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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.

Defector

Iain Treloar

A man dressed as a devil stands in front of the caravan

Cycling

I Rode The Tour de France Cauliflower

<p>Hassan Abo Qamar is a writer based in Gaza.</p>


Hassan Abo Qamar

Palestinian football fans displaced from their homes, which were destroyed by Israeli military strikes, watch Belgium vs. Egypt on a giant screen at the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza.

Soccer

What It’s Like To Watch The World Cup From Gaza

Corley Miller

Arts And Culture

Left In The Dungeon

<p>Joshua C. Kendall was born in New York City. An award-winning freelance journalist, he has written on history,<br />
politics, biography, health care, and neuroscience for many national magazines and newspapers. He is currently an associate fellow of Yale’s Trumbull College. His previous books include <em>First Dads</em>, <em>The Man Who Made Lists</em>, and <em>The Forgotten Founding Father</em>.</p>


Joshua Kendall

Book Excerpts That Don't Suck

“Awfulness For Decades”: A Short History Of Trump And Doonesbury

<p>Lindsey Adler is a writer based in Brooklyn. She exclusively covered sports for a decade but has other interests, too.</p>


Lindsey Adler

Consider The Sister


<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

USA COACH VELIBOR MILUTINOVIC SALUTES THE CROWD AFTER THEIR 2-1 VICTORY OVER COLOMBIA.

When Team USA Needed To Get World Cup Ready, It Needed Boraball

Nina Mandell

Footwork on the AAI vault during a gymnastics competition. In the corner is the cover image for the book "A Fraction of a Point: A Gymnastics Dynasty on the Line"

How One Ohio High School Built An Unlikely Gymnastics Dynasty

Amy McCarthy

Food

Lesbians And Legalized Gambling Are Vying To Save The American Sports Bar

<p>Hamilton Nolan is a journalist based in New York City. Subscribe to his work at <a href="https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1687350200913000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0naFbUVOe-5ZgtPDtIM3gz">HamiltonNolan.com</a>.</p>


Hamilton Nolan

The Machines

Go Ahead And Use AI. It Will Only Help Me Dominate You.

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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>.</div>
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Stefan Fatsis

A player reacts to a word being ruled invalid

Games

Competitive Scrabble Is A Lexical Shitshow

<p>Patrick Dubuque is a writer and editor at Baseball Prospectus.</p>


Patrick Dubuque

Phillippe Aumont of Team Canada pitches during Game 3 of Pool C between Team Great Britain and Team Canada at Chase Field on Sunday, March 12, 2023 in Phoenix, Arizona.

A Season For Hope

Danny Funt

Journalismism

How Bill Simmons Went All In

<p><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif">Marc Normandin currently writes on baseball’s labor issues and more at </span><a style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif" href="http://marcnormandin.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://marcnormandin.com&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1758998321491000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1ZpjG5RUFwdpapWqR1u4bd">marcnormandin.com</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif">, which you can read for free but support </span><a style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif" href="https://www.patreon.com/marcnormandin">through his Patreon</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif">. His baseball writing has appeared at FOX Sports, SB Nation, Defector, Global Sport Matters, Deadspin, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, Sports on Earth, The Guardian, The Nation, FAIR, and TalkPoverty, and you can read his takes on video games at Retro XP and Endless Mode.</span></p>
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Marc Normandin

ob Nutting of the Pittsburgh Pirates talks with Adam Frazier #26 before the game against the New York Yankees during the home opener at PNC Park on April 4, 2025. He's got weird little sunglasses on. He looks like he's in a disguise somehow.

Why MLB’s Cheapest Teams Are At Least Trying To Seem Like They’re Trying

<div>David Covucci is the editor-in-chief of <a href="https://foiaball.beehiiv.com/p/foiaball-football-for-the-people">FOIAball</a>, a new publication utilizing public records to report on college football.</div>


Dave Covucci

UCLA Bruins quarterback Nico Iamaleava (9) runs onto the field with teammates before the game against Nebraska at the Rose Bowl on November 8, 2025 in Pasadena, California.

