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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

Normal Gossip: portraits

Alex Sujong Laughlin

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Risk Week

Everything I Expect From Atlantic City, Based On The ‘Rugrats’ Vacation Episode

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Ray Ratto

A black and white photo of people around a craps table gambling in Las Vegas in 1963

Las Vegas, Craps Gambling Table In 1963

If You Must Gamble, Gamble In Person, Like An Adult

Emily Bice is a Brooklyn-based writer. Her work centers on explorations of how we navigate love and life in the 21st century. These investigations have taken her to a fishmonger, inspired meditations on dating, and even led to rollerblading a marathon. You can find more on her Substack, <a href="https://129waysto.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://129waysto.substack.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1728739707762000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1SlDWyDATtJJ90_yxFN0B1">129 Ways to Get a Life</a>.

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Emily Bice

Emily skates in the final stretch of the marathon

Sportgraf High Res

The Great Outdoors

The View From The Way, Way Back Of The Berlin Inline Skating Marathon

Nicholas Russell is a writer from Las Vegas.

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Nicholas Russell

The new Alchem-E Gold Ex drum set, made by Zildjian.

Drumroll, please: Norwell cymbal maker Zildjian enters the digital age

Life Lessons

Tom-Tom C’est Moi

Michael Rosen is a transportation planner and author of the <a href="https://pitchplots.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://pitchplots.substack.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1725119706246000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3LfT9S-qtmoiPwAXtsicWT">&#8220;Pitch Plots&#8221;</a> Substack. He lives in Los Angeles.

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Michael Rosen

An umpire mediates between two people networking

SABR

Looking For Friends Among Baseball’s Most Passionate Nerds

Owen Lewis is a former Defector intern and co-founded the website <a href="http://popcorntennis.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://popcorntennis.com&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1726234676777000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0PFWw6PL-FUqaCMME5TLqP">popcorntennis.com</a>. He wrote 63,000 words about the Novak Djokovic-Rafael Nadal rivalry that can be accessed for free at <a href="https://thegoldenrivalry.substack.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://thegoldenrivalry.substack.com&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1726234676777000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2OjAHpo4PVIhkx8Xd21lRJ">thegoldenrivalry.substack.com</a>.

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Owen Lewis

Heather Chen is a former Defector intern and the sports editor at the Columbia Daily Spectator. She loves hockey, photography, and the good ol’ state of Michigan.

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Heather Wei-Xi Chen

circa 1955: Two elementary school students complete homework assignments together, the girl has a book, 'Living By God's Law,' next to her on the table.

Religious Ed

Announcements

The Defector Summer Interns Say Farewell

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I Don’t Ever Want My Favorite Things To Change

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Justin Ellis

Bad Bunny performing on stage in Philadelphia in 2022, wearing an outfit with red shorts while sitting on a beach chair while enjoying a beverage.

2022 Made In America – Day 2

Fellas, Our Horrible Climate Future Demands You Wear Short Shorts

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I Hate Running. I Miss Running.

Women sit under hair dryers in a Paris beauty shop, smoking and reading magazines while their hair dries.

Paris Beauty Shop

You Should Cut Your Own Hair

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Kelsey McKinney

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Berry Thief, My Enemy; Berry Thief, My Friend

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Typing

Sabrina Imbler

A young woman in a swimsuit and sun hat poses with a drink at the edge of a pool

Young woman  enjoying a drink at the poolside

The Normal Gossip Summer Guide To Eavesdropping

Columnist. Author of many <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Drew-Magary/e/B001JS8R52/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1">fine works of literature</a>, including Point B. Handsomest man in the world.

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Drew Magary

1956: EXCLUSIVE Full-length image of stunt performers on Muscle Beach, Santa Monica, California. Four men lift four women in the air, all in bathing suits, on the boardwalk stage. (Photo by Gene Lester/Getty Images)

Muscle Beach

Elder Wisdom

IT’S SUMMERTIME, MOTHERFUCKERS

Two men celebrate the July Fourth holiday on the Coney Island boardwalk in New York, one wearing a hot dog costume and the other in red, white and blue overalls.

New York City Fourth Of July Celebrations

Bro Summer Waits For Us All

A woman stands with her cellphone in Grand Central Terminal, the historic world-famous landmark and transportation hub in Midtown Manhattan July 21, 2020 in New York. - The station is the southern terminus of the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem, Hudson and New Haven Lines and ridership has been down during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP) (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)

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Metro-North Is My North Star

End of life petrol and diesel cars and vans are piled on top of one another as they wait to be recycled in a car scrapyard on November 29, 2022 in Glastonbury, England. The UK scraps over one million cars a year and many more petrol and diesel cars will need to be taken off the road if the Government is to reach its target for the number of electric cars to be reached.

End Of Life Vehicles

Mods Asleep

I Will Drive This Fucked-Up Car Until One Of Us Dies

B.D. McClay is an essayist and critic.

B.D. McClay

11 February 2020, Berlin: Bottles of the brand "Coca Cola" are lined up in the cinema Zoo Palast.

Cinema Zoo Palace

I Will Never Abandon My Special Little Drink

1950s 1960s MAN IN STRIPED PAJAMAS SMILING ASLEEP IN BED (Photo by ClassicStock/Getty Images)

1950s 1960s MAN IN STRIPED…

I Love My Jammy-Jams

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Chris Thompson

Gardening

How To Make (Or Possibly Not To Make) A Vegetable Garden

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Barry Petchesky

SHAOYANG, CHINA - FEBRUARY 16: People read books at Songpo bookstore during the Spring Festival holiday on February 16, 2021 in Shaoyang, Hunan Province of China. (Photo by Teng Zhizhong/VCG via Getty Images)

Bookstore In Shaoyang

Buy Yourself A Gift Card

A General view showing a shoe store on August 7, 2022 in Hong Kong, China. Hong Kong residents received Phase 2 of the Consumer Voucher Scheme.

Hong Kong Consumer Voucher Scheme

These Dad Shoes Are Made For Workin’

BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - MARCH 06: A Boxer dog looks out from its kennel on first day of Crufts dog show at the NEC on March 6, 2014 in Birmingham, England. Said to be the largest show of its kind in the world, the annual four-day event, features thousands of dogs, with competitors travelling from countries across the globe to take part. Crufts, which was first held in 1891 and sees thousands of dogs vie for the coveted title of 'Best in Show'. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

Dogs And Owners Gather For 2014 Crufts Dog Show

It Happened To Me: I Thought I Bought People Treats But They Were Dog Treats

Felix Kent

watching football

Why Can’t I Turn Off The Game?

Wooden and iron spoons lie on the table at the folk museum, Kovpakivka village, Mahdalynivka district, Dnipropetrovsk Region, central Ukraine.