The Distraction: A Defector Podcast

It’s just Drew and Roth in this episode, but I think it captures what it’s like living in America right now. In the first half, they process all of The Stuff that’s been going on in the country. And in the second half, they talk baseball and the All-Star game, along with some Funbag questions. A microcosm of modern life, you know? Do you want to hear your question answered on the pod? Well, give u...

Chief Sandwich Correspondant Rohan Nadkarni joins Drew to actually explain how the NBA’s CBA apron actually works. Is it making everything worse? or is all we have to talk about Bronny James so we’re keying in on it? And in the second half, Rohan delivers secret Pennsylvania buffet intel and they dive into the Funbag, answering real questions from real listeners. Do you want to hear your question...

Chief Comrade of Defector Ray Ratto joins Roth to get really esoteric with it. We’re asking the tough questions: What’s the deal with the city of Edmonton? How did everyone not die in the late 1970s and early 80s? What do you call a run forced in by cheating? And how much semi-legal sticky stuff is too much sticky stuff for the MLB? And as always, they dive into the Funbag, answering real question...

It’s summertime and you know what that means? Drew and Roth are hanging loose, chilling out, and wondering if the flags at the beach are related to Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s wife. In the first half of the episode, they’re wrapping up an NBA season of wondering if the Celtics are good and kicking off NFL QB contract dicsussion now that the NBA season is over. And in the second half, it’s...

Godmother of Defector Megan Greenwell joins Drew and Roth to talk about how private equity is pervasive and bad. Also pervasive and bad are the Athletics baseball team, which they discuss in the second half of the show. But it’s not just doom and economic gloom, because this episode also has loud farts, emo cows, tight doughnuts, and Zoomers using LinkedIn. And as always, they dive into the Funbag...

Defector’s own Ray Ratto joins Drew and Roth to dive into the 2024 NBA Finals! Is Kyrie good enough at basketball to forgive all the weird things he said in the past? Are the Celtics the greatest team of the 21st century, actually bad and will lose in the finals, or maybe somewhere in between? And in the second half of the show, they hit on the media melting down about the WNBA, what the fuck is h...

It’s time for the Annual Defector Staff Meeting, so Drew and Roth are recording a guestless ep a little ahead of time. And guestless ep means a wide breadth of topics: toothpaste talk, butter talk, consideration of the future of Defector, wrestling with the goal of Defector being the #1 website, summertime body talk, wondering if Current Age Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez can get it, and sleep pod...

Variety’s Stephen Rodrick joins Drew and Roth to talk about his most recent profile of director Paul Schreder. As Stephen is one of the premier profile writers of our time, there are a lot of parallels to draw: this Schreder profile to the one in The Canyons era; what it is like writing profiles in 2024 as compared to 20-year-old Rudy Giuliani article; and the alcoholic similarities between his Jo...

Defector’s own Maitreyi Anantharaman joins Drew and Roth to preview the WNBA season! Which team (other than the Fever) should we be excited about? Which team will be meh? What does it mean to “as soon as we can get planes in place?” But Maitreyi has other areas of expertise, including not dying at Detroit Tigers games and rooting for the Vancouver Canucks, so she’ll talk about that too. And as alw...

Drew and Roth are chopping it up without a guest, so it’s a hearty stuff of whatever is on their minds right now: the SF real estate market, stories about LA, and inside jokes about their marriages. And the second half is diving into the Funbag, answering real questions from real listeners. I am not going to tell you where the mashup is, you’ll have to be surprised by that. Do you want to hear you...

*Stefon voice* This podcast episode with Rohan has everything: media speculation, Sports Illustrated tea, Michael Jordan comparisons, LeBron James speculation, salads, sandwiches, goaltending, and a fake ad that is definetely not real but feels like a real ad. And as always, they dive into the Funbag, answering real questions from real listeners. Do you want to hear your question answered on the p...

The Athletic’s Alex Lewis joins Drew and Roth! The first half they wrestle with the rational idea that trading back for more picks is the best draft strategy. What percent crazy are you for wanting your team to trade up for the first draft picks or is it just human nature? In the second half, they apply that theory to practice by discussing what teams are going to trade up, trade back, or stay at...

