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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.

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Defector

Buy a Defector Gift Subscription, Get A (Different) Gift Subscription

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2025 gift subs

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Israel Daramola

Melvin Van Peebles speaking at the Gotham Independent Film Awards in 2008.

18th Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards – Show

Defector At The Movies

Film Lost Melvin Van Peebles Just When It Needed Him Most

<a href="mailto:tara@taraariano.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tara Ariano</a>&nbsp;co-hosts the podcasts&nbsp;<a href="https://www.extrahotgreat.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Extra Hot Great</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://listentosassy.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Listen To Sassy</a>,&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.againwiththis90210.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Again With This</a>. She is also the co-author, with Sarah D. Bunting, of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Very-Special-90210-Book-Absolutely/dp/1419747460?tag=decider08-20" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">A Very Special 90210 Book: 93 Absolutely Essential Episodes From TV’s Most Notorious Zip Code</a>.&nbsp;Her byline has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Collider, Vanity Fair, New York, Slate, Mel Magazine, Vulture,&nbsp;Salon,&nbsp;and&nbsp;The Awl, among many others. She lives in Austin.

Tara Ariano

An unusually operatic still image from Netflix's "Floor Is Lava"

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Which Sports-Adjacent Physical Challenge TV Show Is Right For You?

Nicholas Russell is a writer from Las Vegas.

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Nicholas Russell

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James Wan Just Wants You To Have As Much Dumb Fun As He’s Having

<a href="http://Feldman.cool" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brian Feldman</a> is a software engineer living in Brooklyn.

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Brian Feldman

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At The Turtle Club In The Shadow Of 9/11

Colin Daileda is a freelance journalist in Bengaluru, India, who has written for Longreads, The Atlantic, Atlas Obscura, and others. He used to be able to grab the rim of a basketball hoop, but he can no longer jump high enough.

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Colin Daileda

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Cricket

Why India Lets Kashmiri Cricket Wither

<a href="https://twitter.com/robertfoconnell" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Robert O’Connell</a> is a writer from Kansas living in New York. His work has appeared in Sports Illustrated, The Atlantic, The New York Times, and elsewhere.

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Robert O’Connell

Helmets (and a pair of eclipse glasses) in the dugout of a minor league baseball team in Columbia, SC.

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Minor League Baseball Is Optimized To Exploit

Felix Kent

F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain – Practice

‘Drive To Survive’ Cracks Open The Narrow Reality Of Competition

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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

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High School Sports

Bishop Sycamore’s Capital Crime Was Not Being Good Enough At Football

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Soraya Roberts

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Cold Comforts

‘Forbrydelsen’ Seduced The World With A Sweater And A Murder

Claire Watkins is a musician and writer living in Chicago, IL.

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Claire Watkins

United States v Australia: Bronze Medal Match Women’s Football – Olympics: Day 13

Soccer

Carli Lloyd Was A Self-Contained Superstar

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Defector Reads A Book

‘The Glassy, Burning Floor Of Hell’ Is A Horror Collection That Will Validate Your Misery

Shane Ryan is the author of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hachettebooks.com/titles/shane-ryan/the-cup-they-couldnt-lose/9780306874390/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Cup They Couldn&#8217;t Lose</a>, the story of the modern Ryder Cup, which came out on May 10. He lives in Durham, NC, and his writing appears in Golf Digest, Paste Magazine, and elsewhere. Previously, he wrote on Defector about&nbsp;<a href="https://defector.com/online-quiz-league-is-the-future-of-competitive-trivia/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Online Quiz League</a>. He also runs Apocalypse Sports Trivia, which you can join by contacting him on&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/ShaneRyanHere" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Twitter</a>.

Shane Ryan

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Life's Rich Pageant

Online Quiz League Is The Future Of Competitive Trivia

Hallie Lieberman is a historian and journalist. She’s the author of Buzz: A Stimulating History of the Sex Toy, and is currently working on a book on the history of gigolos. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, Vice, and BuzzFeed News, among other publications.

