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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

Enter Our Raffle To Win A Visit And Home-Cooked Meal From Drew Magary

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tip jar sweepstakes


<p>Charles Farrell has spent his professional life moving between music and boxing, with occasional detours. He has managed five world champions, and has played and recorded with many of the musicians he most admires&#8211;Evan Parker and Ornette Coleman among them. Farrell currently resides in the Boston, Massachusetts area.</p>



<p>His new book, <em><a href="https://hamilcarpubs.com/books/lowlife-a-memoir-of-jazz-fight-fixing-and-the-mob/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">(Low)life: A Memoir of Jazz, Fight-Fixing, and The Mob</a></em>, will be published June 29.</p>


Charles Farrell

TOPSHOT - Former world welterweight king Floyd Mayweather (L) and YouTube personality Logan Paul face-off during their weigh-in event in Miami, Florida on June 5, 2021. - Former world welterweight king Floyd Mayweather said May 4, 2021 he will face off against YouTube personality Logan Paul in an exhibition bout at Miami's Hard Rock Stadium on June 6, 2021. (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP) (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)

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Boxing

Clown Vs. Clown

Felix Kent

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 02: Jack Eichel #9 of the Buffalo Sabres stretches in warm-ups prior to the game against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on March 02, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Buffalo Sabres v New York Rangers

Elder Wisdom

How Does Coachspeak Work?

Amos Barshad

Very cool illustration of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.

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Better Hate An Owner

Roman Abramovich Owns A Club He’s Not Even Allowed To Watch

<div class="author-header-content">
<p>Charles P. Pierce is a writer at <em>Esquire</em> and the author of four books, most recently <em>Idiot America</em>, and has been a working journalist since 1976. He lives near Boston with his wife but no longer his three children.</p>
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Charles P. Pierce

Atlanta Braves v Boston Red Sox

All Of A Sudden, The Red Sox Are Too Good To Be Angry With

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Soraya Roberts

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‘Love & Anarchy’ Has Liberated The Rom-Com From Its Neoliberal Shackles

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


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Nicholas Russell

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All The Lessons I Didn’t Learn From Watching ‘Seinfeld’

<p>Marc Normandin currently writes on baseball’s labor issues and more at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.marcnormandin.com/">marcnormandin.com</a>, which you can read for free but&nbsp;<a href="https://www.patreon.com/marcnormandin">support through his Patreon</a>. His baseball writing has appeared at SB Nation, Deadspin, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, Sports on Earth, The Guardian, The Nation, and TalkPoverty.</p>


Marc Normandin

An employee rolls out the new Sony PS5 in Japan.

Video Games

Gaming’s All-Digital-Everything Future Threatens To Erase The Past


<p>Claire Watkins is a musician and writer living in Chicago, IL.</p>


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Claire Watkins

NY/NJ Gotham FC v Portland Thorns: Championship – 2021 NWSL Challenge Cup

Soccer

The Portland Thorns Are Ready To Be The NWSL’s Villains

<p><a href="http://www.ddavisla.com"><span style="font-weight: 400">David Davis</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400"> is the author of <em>Wheels of Courage: How Paralyzed Veterans from World War Invented Wheelchair Sports, Fought for Disability Rights, and Inspired a Nation</em>. A </span><a href="https://sidewinderfilms.org/films/waterman"><span style="font-weight: 400">documentary</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400"> based on his previous book, <em>Waterman: The Life and Times of Duke Kahanamoku</em>, airs on <a href="https://www.pbs.org/video/waterman-duke-ambassador-of-aloha-ot83gi/">PBS’s American Masters series</a> on May 10.</span></p>


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David Davis

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Hockey’s Cold War Was The Summit Of Two Photographers’ Careers

<p>Camille Bromley is a features editor at The Believer and a story editor at the Columbia Journalism Review.</p>


Camille Bromley

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Journalismism

What’s Happening At ‘The Believer’ Is About More Than Just A Zoom Incident

Brandi Brown

Presidential Candidates Hit The Soapbox At The Iowa State Fair

Senators Week

We Must Never Forget That Amy Klobuchar Is A Cowardly State Fair Centrist

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/PykeA">Alan Pyke</a> is a former ThinkProgress Leftist Hack turned former Bernie Sanders 2020 Leftist Flack. His writing <em>has</em> appeared but it goes to another school, in Canada, you wouldn’t know it.</p>


Alan Pyke

A trading card commemorating Donald Trump's widely beloved nickname for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, which apparently was "Sneaky."

