The U.S. Department of Education this week formally withdrew updates made during the Joe Biden presidency to the federal law banning discrimination in education based on sex. Specifically, the…

The Drake Maye Crisis, now seven weeks long stretching back to last season’s playoffs, shows no signs of abating. His performance against the Jaguars in Week 3 was his worst yet, and he has now…

“Here are the main things you need to know about the Resident Evil games,” I explained to my friend Liz over the nonsense of the Digger trailer. “There’s a big outbreak of some kind of mutagenic…

After Friday’s unofficial reports that Manchester City had been found guilty on almost all of the 115 charges of financial rule breaching, it was only a matter of time before the true breadth of…

Every manager understands the prime directive of postseason baseball, which is, “Whatever you do, it’s wrong. We’ll let you know when.” Don Mattingly knows this, having danced the dance for nearly a…

What does the perfect Indiana Fever game look like? Corner any member of the organization to demand an answer to that question, and they would probably describe something like Tuesday’s 99-89 victory…

Let me take you Behind the Blog™ for a moment. The Defector staff is currently assembled in a top-secret location, and a bunch of us were crammed into Lauren’s room to watch the end of Yankees–Red Sox...

Let me take you Behind the Blog™ for a moment. The Defector staff is currently assembled in a top-secret location, and a bunch of us were crammed into Lauren’s room to watch the end of Yankees–Red…

You ever need something so badly it scares you to say it aloud, just because the universe might smell that stench of desperation about you and smite your ass back into the existential garbage time…

Does it still feel a little too early for hockey? Well, too bad! The NHL has expanded to an 84-game schedule, so we’re getting September hockey that counts in the standings, and you’re about to get…

Time for your weekly edition of the Defector Funbag. Got something on your mind? Email the Funbag. You can also read Drew over at SFGATE, and buy Drew’s books while you’re at it. Today, we’re talking ...

For nearly six years, I have been fascinated by the case of the Spine Collector. The publishing world came to the collective realization a few years before the pandemic that a thief was aggressively…

You ever need something so badly it scares you to say it aloud, just because the universe might smell that stench of desperation about you and smite your ass back into the existential garbage time you...

I can’t think of a time in my life when the idea of a Muslim terrorist was not the most acceptable societal enemy. As someone who came of age in the wake of 9/11 and the invasions of both Iraq and Afg...

I can’t think of a time in my life when the idea of a Muslim terrorist was not the most acceptable societal enemy. As someone who came of age in the wake of 9/11 and the invasions of both Iraq and…

For a guy who has spent most of his career as a backup, Case Keenum suddenly has a decent collection of signature wins. OK, maybe “collection” isn’t quite right, but as we sit here this morning we…

In each week of the NFL season so far, Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair has worn eye black that bears the name of a Palestinian child slain during Israel’s genocide in Gaza. When he did it…

Does it still feel a little too early for hockey? Well, too bad! The NHL has expanded to an 84-game schedule, so we’re getting September hockey that counts in the standings, and you’re about to get…

You ever need something so badly it scares you to say it aloud, just because the universe might smell that stench of desperation about you and smite your ass back into the existential garbage time you...

It was many WNBA news cycles ago—but not that many human years ago!—that the league’s central power struggle was shaping up to be one between A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart. Since Wilson was drafted ...

Inside the hundred-meter mark, after 273.3 kilometers of racing, Brandon McNulty looked back one last time to see the chasing pack behind him sprinting it out for silver. He banged on his handlebars, ...

Call ‘em the Badwill Games. Ireland scored three early goals and cruised to a 3-0 win over Israel in the first of two matches between the teams that have already made everybody go ewwwwww.  The game, ...

You ever need something so badly it scares you to say it aloud, just because the universe might smell that stench of desperation about you and smite your ass back into the existential garbage time you...

Progress in the NFL is not linear, past success doesn’t guarantee future success, regression to the mean is normal and expected—all of the cliches in the world can’t possibly rationalize whatever the ...

It’s time to wrap up the month with a challenging themeless. Keep an eye out for tricky clues and fun wordplay. This puzzle was constructed by Zachary Edward-Brown, and edited by Hoang-Kim Vu. Zach is...

