Hosted by Unknown Host · 🇺🇸 US · EN · 294 episodes
Established thought leaders with verified media credentials.
Defector's flagship podcast about sports (and movies, and art, and sandwiches, and certain coastal states) from longtime writers Drew Magary and David Roth. Every week, Drew and Roth tackle subjects, both serious and impossibly stupid, with a parade of guests from around the world of sports and media joining in the fun! Roth and Drew also field Funbag questions from Defector readers, answer listener voice mails, and get upset about the number of people who use speakerphone while in a public bathroom stall. This is a show where everything matters, because everyone could use a Distraction. Head to defector.com for more info.
Unknown Host hosts The Distraction: A Defector Podcast, a sports show with 294 episodes published.
Kelsey is here! Drew is not! Alex Sujong Laughlin is also here to discuss the new season of Try Hard , the first episode of which just came out last week. Alex has written some really good and really scathing stuff about
Ray Ratto joins Drew and Roth to talk about two cups, Stanley and World. But first, on a scale of Not Very to Maybe A Little, how happy is Ray for New Yorkers right now? Then, because Drew does not watch nor care about e
Defector’s resident Knicks fan, Giri Nathan, joins Drew and Roth this week! After dropping Game 3, how is Giri feeling about his team? The series seems to hinge on whether or not Victor Wembanyama is dialed in. Why has h
Leander Shaerlaeckens (author of the book The Long Game: U.S. Men's Soccer and Its Savage, Four-Decade Journey to the Top, or Thereabouts ) joins the show for a World Cup preview! We’ll get the skinny on the unique chall
Drew and Roth are joined by David Grann, bestselling author of The Wager , Killers of the Flower Moon , and other precious tomes, and staff writer at The New Yorker ! And, better yet, the Knicks made the finals for the f
Drew and Roth are joined by Ian Livengood, an NYT puzzle editor who works on Pips ( Drew’s true joy ) and the Midi ! Ian shares behind-the-scenes info on how puzzles are constructed, edited, and sent out to solvers. Then
It’s time to get serious about the NBA playoffs, so Drew and Roth welcome fellow Defector and host of Nothing But Respect and Only If You Get Caught Patrick Reford to the show! They start in the West with the Spurs and T
We’re excited to share a preview of a new podcast we think you’d enjoy: No Such Thing No Such Thing is a show where three best friends and journalists settle their dumb arguments — and yours — by actually doing the resea
Defector’s chief hockey officer Lauren Theisen is back! Drew and Roth ask her how it’s possible that the Sabres hadn’t made the playoffs in 14 years. Also, Drew bought a Quinn Hughes jersey while stoned – was that a bad
It’s a classic Drew and Roth solo joint, and they’re finally talking about currently ongoing sports instead of indulging Drew’s NFL fetish. Is there any reason to believe that this Knicks postseason won’t end the exact s
Drew and Roth are joined, for the first time ever, by Aaron Schatz, Chief Analytics Officer at FTN Fantasy, ESPN NFL writer, and founder of Football Outsiders! Football data companies are being screwed over by venture ca
Mike Schur is back, and we’re talking baseball! The MLB has rolled out its automated ball strike challenge system, but how do Mike and Roth feel about it? Will they trash CB Buckner for having six of his six strike calls
Ed Zitron is back on the show, because it’s been too long since he last came on to yell at us about AI. And there’s a lot to yell about! To kick it off, we get the latest on the Big AI Companies, and the seriously unethi
Drew is off frolicking on another continent, so it’s time to talk about baseball! Kelsey is back with Roth to swap their first ballpark stories of the 2026 season. Of course, there’s lots of new things to grab your atten
Emma Baccellieri ( Sports Illustrated ) is back, and with a new book! Drew and Roth ask her about her writing process, and how she worked with co-author Jordan Robinson. Then, they talk Emma’s women’s Sweet Sixteen brack
Happy March Madness! As always, Drew and Roth are joined by Ken Pomeroy of KenPom.com to talk about the men’s bracket. Is Ken’s insight still the gold standard, or are AI rankings coming for his job? Do the top seeds all
Rohan, of NBC News and sandwich fame, is back! He fills Drew and Roth in on his Italian Olympic experience, including, most importantly, his favorite meals. Rohan, like the rest of us, was bowled over by ice dancing, and
Spencer Hall of Channel 6 joins Drew and Roth to talk college football! But first they have to figure out whether college sports as a whole are poised to go extinct, or if that rhetoric is actually just schools fighting
Roth “got stranded by the blizzard,” so Tom Ley, Editor-In-Chief at Defector, is here! Drew and Tom debate whether this was the best winter Olympics in their lifetime, then Tom decides whether each of Adam Silver’s propo
Drew and Roth are joined by comedian, podcaster, and curling professional and expert John Cullen! His new book, Curling Rocks!: Chronicles of the Roaring Game , is out now . They talk all things curling, from Broomgate t
David Grann
Best Seller Author · New York Times
2 appearances on this show
Aaron Schatz
FTNFantasy
1 appearance on this show
Mike Schur
3 appearances on this show
Ed Zitron
journalist, author, curator of Where's Your Ed At and host of the Better Offline podcast · Better Offline
3 appearances on this show
Emma Baccellieri
staff writer at Sports Illustrated · Sports Illustrated
4 appearances on this show
Ken Pomeroy
singer-songwriter · Cherokee Nation
4 appearances on this show
Spencer Hall
2 appearances on this show
Patrick Wyman
Chief of the Virtual Assets Unit · FBI
1 appearance on this show
Arif Hasan
The Athletic
2 appearances on this show
Kalyn Kahler
Senior NFL writer · The Athletic
6 appearances on this show
Peter Brannen
science writer
1 appearance on this show
Stefan Fatsis
author
1 appearance on this show
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The Distraction: A Defector Podcast is hosted by Unknown Host. The show is categorised under sports (society) and has published 294 episodes.
The Distraction: A Defector Podcast has published 294 episodes.
The Distraction: A Defector Podcast regularly covers sports, society, culture. It sits in the sports category, with a society focus.
The Distraction: A Defector Podcast is accessible for guests with genuine sports expertise. A personalised, episode-aware pitch will still outperform a generic one every time.
The Distraction: A Defector Podcast hasn't explicitly signalled guest openness in recent episodes. That doesn't rule out pitching. your hook just needs to be especially compelling and relevant to their recent content.
Episodes of The Distraction: A Defector Podcast average 57 minutes. a focused format where a clear narrative arc and tight preparation matter most.
Our data rates The Distraction: A Defector Podcast's guest bar at 80/100 (Premium tier). Established thought leaders with verified media credentials. Sign in to PitchCentric to see how your own Pod Score compares against this show.
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