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<p>Robert Rubsam writes fiction and nonfiction. His work has appeared in the NYT Magazine, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, the Baffler, and Liberties. He is a contributing writer for Commonweal Magazine.</p>
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Robert Rubsam

Reds Week

Wild Pink Goes Alt-Country


<div dir="auto">Liz Cook is a freelance writer and recipe developer based in Kansas City. Her work appears in places like Serious Eats, Eater, the BBC, and Condé Nast Traveler. She also writes the experimental food newsletter <a href="https://haterade.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Haterade</a>. </div>


Liz Cook

Turn Your Busted Tomatoes Into Tomato Water

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<p class="sc-77igqf-0 bOfvBY">Vince Guerrieri is an award-winning journalist and author in the Cleveland area. He likes Lake Erie perch sandwiches, Jim Traficant and long walks on the field at League Park. His website is <a class="sc-1out364-0 hMndXN sc-145m8ut-0 kGbjEv js_link" href="http://vinceguerrieri.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ga="[[&quot;Embedded Url&quot;,&quot;External link&quot;,&quot;http://vinceguerrieri.com/&quot;,{&quot;metric25&quot;:1}]]">vinceguerrieri.com</a>, and you can follow him on Twitter <a class="sc-1out364-0 hMndXN sc-145m8ut-0 kGbjEv js_link" href="https://twitter.com/vinceguerrieri" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ga="[[&quot;Embedded Url&quot;,&quot;External link&quot;,&quot;https://twitter.com/vinceguerrieri&quot;,{&quot;metric25&quot;:1}]]">@vinceguerrieri</a>.</p>
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Vince Guerrieri

Portrait of, from left, baseball players George Crowe, Wally Post, and Gus Bell, all of the Cincinnati Reds, as they pose at Crosley Field, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1957. (Photo by Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images)

How Cincinnati Ruined All-Star Voting For A Dozen Years

<p>Nina Mandell is a journalist living in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, who has written for Bustle, ESPN, <em>Sports Illustrated</em>, <em>USA Today</em>, <em>The New York Daily News</em>, and NBC Regional Sports Networks. She is the former managing editor of <em>USA Today</em>’s For The Win site and the former digital director/managing editor of NBC Sports Washington.</p>


Nina Mandell

Chamique Holdsclaw #23 of the Washington Mystics gets ready to shoot the ball while Mery Andrade #23 of the Cleveland Rockers guards her

WNBA

Chamique Holdsclaw Made Headlines, Made Mistakes, And Made History

<p>Jen Ramos Eisen is a Central California- and Las Vegas-based baseball labor and economics reporter.</p>


Jen Ramos Eisen

<p><span class="il">Frankie</span> de la Cretaz is an award-winning independent journalist whose work sits at the intersection of sports and gender. They are the co-author of <em>Hail Mary: The Rise and Fall of the National Women’s Football League</em>, and their writing has been featured in the <em>New York Times</em>, <em>Sports Illustrated</em>, and many more publications.</p>


Frankie de la Cretaz

An illustration of a woman baseball player sitting at a desk and waiting for a phone call. A baseball glove, ball, and bat sit on the desk. The phone glows but has no incoming call. The player has her head down and arms crossed in sadness.

Women's Baseball

The New Women’s Pro Baseball League Offers Hope—And Frustrations

<p>Mychal Denzel Smith is the author of <i>Stakes Is High</i>, winner of the Kirkus Prize for Non-Fiction.</p>


Mychal Denzel Smith

Politics

The Crazy Thing About “Woke 1” Was How It Was Exploited

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<div>Casey Taylor is a writer living and working in Pittsburgh. He is currently writing a book for St. Martin&#8217;s Press about cannabis religions, Haile Selassie I, and the Cold War in the Caribbean. He also writes a free newsletter called <a href="https://weedchurch.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://weedchurch.substack.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1709306863919000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1mVH2xiID6S0zvlyj6yHco">Weed Church</a> covering foolish spiritual things that occur to him. His work has appeared in The New Republic, WIRED, New York Magazine, and a sports blog he can’t currently recall the name of. You can <a href="mailto:caseyt7@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">email</a> him if you’d like.</div>
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Casey Taylor

Arts And Culture

The Fight To Save The Remarkable, Upsetting Murals Of Maxo Vanka

<p>Matt Ufford is the head of video and audio at Yahoo Sports.</p>


Matt Ufford

Why Your Team Sucks

Why Your Team Sucks 2026: Minnesota Vikings

Veronica de Souza

Make It Nice

Make It Nice: Is There Such A Thing As A Good-Looking Dog Crate?