Pitchers are a kooky breed: superstitious, hypercompetitive, quite often a little bit nuts. It’s a personality type that shares a lot with kickers and goalies in other sports. The common threads?…

It is October-y enough to be October, even though October is still days away, which means it’s time to find out how many of you weirdos can hold a grudge that isn’t yours to hold. The Houston Astros,…

The phrase “road playoff game” can have a variety of meanings depending on the circumstances, and the one that Paige Bueckers and her Dallas Wings teammates stepped into on Sunday night was about as…

Sisi is a Volvo Ocean 65 racing sailboat. She is fast as hell and built for sickos. She is not a comfortable luxury yacht, I assure you. Sisi is a frightening, angry, 72-foot, 12-ton sea monster. …

It takes an open mind to engage with China Miéville’s work. A writer for whom the already cliched phrase “genre-bending” is even more banal, Miéville has never opposed the designation of genre…

When Amon Ra St. Brown scored a second-quarter touchdown today against the New York Jets, he did not simply drop the ball in the end zone and walk off the field without acknowledging any teammates, th...

There is a possibility that Austin Romaine will be a fine professional football player, make boatloads of money more than whatever he is taking in as a linebacker at Texas Tech, and maybe get drafted ...

When I called up my grandfather Irwin Miller last fall, I asked him if he felt his age. “Uh, no, probably 94,” he said, laughing as he shaved off three years. “The body feels 97, the head doesn’t,…

Drew Magary’s Thursday Afternoon NFL Dick Joke Jamboroo runs every Thursday at Defector during the NFL season. Got something you wanna contribute? Email the Roo. You can also read Drew over at…

Stephen Curry has proven himself yet again to be an enemy of the proletariat and an implacable foe of the Third American Dream. And this time, the cost to him and his burgeoning empire was a mere $20,...

Have a seat and solve our Monday crossword. This week’s puzzle was constructed by Hanh Huynh and edited by Hoang-Kim Vu. Hanh is a bankruptcy attorney who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., with his wife and…

PHILADELPHIA — The Benham Brothers think they are very funny and very smart. They are 50-year-old tall, blonde, identical twins who have a series of scripted jokes that mostly amount to calling each o...

The 2026 WNBA playoffs begin on Sunday, following the league’s longest-ever regular season, one in which it felt like any team could win on any given night. (Except the Connecticut Sun.) As an…

The second project is probably always the hardest. This is especially true if it follows a successful debut. You make something great, and by some act of the gods it catches fire and becomes the new,…

At midnight, Taylor Swift released a four-song update to her latest album, The Life of a Showgirl, which came out last October and had the cultural impact of a Sketchers sneaker drop. Despite juicing…

Sofia rises early to drive from Brooklyn to the Manhattan production office where she works as a location scout. She’s tasked with finding spots in which to film an upcoming television pilot: a few…

Welcome to the Defector College Football Watch Guide, where Israel Daramola and Ray Ratto will tell you which of the weekend’s college football games are worth giving a crap about. Ray: In case you…

After Ed Sheeran went through all that trouble to appease New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, he’ll end up not playing at his stadium anyway. The musician’s shows, scheduled for Friday and…

Sofia rises early to drive from Brooklyn to the Manhattan production office where she works as a location scout. She’s tasked with finding spots in which to film an upcoming television pilot: a few ap...

There will probably be some voters who give the National League Most Valuable Player ballot a hard look and pore over all the possibilities, or just vote for Shohei Ohtani out of pure reflex. Which…

After Ed Sheeran went through all that trouble to appease New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, he’ll end up not playing at his stadium anyway. The musician’s shows, scheduled for Friday and…

Sofia rises early to drive from Brooklyn to the Manhattan production office where she works as a location scout. She’s tasked with finding spots in which to film an upcoming television pilot: a few…

Welcome to the Defector College Football Watch Guide, where Israel Daramola and Ray Ratto will tell you which of the weekend’s college football games are worth giving a crap about. Ray: In case you…