Death To The NCAA

How UCLA Used A Friendly Charity To Get Tax-Free NIL Money

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<div class="gmail_default">Ryan Goldberg is an award-winning journalist and author who has written for <i>Texas Monthly</i>, The Intercept, <i>The</i> <i>New York Times</i>, <i>Popular Science</i>, and ProPublica, among many other publications. Some of his best stories ran in the old Deadspin. He lives in Brooklyn, and leads regular walks for the Brooklyn Bird Club. 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=1758917926877000&amp;usg=AOvVaw04lh06uBoaa598nfG5ro-G">ryangoldberg.net</a>.</div>
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Ryan Goldberg

UNITED STATES - 2023/05/31: Close-up of a barred owl (Strix varia), also known as the northern barred owl, or striped owl, in a park in Kirkland, Washington State, United States. (Photo by Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Birdfector

The Owl Code Tearing Apart New York’s Birders

Hot Dog Guys or Loonie Dog Kings Jody Matheson (r) and Ryan Ruston ( l) get welcomed back to the park and looking forward to loonie dogs. This was taken on the day of the Toronto Blue Jays' 2025 home opener.

Catch The Game Like Never Before

DENVER, CO - OCTOBER 27: From right to left Kordell Kills Crow, Gerard Montour and Chuntay Her Many Horses sing and play the drums during their protest outside of Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver, Co on October 27, 2013. The protestors are against what they perceive as the "racist" Washington NFL team, and the name of their mascot the Washington Redskins in Denver, Co on October 27, 2013. (Photo By Helen H. Richardson/ The Denver Post)

The Annotated History Of A Slur

<p>Becky Ferreira is a science reporter based in Ithaca, N.Y. She writes <a href="https://www.404media.co/author/becky/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.404media.co/author/becky/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1740083778769000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3_mk31dNhas5lklZb38a6k">The Abstract</a>, a weekly science column for 404 Media. Her book <em>First Contact</em>, about the search for alien life, <a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/becky-ferreira/first-contact/9781523527755/">is available now.</a></p>


Becky Ferreira

National Astronomy Observatory, Socorro, New Mexico (Photo by: Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Science

A Brief History Of Martian Ruckuses

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred (L) speaks with owner Tom Ricketts of the Chicago Cubs during the 2027 Chicago All-Star Game Announcement before a game between the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Manfred's got shades on.

Rob Manfred’s Two Jobs

Sparty showing the incorrect way to lay on the field

College Football

How College Mascots Conceal Their Identity And Their Ass

<p>Emily Zhou is the author of <em>Girlfriends</em><i>, </i>which won the Publishing Triangle’s Leslie Feinberg Award and was nominated for a Lambda<i>. </i>She edits books at LittlePuss Press and short fiction at <em>Joyland Magazine</em><i>.</i></p>


Emily Zhou

Nerves, Nerves, Nerves

<p><a href="http://pjmaciak.substack.com">Phillip Maciak</a> is the TV critic at <em>The New Republic</em> and the author of <em>Avidly Reads Screen Time</em>. He&#8217;s working on a book about dad culture.</p>


Phillip Maciak

Bills Week

Cultural Capitulation

John Saward

Outfielder Dave Parker #39 of the Pittsburgh Pirates swings and watches the flight of his ball against the Chicago Cubs during a circa 1970's Major League Baseball game at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. Parker played for the Pirates from 1973-83.

Dave Parker’s Great Bounty

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<div>Victoria Zeller is a trans writer born and raised in Buffalo, New York, where she still proudly resides. Her debut novel, <i><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/one-of-the-boys-victoria-zeller/21775251" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://bookshop.org/p/books/one-of-the-boys-victoria-zeller/21775251&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1735306610555000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0sXpgNMmxpIwmIZOFd-Pnw">One of the Boys</a></i>, is out now. Her personal website can be found <a href="http://victoria.monster/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://victoria.monster&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1735306610555000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0PrZ7PkO1IykxAodWoMLI_">here</a>.</div>
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Victoria Zeller

Goal in sunset, at Gärdet Stockholm Sweden

Kicking Practice

Pittsburgh Pirates owner Bob Nutting speaks during the 2024 Pirates Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony before the game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cincinnati Reds at PNC Park on August 24, 2024 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is kind of shrugging and looks like he is wearing a disguise somehow.