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

<p>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>.</p>


baby owen

Owen Lewis

Carlos Alcaraz of Spain poses for a photo with his trophy alongside his team following victory against Jannik Sinner of Italy in the Men's Singles Final match on Day Fourteen of the Internazionali BNL D'Italia 2025 at Foro Italico on May 18, 2025 in Rome, Italy.

Internazionali BNL D’Italia 2025 – Day Fourteen

Tennis

Carlos Alcaraz Keeps Smiling At Jannik Sinner’s Expense

IMG_9669

Robert Rubsam

Havoc

Arts And Culture

Netflix Keeps Ruining Action Movies

<p>Violet Lucca is the author of <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/david-cronenberg-clinical-trials-violet-lucca/21170132"><i>David Cronenberg: Clinical Trials</i></a>. Her writing has appeared in the <em>New York Times</em>, <em>Art in America</em>, <em>Sight and Sound</em>, the <em>Village Voice</em>, and elsewhere. She was the VP of Digital at <em>Harper’s Magazine</em> and Digital Producer at <em>Film Comment</em>, and was the host of their respective podcasts.</p>


violet lucca author photo

Violet Lucca

Shrouds_3

Defector At The Movies

‘The Shrouds’ Is David Cronenberg’s Typically Prescient Epitaph For Our Present And His Career

authorpic1294q9q7qfnn

Soraya Roberts

FRIENDSHIP_01

‘Friendship’ Can’t Sustain The Relationship

<p>Maya Goldberg-Safir writes about women’s basketball and splits her time between Chicago and Oakland, where she was born and raised. She is the creator of <a href="https://wnbaroughnotes.substack.com/">Rough Notes</a>, a newsletter chronicling women’s basketball from the court, the road, and the heart.</p>


photo_large

Maya Goldberg-Safir

natalie-nakase-aces

History

How The Japanese-American Basketball Leagues Built Natalie Nakase

<p>Abigail Segel is a writer based in Montreal.</p>


Screenshot 2023-06-14 at 10.34.24 AM

Abigail Segel

LAVAL, CANADA - JANUARY 29: Catherine Dubois #28 of the Montreal Victoire skates during the second period against the Ottawa Charge at Place Bell on January 29, 2025 in Laval, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal Victoire defeated the Ottawa Charge 4-1. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)

Ottawa Charge v Montreal Victoire

PWHL

It Took Two Years And Four Overtimes For The Victoire To Live Up To Their Name In The Playoffs

1734570856417

Veronica de Souza

Drawing of an Interior: Atelier, 1857. Artist Anon. (Photo by Heritage Images via Getty Images)

make-it-nice-2

Make It Nice

Make It Nice: Bringing Order To Chaos

<div id="1695913206.579009" class="c-virtual_list__item c-virtual_list__item--initial-activeitem" role="listitem" data-qa="virtual-list-item" data-item-key="1695913206.579009">
<div class="c-message_kit__background c-message_kit__background--hovered p-message_pane_message__message c-message_kit__message" role="presentation" data-qa="message_container" data-qa-unprocessed="false" data-qa-placeholder="false">
<div class="c-message_kit__hover c-message_kit__hover--hovered" role="document" data-qa-hover="true">
<div class="c-message_kit__actions c-message_kit__actions--above">
<div class="c-message_kit__gutter c-message_kit__gutter--compact">
<div class="c-message_kit__gutter__right" role="presentation" data-qa="message_content">
<div class="c-message_kit__indent">
<div class="c-message_kit__blocks c-message_kit__blocks--rich_text c-message_kit__blocks--inline">
<div class="c-message__message_blocks c-message__message_blocks--rich_text c-message__message_blocks--inline" data-qa="message-text">
<div class="p-block_kit_renderer p-block_kit_renderer--inline" data-qa="block-kit-renderer">
<div class="p-block_kit_renderer__block_wrapper p-block_kit_renderer__block_wrapper--first">
<div class="p-rich_text_block p-rich_text_block--inline" dir="auto">
<div class="p-rich_text_section">Tom Scocca is the editor of <a href="http://indignity.net">Indignity</a>, a subscription-supported newsletter of news, essays, and commentary.</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="1695913224.677889" class="c-virtual_list__item" role="listitem" data-qa="virtual-list-item" data-item-key="1695913224.677889">
<div class="c-message_kit__background p-message_pane_message__message c-message_kit__message" role="presentation" data-qa="message_container" data-qa-unprocessed="false" data-qa-placeholder="false">
<div class="c-message_kit__hover" role="document" data-qa-hover="true">
<div class="c-message_kit__actions c-message_kit__actions--above">
<div class="c-message_kit__gutter c-message_kit__gutter--compact">
<div class="c-message_kit__gutter__left" role="presentation"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>


