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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

Leander Schaerlaeckens is a long-time soccer writer, currently contributing to The Guardian and elsewhere. He is the author of <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/722130/the-long-game-by-leander-schaerlaeckens/">The Long Game: U.S. Men&#8217;s Soccer and its Savage, Four-Decade Journey to the Top, or Thereabouts</a>. He teaches journalism and sports communication at Marist University. He will cover his fourth World Cup in 2026.

A photo of the author Leander Schaerlaeckens taken by Asha Fuller.

Leander Schaerlaeckens

U.S. President Donald Trump reacts next to FIFA President Gianni Infantino after presenting the FIFA World Cup Winner's Trophy to Spain in the World Cup Final. Trump's kind of leaning like there's a very heavy wind.

Soccer

FIFA Got What It Came For

David Roth

Arizona Wildcats players pour confetti on the head coach Tommy Lloyd after winning the Big 12 Tournament championship game between the Houston Cougars and the Arizona Wildcats on March 14, 2026.

College Basketball

There Is No Resting State Of March Madness

Justin Agu #13 of the Louisville Cardinals catches the ball against the Toledo Rockets during the first half of the 2025 Bush's Boca Raton Bowl of Beans at Flagler Credit Union Stadium on December 23, 2025.

Podcasts

Imagining The End Of College Sports, With Spencer Hall

Marc Normandin currently writes on baseball’s labor issues and more at <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>, which you can read for free but support <a style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif" href="https://www.patreon.com/marcnormandin">through his Patreon</a>. 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.
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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

A Toys R Us store that was shuttered in 2018 is seen on June 21, 2019 in Orlando, Florida. The company was bought and destroyed by private equity.

Interviews

Megan Greenwell On Living Under And Outside Of Private Equity, The Invasive Species Eating American Life

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

Dan McQuade was a founding member of Defector. He died in January 2026.

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.

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.

Robert O’Connell

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