Defector’s own Patrick Redford joins Drew and Roth to for a Hater’s Guiiiide to the NBA Playoffs! Which team in the East should you root for even as the Boston Celtics are inevitable like the heat death of the universe? Which teams in the West signify how weird their owner has gotten? And which team are the Sacramento Kings who are great and will never disappoint Patrick? And as always, they dive...

Executive producer of Harley Quinn and Abbott Elementary Justin Halpern returns to Drew and Roth now that baseball season has started and we know the Padres and Mets are already blowing it. In the first half, they discuss how betting isn’t just ruining the lives of folks risking all their money on over-unders, it’s ruining sports media as a whole. And in the second half, Justin recalls his college...

Defector’s own Ray Ratto joins Drew and Roth to preview the MLB season! Which teams are good? which are bad? and which teams are anonymous enough that you and your goomar can enjoy a game together? Halfway through, they take a pit stop to discuss women’s college basketball and unpack what happens when WBB stars can make more money staying in school than going to the pros. And as always, they dive...

It’s everything you ever wanted: Drew and Roth fucking around and talking about whatever. The first half is all about Drew’s vacation, foggy ol’ London town, and college reminiscing. And the second half is all Funbag questions, real questions from real listeners! Do you want to hear your question answered on the pod? Well, give us a call at 909-726-3720. That is 909-PANERA-0! Credits - Hosts: Drew...

College basketball metrics analyst Ken Pomeroy makes his triumphant annual to the Distraction to preview this year’s March Madness! Drew, Roth and Ken make their Final Four picks, give the all-important UPSET SPECIAL, and show what teams are min-maxing offense and defense. And they nicely explain to Roth why Wagner, although in the tournament, is mathematically dogwater. And as always, they dive i...

Defector’s own Kathryn Xu join Drew and Roth to break down the hottest free agency market we’ve ever seen: K-Pop groups. They also glean insight from Kathryn’s specialties that are rare for the show: F1 drama, hot pot drama, and what young people are doing these days. And as always, Roth shares a specific detail about Trump that has pushed out precious memories in his mind palace and they dive int...

We’re back! We’re back! with Rohan Nadkarni as he joins Drew and Roth to throw water all over the Boston Celtics. They read the tea leaves of the back half of the NBA season to see who is falling or surging to the playoffs. And they loft the media story of Caitlin Clark out there to see if any of the three of them will zag on it… the answer will surprise you. And as always, there is Sandwich Talk...

Ed Zitrion (host of the podcast Better Offline and proprietor of the Where’s Your Ed At newsletter) joins Drew and Roth to break down the Apple Vision Pro. Continuing the running theme of the last few episodes, why does this feel like an unfinished product that a company has pushed out the door to maximize profit? And Ed weighs in on if it possible to communicate that its not bad business to run a...

Drew has activated vacation mode so it is a no-guest streak on The Distraction. They start with ski talk and injury talk, and I promise these are unrelated stories. But Nike and Fanatics doing such a terrible job with baseball jerseys leads to a discussion the flattening, joylessless, and enshittification of so much of modern products. Then they give advice to 7th graders about how to make good po...

Drew and Roth are snowed in together, so they’re doing they’re favorite snow day activity: podcasting. Now that football season is over, they’re getting into the weird stuff: Darren Rovell going one-on-one with Kristaps Porzingas, wrestling with the idea that Biden can be president but maybe not drive, and why can’t companies just create a good product and make money that way. And they dive into t...

Purple Insider’s own Matthew Coller joins Drew and Roth from the Super Bowl! You can feel the energy of standing at an activation sponsored by one of the best paper towel brands out there. They preview the Big Game and answer the immortal question: is the NFL going analytics woke? And in the back half of the show, they answer a whole lot of Funbag questions from real listeners, both voicemail and...

Senior editor for The Athletic and co-host of the Shutdown Fullcast Jason Kirk joins Drew and Roth to talk about his debut novel Hell Is a World Without You . Jason describes his relationship with his Evangelical upbringing and how he expressed it, writing the book that he wanted someone to hand him, and the Christan versions of every single band. But first, they recap the championship games and p...

Drew and Roth are by themselves today, and they do what they do best. They’re breaking down the shuttering of Sports Illustrated as only two writers who experienced something similar can, and they’re balancing the overcoming and succumbing to tragedy that was the Divisional round of the NFL playoffs. But first, we have very specific stories about traveling to Austria, Barcelona, and Arizona. And a...