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Politics

Finally, Trading Cards Commemorating The Dumbest Year In American History

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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

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History

Torso Murders, An Olympic Sex Scandal, And The Cleveland World’s Fair That Wasn’t

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Defector At The Movies

‘Collective’ Shows Why Newsrooms Will Always Matter More Than Newsletters

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‘The Way Back’ Is Right Where Ben Affleck Belongs

<p>Lia Russell is a freelance labor journalist from San Francisco. More work can be found at <a href="https://liaruss.com/">liaruss.com</a> or on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/liaoffleash">@LiaOffLeash.</a></p>


Lia Russell

DoorDash Raises Estimate For Initial Public Offering

Capital

When Gig Workers Die On The Job, They Die Alone

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Ben Tippett

F1 Grand Prix of Emilia Romagna – Practice

Racing

The Complete Guide To Understanding Formula 1

<p>Paul Kix is an author, entrepreneur, and occasional podcaster. His writing has appeared in places like The New Yorker, GQ, ESPN, and The Wall Street Journal.</p>


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Paul Kix

New York Yankees Workout

Parenting Lessons From An Ill-Advised Trip Into The Yankee Stadium Bleachers

<p>Craig Fehrman is the author of <em><a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Author-in-Chief/Craig-Fehrman/9781476786582">Author in Chief: The Untold Story of Our Presidents and the Books They Wrote</a>.</em> He lives in Bloomington, Indiana.</p>


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Craig Fehrman

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Life Lessons

It Never Ends Like It Should

<div class="gmail_default">Ryan Goldberg is an award-winning freelance journalist who has written for <em>Texas Monthly</em>, Deadspin, Vice, <em>The New York Times</em>, ProPublica and more than a dozen other publications in a long and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/gizmodo-media-group-settles-defamation-lawsuits-led-by-charles-harder-11547852464" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.wsj.com/articles/gizmodo-media-group-settles-defamation-lawsuits-led-by-charles-harder-11547852464&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1617716436060000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGnwX76ZVlHZ9D5IZMiC7g30JoBuA">eventful</a> career. You can find more of his work at <a href="http://ryangoldberg.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://ryangoldberg.net&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1617716436060000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEJr75Dmnzq8LVYtDuTwuDys8LfPw">ryangoldberg.net</a>.</div>
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Ryan Goldberg

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Horse Racing

Is Horse Racing Still Too Big To Fail?

<p><span class="gmail_default">Clover Hope is a Brooklyn-based writer and editor whose book, <em>The Motherlode: 100+ Women Who Made Hip-Hop</em>, is <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Motherlode-100-Women-Made-Hip-Hop/dp/1419742965/ref=sr_1_2?crid=21WE0VERRSUDP&amp;dchild=1&amp;keywords=the+motherlode+book&amp;qid=1611607750&amp;sprefix=the+motherlode%2Caps%2C143&amp;sr=8-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/Motherlode-100-Women-Made-Hip-Hop/dp/1419742965/ref%3Dsr_1_2?crid%3D21WE0VERRSUDP%26dchild%3D1%26keywords%3Dthe%2Bmotherlode%2Bbook%26qid%3D1611607750%26sprefix%3Dthe%2Bmotherlode%252Caps%252C143%26sr%3D8-2&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1617108049959000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE7TvBLSoZqlkMWjsRNNtZItv5dwQ">in stores</a> now. </span></p>
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Clover Hope

Twins pose during the 20th edition of the Fete des Jumeaux (Festival of Twins), a gathering of twins, triplets and quadruplets, in Pleucadeuc, western of France on August 15, 2013. AFP PHOTO / FRED TANNEAU (Photo credit should read FRED TANNEAU/AFP via Getty Images)

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Funbag

How Many Clones Of Yourself Do You Want?

<p>Brandy Jensen lives in New Orleans with her dogs.</p>


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Brandy Jensen

JAPAN-US-ENTERTAINMENT-FILM

Defector Reads A Book

My Year With Jack Reacher

Scammers Santizer

Inside The Chaotic, Quasi-Legal Marketplace For Personal Protective Equipment

<p>Andrea is a journalist and author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Baseballs-Leading-Lady-Manley-Leagues/dp/1250623723" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/Baseballs-Leading-Lady-Manley-Leagues/dp/1250623723&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1616169124789000&amp;usg=AFQjCNENNVrOlqBUsKJ9upT7e4F-Dj_Ycw">Baseball&#8217;s Leading Lady: Effa Manley and the Rise and Fall of the Negro Leagues</a>.</p>


Andrea Williams

Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

Baseball’s Erasure Of Black Managers And Executives Shows Who MLB Believes Is Worthy To Lead

Mil Máscaras finishes Professor Toru Tanaka with a flying body press.

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Pro Wrestling

Pro Wrestling’s Finest Down-And-Dirty Chronicle Is Getting Even Better