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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

The Defector Crewneck Sweatshirt Is Back In Stock

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Merch v3

Normal Gossip: portraits

Alex Sujong Laughlin

Podcaster Alex Cooper poses before a game between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on June 26, 2024

Toronto Blue Jays v Boston Red Sox

Journalismism

For Wondery And SiriusXM, Spending Big Isn’t The Same As Thinking Big

Kareem Maddox of the USA throws during the mens pool play match between Austria and the USA on Day 4 of the FIBA 3x3 World cup at Rathausplatz on June 2, 2023 in Vienna, Austria. (Photo by Andrea Kareth /SEPA.Media /Getty Images)

FIBA 3×3 World Cup

Olympics

How Kareem Maddox Went From Public Radio To The Olympic Stage

Baseball Fans Rooting For Their Teams

The Podcast Industry Has Learned Nothing

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>.

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Owen Lewis

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The ‘Longform’ Podcast Told The Story Of An Industry

A photo showing an ear bud resting on the screen of a smartphone showing the Spotify music app.

Music Apps Illustrations

Capital

If You Love Podcasts, Dump Spotify

AMMAN, JORDAN - 1990: Following Iraq's occupation of Kuwait in August 1990, journalists from CNN waiting for an attack on Iraq by United Nations authorized military coalition force, at the Intercontinental Hotel in Amman, Jordan, on December 15, 1990. Although there were 34 member states of the coalition, the overwhelming majority of the military forces participating were from the United States and the United Kingdom. On January 17, 1991 the coalition launched a massive air campaign which began the general offensive codenamed Operation Desert Storm with more than 1,000 sorties launching per day. The Persian Gulf War ended on February 28, 1991. (Photo by Dario Mitidieri/Getty Images)

CNN journalists waiting for beginning of Gulf War, Jordan

You Never Get The Full Story

Visual Editor. Runs <a href="http://defectorstore.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">defectorstore.com</a>. Philadelphia-based, if you couldn’t tell.

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Dan McQuade

The logo for Wondery's THE LEAD: STARTING FIVE

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Wondery Sports Podcast Now Has An AI Host Named Striker

Jae Towle Vieira [they/them] works as a producer for Normal Gossip. Their fiction has been published in The Normal School, New England Review, Carve Magazine, Passages North, Fairy Tale Review, and elsewhere.

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Jae Towle Vieira

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Podcasts

What Horrors Await In The Weedsgiving Basement?

In Search Of The Momfluencer’s Apprentice

The Secret Family Recipe That Would Not Die

A Whodunit At Junk Science Summer Camp

Gimlet Media co-founder Alex Blumberg speaks at the Ignition: Future of Media conference in New York City, in 2017.

IGNITION: Future of Media

Gimlet Media’s Story Was Always Going To End Like This

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Kelsey McKinney

An illustration of several people, each one passing some juicy gossip on to the next one.

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The Great Watchmaker In The Sky

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David Roth

The Philadelphia Phillies celebrate after dispatching the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS.

Atlanta Braves v. Philadelphia Phillies

Philadelphia Feelies, With Dan McQuade

No Sport Is Quite As Dramatic As Toddler Soccer

Disgraced former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich putting a mask on after getting pardoned for his many obvious crimes.

Former IL Governor Blagojevich Files Suit In Order To Run For State Office Again

podcasts