defector-orange-no-empty-space

lede_post_card_default

lede_post_card_stacked

lede_post_card_featured_post

lede_post_card_featured_posts_hero

lede_post_card_featured_posts_sidebar

lede_post_card_highlighted_post

lede_post_card_horizontal_a

lede_post_card_horizontal_c

lede_post_card_related_post

lede_article_featured_16x9

lede_article_featured_3x2

lede_article_featured_flexible

lede_article_content

lede_article_content_wide_width

lede_article_content_full_width

lede_byline_avatar_post_card

lede_byline_avatar_highlight

lede_profile_coral_avatar

lede_logo

lede_logo_banner

lede_logo_footer_banner

lede_logo_simple_header

lede_sponsorship_logo

lede_sponsorship_logo_river_card

lede_sponsorship_homepage_card_logo

lede_sponsorship_homepage_card

Footer Legal

Header - Categories

Header Menu

The last good website.

Topics

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-no-empty-space

Defector

defector-present-wrapping-logo-gift-subscription-250fixed

winter 2023 gift (eyebrow)

The Defector Crewneck Sweatshirt Is Back In Stock

back-in-stock-for-a-limited-time

Merch v3

Image from iOS (36)

Luis Paez-Pumar

A family plays the board game Risk at home

Coronavirus – Living at home

Risk Week

In A Game Of Risk, The Frustration Is The Point

Nick Zarzycki is a Toronto-based writer whose work has appeared in the Washington Post, Deadspin and Toronto Life.

1640213653772

Nick Zarzycki

A wizard dressed in a suit looks upon a fortress on a hill as lightning bolts and dollar bills dot the sky

Games

The Creator Of ‘Magic: The Gathering’ Knows Exactly Where It All Went Wrong

Hoang&#8211;Kim Vu is the co-editor of the Defector Crossword. His puzzles have appeared in multiple venues, including the New York Times, L.A. Times, and USA Today.

image (8)

Hoang-Kim Vu

Three competitors take part in the ACPT final

PXL_20240407_174252605

The World’s Fastest Crossword Solvers Can’t Tell You How To Do This

Stefan Fatsis is the author of <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/word-freak-heartbreak-triumph-genius-and-obsession-in-the-world-of-competitive-scrabblep-layers-stefan-fatsis/11648962">Word Freak</a>, <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/a-few-seconds-of-panic-a-sportswriter-plays-in-the-nfl-stefan-fatsis/7891278">A Few Seconds of Panic</a>, and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wild-Outside-Renegade-Baseball-Heartland/dp/0802712975">Wild and Outside</a>, and is a co-host of Slate’s weekly sports podcast, “<a href="https://slate.com/podcasts/hang-up-and-listen">Hang Up and Listen</a>.” He used to write about sports for the Wall Street Journal and talk about them on NPR. His daughter has a much higher Scrabble rating than he does.

stefan fatsis

Stefan Fatsis

Scrabble World Champion Nigel Richards holds up a trophy and shows the final winning board in London in 2018

World Scrabble Championship

From TED To PERNOCTATED, Scrabble’s Best Player Knows No Limits