"In my heart of hearts, I believe the best use of everybody's time on the internet is to treat very stupid things very seriously. This piece raises that to the second power: It takes an urban legend that was already about seriousness within stupidity, and applies investigative rigor to find the satisfying, definitive truth. A perfect capital-B Blog. - Barry Petchesky"
"Our insane pal Kalyn Kahler wrote some of my favorite Defector blogs when she worked here, like her feature on how NFL teams scout referees and her investigation into nepotism in NFL coaching. But I will always treasure Kalyn's lone foray into baseblogging: her dogged quest to confirm a rumor she heard about an MLB star who paid his teammates to get vaccinated. It's got gossip, uncooperative PR guys, and a Ritz-Carlton stakeout. The fact that we flew Kalyn to [REDACTED CITY] so she could sniff around [REDACTED TEAM]'s Triple-A affiliate for leads makes me very proud to work here. - Maitreyi Anantharaman"
"There are hundreds of blogs on Defector since "After the Sacred Landslide" by David Roth that have looked at something awful in this world, called it awful, and contextualized why it was awful. But because "After the Sacred Landslide" was one of the first that I remember to do this kind of pointing, it stays with me. Though it is a miserable beat, Roth's ability to write about how Donald Trump does things, without falling into the smarmy bullshit so many politics writers get mired in, will always amaze me. I come back to this piece over and over again for inspiration, and to remember that there's always value in just describing the bad shit that'"
Highlighted entries demonstrate a range of reporting approaches: rigorous investigation that debunks an urban legend with definitive findings; obsessive sports reporting that pursues a rumor about an MLB star paying teammates to get vaccinated, featuring gossip, uncooperative PR, and on-the-ground stakeouts; and political coverage that names and contextualizes harmful actions while avoiding smarmy commentary. The pieces underscore the value of treating absurd or trivial topics seriously, combining curiosity, persistence, and moral clarity across sports and political reporting to deliver satisfying, definitive narratives.
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