8b2c55a3-643f-49c0-b14a-0e4470463bef_1200x1200-1

Tom Scocca

New York City police arrested dozens of Pro-Palestinian protesters on Columbia University on Wednesday evening after they took over part of a central library in New York, USA on May 7, 2025.

Columbia Gaza protest arrests May 7

Margin Of Error

Teachable Moment

photo

Rafaela Bassili

Nicolas Cage on a beach holding a surfboard.

thesurfer

‘The Surfer’ Mostly Sputters And Flails


<p>Jasper Hutson is a lapsed journalist.</p>


Jasper Hutson

Hercules3

Fitness

Any “Halfway Decent Person” Can Join And Own Ireland’s Oldest Gym

Headshot_Goldfarb

Ben Goldfarb

A bulldozer moves a pile of dirt, which features two hoofs sticking out of the top

abundance-mattie

Capital

An Abundance Of Concrete

Author Photo_Stratis_Credit Alysha Haugen

Niko Stratis

Jakob Dylan, in 1997, singing in front of a microphone. He has short curly hair, maybe has a little beard, and he's in a long sleeve collared button-front shirt. He's playing guitar. In the corner there's an image of a book cover: The Dad Rock That Made Me A Woman, by Niko Stratis

dad-rock-jakob-dylan

Book Excerpts That Don't Suck

Got To Be Something Better Than In The Middle

image0

Kate Wagner

Zuck-House

Mark Zuckerberg Still Can’t Buy Taste

image

Jack Hanson

Curzio-Malaparte

The Perfect Fascist

tundeadebimpe-theeblackboltz-4000px

Music

Tunde Adebimpe’s Solo Debut Channels The Gift Of The Mixtape

President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton attend the White House State Dinner for the President of Ukraine on November 22, 1994 in Washington, D.C.

bill and hillary clinton

The Era Of Meek Government Is Over

The Vermillion Vanguard prepares to march

8C2FC574-96DE-491E-8EC6-A4318C379959_1_105_c

Soccer

The Vermilion Vanguard Is On The March

<p>Alex Shultz is a journalist based in Brooklyn.</p>


IMG_0077

Alex Shultz

A tabloid style Sports Illustrated cover in the checkout line

Journalismism

Horny Sports Blogging Makes A Bewildering Return To Sports Illustrated

<p>Jake Romm is a New York City-based writer and the Associate Editor of Protean Magazine.</p>


DSCF4815

Jake Romm

October8

Politics

The Paranoid Fantasies Of ‘October 8’

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


IMG_1801 (1)

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

Life Lessons

Why I Keep Masking

<p>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 <i>Nerve </i>and <i><a href="https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/no-sleep-til-fairbanks#/">No Sleep &#8216;Til Fairbanks</a>.</i></p>


20190624_Eva_Holland_005_Web

Eva Holland

North of North

‘North Of North’ Is An Arctic Comedy That Will Warm Your Heart

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


Post-Postdoc

AI Gig Work

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>
<div></div>


image0(8)

Rick Paulas

image1 (4)

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

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer looks on as US President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House on April 9, 2025 in Washington, DC.

US-POLITICS-TRUMP

The Bargain Vs. The Boot