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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

Sohini Desai

Politics

Unlike The Defendants, One Of The Prairieland Judges Is Part Of An Organized Cell Of Extremists

charismatic megafauna (they/them)

Sabrina Imbler

KENYA - 2018/08/19: A Reticulated giraffe (Giraffa reticulata) at the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Kenya. (Photo by Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Creaturefector

Gracie The Giraffe Is Back Home. Now Rich Guys Can Buy Her.

Owen Lewis is a former Defector intern and has written for The Guardian, The Second Serve, The Athletic, and other publications.

Owen Lewis

Interviews

Lucas Schaefer Understands The Brutality, Absurdity, And Transcendence Of Boxing

David Roth

A screengrab from Mark Teixeira's website for his congressional run. He's holding out a baseball and grinning and wearing a tight red golf shirt. It looks like an ad for a real estate agency.

Mark Teixeira Is Ready To Do Whatever It Is Congress Guys Have To Do

Kelsey McKinney

Climate

The Floodwaters Are Rising

Brad Balukjian, PhD has chosen two careers—journalist and scientist—which converge on pursuit of the truth. He has been published in Rolling Stone, Smithsonian, National Geographic, and many others. His first book, The Wax Pack: On the Open Road in Search of Baseball’s Afterlife, hit #7 on the LA Times bestseller list and was named one of NPR’s Best Books of 2020. He is a Research Associate at the California Academy of Sciences, and he discovered 17 species of insects (green flash bugs) in Tahiti, one of which he named after Harrison Ford. He lives on the road, where he’s in an open relationship with his VCR.

Brad Balukjian

An image of Tito Santana in the ring during his time in WWF, with the cover of Brad Balukjian's book "The Six Pack" visible at lower left.

Book Excerpts That Don't Suck

Before He Became A Wrestling Legend, Tito Santana Needed A Name

Lauren Theisen

Kevin Von Erich poses at The Iron Claw premiere

Pro Wrestling

‘The Iron Claw’ And The Real Von Erich Story Go Together Like Pizza And Muffins

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

Podcasts

Who Knew Orchids Could Cause This Much Drama?

Laura Wagner

Animals

Say Hello To The Horny Lizard In My Yard

Zillowing Out

A $1.3 Million House To Help Erode The Soul Of A Town

A pedestrian walks on a bridge over a road

On Bridges

Maitreyi Anantharaman

A Covid-19 restriction signs hang outside of H-E-B supermarket on March 3, 2021 in Austin, Texas. The popular Texas supermarket chain will not require customers to wear masks when the statewide mask mandate ends on March 10, 2021.

College Basketball

Texas Lifts Its Mask Mandate Just In Time To Host Some Basketball Tournaments

Samer Kalaf

Team owner Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys talks with the media during a press conference at the Ford Center at The Star on January 08, 2020 in Frisco, Texas.

Jerry Jones Finally Has Something Go His Way

Albert Burneko

Look Man, Sometimes Being A Responsible Dad Means Taking An Impromptu Beach Vacation In The Middle Of A Catastrophe

It’s Always The Same Lie

texas