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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

Richard Staff is a <a href="https://twitter.com/RichardStaff" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">weapons-grade Twitter goblin</a> and hostage of the Mets. That is his real name.

Richard Staff

An illustration of several baseball mitts trying to catch the same ball

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The Minor League Shrink And The Growing Gap Between Triple-A And The Bigs

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David Roth

Vice co-founders and executives Shane Smith and Suroosh Alvi looking kind of wet at the 20th Webby Awards in 2016.

The 20th Annual Webby Awards – Arrivals

Capital

The Coffee Machine That Explained Vice Media

Boeing CEO David Calhoun speaks during a joint press event with United Airlines at the Boeing manufacturing facility in North Charleston, on December 13, 2022.

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How Will The Golden Age Of “Making It Worse” End?

A screenshot of one of the scammy AI-generated listings on Amazon; the product's name is just the boilerplate apology text created by OpenAI when it's asked to do something it can't do.

AmazonAIChairListing

The Future Of E-Commerce Is A Product Whose Name Is A Boilerplate AI-Generated Apology

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Ray Ratto

A football and helmet set up outside the Pac-12's media days in Las Vegas, which were held just a few weeks before the conference ceased to exist.

2023 Pac-12 Football Media Day

Death To The NCAA

The Market Made A Meal Out Of The Pac-12

Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav attends the premiere of The Flash in Hollywood.

Los Angeles Premiere Of Warner Bros. “The Flash” – Arrivals

They Don’t Want Us And We Don’t Need Them

<a href="https://twitter.com/johnwilmeswords">John Wilmes</a> is a writer and professor in Chicago. His work has appeared in The Ringer, GQ, Chicago Reader, and The New Republic, among other places. He is the author of the novella Jad&#8217;s Dad Milo.

John Wilmes

A Compass Group employee works the hot dog concession at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago.

Cleveland Indians v Chicago White Sox

A Fight Is Brewing In Chicago Between A Multinational Concessions Business And Its Workers

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

NEW YORK, NY - JULY 21: Carlos Watson speaks onstage during OZY FEST 2018 at Rumsey Playfield, Central Park on July 21, 2018 in New York City.

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Media Meltdowns

Ozy Media Is Still A Monumental Bummer

<a href="https://twitter.com/robertfoconnell" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Robert O’Connell</a> is a writer from Kansas living in New York. His work has appeared in Sports Illustrated, The Atlantic, The New York Times, and elsewhere.

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Robert O’Connell

Helmets (and a pair of eclipse glasses) in the dugout of a minor league baseball team in Columbia, SC.

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Minor League Baseball Is Optimized To Exploit

The Free Market