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Hallie Lieberman

Texas Rangers v Los Angeles Dodgers

The Long, Complicated History Of Trevor Bauer’s “Rough Sex” Defense

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History

Ed Hardy Went To Japan And Brought Back A Myth

Damon Young is a writer in Pittsburgh.

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Damon Young

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Book Excerpts That Don't Suck

Thursday Night Hoops

Alex Pareene is a contributing editor at The New Republic and the co-host, with Laura Marsh, of the podcast&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/018-amanda-litman-run-for-something-why-you-cant-see/id1341525125?i=1000444277937" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Politics of Everything</a>.

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Alex Pareene

President-Elect Donald Trump Holds Meetings At His Trump Tower Residence In New York

Funbag

What’s The Point Of Wolf Blitzer?

Jeremy is a Brooklyn-based writer and comedian. He&#8217;s best known for doing Twitter videos with Rajat even though they haven&#8217;t done one in a while.

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Jeremy Levick

Rajat is a Brooklyn-based writer and comedian. He&#8217;s best known for doing Twitter videos with Jeremy even though they haven&#8217;t done one in a while.

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Rajat Suresh

28 Aug 1999:A view of two fans of the Florida State Seminoles who paint their bodies in the school colors for support during the game against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs at the Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahasse, Florida. The Seminoles defeated the Bulldogs 41-7. Mandatory Credit: Scott Halleran /Allsport

Fans

What’s The Most Annoying Type Of Fan?

Dvora Meyers is a freelance journalist based in Brooklyn. She writes about gymnastics and other topics in her newsletter, <a href="https://dvora.substack.com/">Unorthodox Gymnastics.</a>

Dvora Meyers

Russian gymnast Viktoriia Listunova competes at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo

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Gymnastics

The Case Against Sticking The Landing

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The Bleak, Austere, Horny World Of ‘The Piano Teacher’

Patrick Wyman is the host of the Tides of History podcast, which is currently covering prehistory from the dawn of humanity to the Bronze Age. Prior to that, he was the host of the Fall of Rome podcast, which you might remember from Deadspin back in the day, where he also contributed pieces on mixed martial arts. In previous lives, he wrote about MMA for Bleacher Report and the Washington Post, and completed a PhD in History at the University of Southern California.

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Patrick Wyman

A statue of Christopher Columbus in Bogota, Colombia, defaced by protestors, is protected by armed police.

Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus And The Replacement-Level Historical Figure

Gymnastics – Artistic – Olympics: Day 2

Olympics

Tenths Do Matter, Even When You’ve Got Simone Biles

Priyanka Borpujari is an award-winning independent journalist currently based in Tokyo, and has extensively reported from across India, El Salvador, Indonesia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Argentina, and Japan. She has been published in National Geographic, Columbia Journalism Review, CNN, The Guardian, The Boston Globe, News Deeply, Al Jazeera, TRT World, and several others.

Priyanka Borpujari

OLY-1964-TOKYO-OPENING CEREMONY

The 1964 Tokyo Olympics Captured Their Hearts, But They Can’t Find Much To Love About This Summer’s Games

<a href="https://twitter.com/mollylambert" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Molly Lambert</a> is a writer and podcaster in LA. Her podcast Heidi World about Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss comes out later this year.

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Police officers and protestors at a July protest against the Tokyo Olympics.

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The Lies The Olympics Tells About Itself Have Never Rung More False

John Loeppky is a freelance writer and theatre artist currently based in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. His work has appeared for outlets such as FiveThirtyEight, CBC, and Maclean’s.

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John Loeppky

BEIJING - SEPTEMBER 14: Jonathan Hall of Great Britain battles with Brendan Dowler of Australia in the Wheelchair Basketball match between Australia and Great Britain at the National Indoor Stadium during day eight of the 2008 Paralympic Games September 14, 2008 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Jamie McDonald/Getty Images)

Paralympics Day 8 – Wheelchair Basketball

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Where Do Able-Bodied Athletes Belong In Wheelchair Basketball?

Simone Biles after landing a Yurchenko double pike dismount at the GK U.S. Classic.

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Women’s Gymnastics Is Blasting Into The Future, But Its Scoring Code Is Stuck In The Past