Adonai Mitchell fumbles the ball out of the endzone

Why Your Team Sucks 2026: Indianapolis Colts

David Hollingshead

Humanists Have Done Nothing Wrong

<p>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.</p>


Owen Lewis

Interviews

‘The Cruelest Game’ Examines Tennis As Torture


<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)

Life's Rich Pageant

Everybody Loves Big Boy

Annie Berke

The Sports Idiot Is Dead, Long Live The Sports Idiot

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<div><a href="https://www.bystefanfatsis.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bystefanfatsis.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1759235100786000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1mlCW5_XUY56jklGr11a_z">Stefan Fatsis</a> is the author of four books: <a href="https://groveatlantic.com/book/unabridged/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://groveatlantic.com/book/unabridged/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1759235100786000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0jbw5ZscOBp6w-1um3R6yu"><i>Unabridged</i></a>, <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/a-few-seconds-of-panic-a-sportswriter-plays-in-the-nfl-stefan-fatsis/7891278" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://bookshop.org/p/books/a-few-seconds-of-panic-a-sportswriter-plays-in-the-nfl-stefan-fatsis/7891278&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1759235100786000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0MpNNngIOKaj-715hSNVZD"><i>A Few Seconds of Panic</i></a>, <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/word-freak-heartbreak-triumph-genius-and-obsession-in-the-world-of-competitive-scrabblep-layers-stefan-fatsis/11648962" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://bookshop.org/p/books/word-freak-heartbreak-triumph-genius-and-obsession-in-the-world-of-competitive-scrabblep-layers-stefan-fatsis/11648962&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1759235100786000&amp;usg=AOvVaw02LL51Wrka0A0lLkwOxYUj"><i>Word Freak</i></a>, and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wild-Outside-Renegade-Baseball-Heartland/dp/0802712975" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/Wild-Outside-Renegade-Baseball-Heartland/dp/0802712975&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1759235100786000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1YzbrZGW2KCbIttDDLhkPn"><i>Wild and Outside</i></a>. He&#8217;s also a former cohost of “Hang Up and Listen,” commentator on NPR&#8217;s &#8220;All Things Considered,&#8221; and reporter for <i>The Wall Street Journal</i>. Subscribe to his newsletter, <a href="https://stefanfatsis.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://stefanfatsis.substack.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1786480936396000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0fRpxgEOhbgbpR79WFcozC">Unabridged</a>.</div>
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Stefan Fatsis

Meller and Swift shake hands over the board

Games

Two Scrabble Superstars Explain Their Unbelievable Championship Match

MH Rowe

This Is So Stupid

CarJitsu Is Precisely As Dumb As It Sounds

<p>Grace Byron is a critic, reporter, and novelist based in Queens. Her writing has appeared in <em>The New Yorker</em>, <em>Granta</em>, <em>Bookforum</em>, and elsewhere. Her debut novel <em>Herculine</em> is out now.</p>


Grace Byron

Books

Claire Stapleton Helped Write The Myth Of Google, But Now She’s Trying To Tell The Truth

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


Heather Wei-Xi Chen

Michigan Democratic candidate for Senate Abdul El-Sayed takes the stage at The People V. The Powerful rally at the Detroit Opera House on July 18, 2026 in Detroit, Michigan.

Abdul El-Sayed’s Campaign Believes The Many Can Defeat The Money

Annie Geng

‘I Want Your Sex’ Is A Raunchy Plea For Young People To Have More Fun

Nick Martin

Danny McBride Leaves You Wandering

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<div>Abigail Segel is a contributing writer at Defector. She is also an editor for The IX Soccer and the Equalizer. Her work has been published in the Guardian and the Montreal Gazette.</div>
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Abigail Segel

Leicy Santos's teammates dowse her in water while celebrating

Soccer

Leicy Santos Is In The Right Spot

Natalie Weiner

Colson Whitehead Talks About Embracing Change, Pulling Off A Heist, And Finding A Good Coffee Table

Tennis

Tennis.com Lived And Died With The Internet

Can Men Stop Hating Women?


<p>Leander Schaerlaeckens is a long-time soccer writer, currently contributing to <i>The Guardian </i>and elsewhere. He is the author of <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/722130/the-long-game-by-leander-schaerlaeckens/"><i>The Long Game: U.S. Men&#8217;s Soccer and its Savage, Four-Decade Journey to the Top, or Thereabouts</i></a>. He teaches journalism and sports communication at Marist University. He will cover his fourth World Cup in 2026.</p>


A photo of the author Leander Schaerlaeckens taken by Asha Fuller.

Leander Schaerlaeckens

U.S. President Donald Trump reacts next to FIFA President Gianni Infantino after presenting the FIFA World Cup Winner's Trophy to Spain in the World Cup Final. Trump's kind of leaning like there's a very heavy wind.

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