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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

Staff Writer
Find me on Signal @DefectorChris.19

Chris Thompson

Matt Miller does an ESPN pre-draft segment

Media Meltdowns

ESPN’s Matt Miller Investigated For Alleged Consumer Fraud While Recovering From Emergency Arm Amputation

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

Grace Byron

Arts And Culture

Patrick Radden Keefe’s ‘London Falling’ Tries To Separate Fact From Fiction

charismatic megafauna (they/them)

Sabrina Imbler

a screenshot of an email exchange with "Elena Ferrante", which contains six back-and-forth emails out of an exchange of 12

Life's Rich Pageant

What I Learned From My Annoyingly Long Correspondence With “Elena Ferrante”

fake berries called bulbils of the black-bulb yam

Creaturefector

This Week In Delicious Scams; Or, I Yam Not What You Think I Yam

Patrick Redford

Capital

Let Your Buyers Become Your Criers When You Pull The Rug Out From Beneath The Table Of Success

Israel Daramola

Politics

Welcome To The Scam Century

David Roth

Malcolm Gladwell and Carlos Watson speak onstage during OZY Fest 2018 at Rumsey Playfield, Central Park on July 22, 2018 in New York City.

Podcasts

Feeling Like Ozymandias, With Susie Banikarim

Welch, who might soon need to Talk Tuah lawyer

The Hawk Tuah Memecoin Rug Pull Is The Apotheosis Of Bag Culture

Giri Nathan

A screencap of some unhappy Detroit Bridgerton Themed Ball attendees

‘Bridgerton’ Fans Paid Hundreds To Attend Sham Ball Organized By Uncle-Niece Duo

Tom Ley

An AI-generated image from the Willy's Chocolate Experience website promising "Encherining Entertainment"

Scottish Children Fed Meager Servings Of Jelly Beans, Large Helpings Of Disappointment At Willy’s Chocolate Experience

<div>Nate Jackson is a former NFL tight end and author of <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/slow-getting-up-a-story-of-nfl-survival-from-the-bottom-of-the-pile-nate-jackson/6430451?gclid=Cj0KCQjwpc-oBhCGARIsAH6ote9JzWMngZDpSjF2eoL1_JlyPm2QhDfkNgOzqvaB4n9ic0qqUNQ4iCwaAsasEALw_wcB">Slow Getting Up</a>. He lives in Denver.</div>
<div></div>

Nate Jackson

A football is being balanced on top of a syringe and vaccine vial.

My NFL Career Ended With A Needle And A Scam

A hacker is an individual who uses computer skills to overcome a technical problem.

Life Lessons

Here Are Our Stories Of Being Scammed

Albert Burneko

A Bored Ape Yacht Club, uh, ape, whose eyes I have crudely blacked out, with blood running in rivulets from his empty eyesockets.

The Machines

When Blindness Hits A Hundred Bucks A Share, Then Who Will Be Laughing, I Ask You, “Doctor”

Nicholas Russell is a writer from Las Vegas.

Nicholas Russell

Promotional image for Matthew McConaughey's Art Of Livin' event featuring McConaughey, Tony Robbins, Dean Graziosi, and Trent Shelton

The Art (And Commerce) Of Livin’: Five Dazed And Confusing Hours Of Matthew McConaughey’s Self-Help Seminar

Ray Ratto

Fans are seen waving flags inside the stadium as they await the unveiling of new FC Barcelona Head Coach Xavi Hernandez during a press conference at Camp Nou on November 08, 2021 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

Soccer

Barcelona Insists There’s Nothing Weird About Paying A Referee $1.3 Million

ROME, ITALY - MAY 10: Founder and CEO of Binance Changpeng Zhao, commonly known as "CZ", attends the "CZ meets Italy" at Palazzo Brancaccio on May 10, 2022 in Rome, Italy. Changpeng Zhao is the founder and CEO of Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume as of April 2018. (Photo by Antonio Masiello/Getty Images)

Binance Lawyer: Do Not Tickle Me! I’m At The Base Of This Human Pyramid!

You Can Still Get A Stadium Deal By Making Shit Up

A New York Giant wearing a giant silly shell on his helmet

Get A Load Of These Big Dumb Helmet Helmets

This Is Why You Don’t Get Into Bed With An NFL Team

Former world welterweight king Floyd Mayweather speaks on stage during the crypto-currency conference Bitcoin 2021 Convention at the Mana Convention Center in Miami, Florida, on June 4, 2021. (Photo by Marco BELLO / AFP) (Photo by MARCO BELLO/AFP via Getty Images)

Boxing

Floyd Mayweather Is Also The Floyd Mayweather Of Shady Crypto Shit

The Pegulas Asked For Their Handout At Just The Right Time

Kelsey McKinney

A screenshot of Aaron Rodgers and Shailene Woodley at Disney World. They are both wearing masks.