A view of the basketball court at JFK International Airport

jfk-airport-court

Wings Week

Who Was Getting Buckets At The JFK Airport Basketball Court?

IMG_6025-800

Albert Burneko

Some lovely beefsteak tomatoes, still growing on the vine.

tomatoestop

Another Garden Check!

Owen Lewis is a former Defector intern and co-founded the website <a href="http://popcorntennis.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://popcorntennis.com&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1726234676777000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0PFWw6PL-FUqaCMME5TLqP">popcorntennis.com</a>. He wrote 63,000 words about the Novak Djokovic-Rafael Nadal rivalry that can be accessed for free at <a href="https://thegoldenrivalry.substack.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://thegoldenrivalry.substack.com&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1726234676777000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2OjAHpo4PVIhkx8Xd21lRJ">thegoldenrivalry.substack.com</a>.

baby owen

Owen Lewis

GettyImages-925884642

I Hate Running. I Miss Running.

Kenny Moll rips through an impromptu finish line to mark the end of his seventh marathon. Michael-Luca is running to his right, with a crowd of runners behind them. There are trees in the background, and the area is both shaded and sunny.

7marathons-heatherchen-11

If You Run Seven Marathons In Seven Days In Central Park, Does It Make A Difference?

tomatoflower

Garden Check!

Gardening

Elder Wisdom

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

AJSfPYY9_400x400-1

Kelsey McKinney

Screen Shot 2024-04-21 at 1.46.28 PM

In Defense Of Chaos Gardening

Stephen Lurie is a writer and facilitator in Brooklyn, NY.

lurie hs

Stephen Lurie

A box of essentials - body glide, water, bagel, banana, Advil, and Accel Gel. The 116th Boston Marathon starts in Hopkinton in Hopkinton, Mass. on Monday, April 16, 2012.

116th Running Of The Boston Marathon: Pre-race

The Sublime Clarity Of Goo

Red rambling rose plant climbing the wall of a pink thatched cottage, Shottisham Suffolk, England.

Life Lessons

So You Want To Grow Climbing Roses

French mountaineer Christophe Profit climbs on the south face of the Rebuffat Peak on the Aiguille du Midi mountain (3 842 m) in the Mont Blanc massif in the French Alps, on June 2, 2016, during the reconstitution of Gaston Rebuffat and Maurice Baquet's first ascent of the south face of the Aiguille du Midi on July 13, 1956. / AFP / JEAN-PIERRE CLATOT (Photo credit should read JEAN-PIERRE CLATOT/AFP via Getty Images)

FRANCE-MONT-BLANC-MOUNTAINS-FEATURE

Legendary Mountaineer Christophe Profit On Trial For Removing Safety Equipment On Mont Blanc

IMG_1527

I Have Been Defeated And Humbled By My Hated Foe, The Wind