The Distraction: A Defector Podcast

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 into the Funbag, answering real que...

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 baseball experience to figure out ...

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 into the Funbag, answering real que...

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 Magary & David Roth

- Producer: Eric S...

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 into the Funbag for real questions f...

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 into the Funbag for real questions fro...

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 and they dive into the Funbag for r...

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 humane workplace. And, as always, ...

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 podcasts and dive into the Funbag, wi...

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 the Funbag, with real questions from...

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 written in!

Do you want to hear you...

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 promise to be very regular and normal...

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 as always, let’s dive into the Funba...

Defector’s own Ray Ratto joins Drew and Roth to look back on NFL’s Super Wild Card Weekend, both the teams that looked terrible that lost and the teams that looked killer for winning. And they break down the new coaches, the fired coaches, and if the coaching openings are even good. We will be directing you to The New York Post too, but it’s for a very good and Giants-y reason. And as always, let’s dive into the Funbag!

Stuff We Tal...

Our first guest of 2024 needs no introduction: Sports Illustrated’s Rohan Nadkarni joins Drew and Roth to preview the NFL playoffs. But along the way, we’re keeping Rohan’s New Years Eve malady secret for viral marketing, examining how much of a Philly dude Bradley Cooper is, trying to keep Roth from being fully assassinated by Aaron Rodgers’ strike team, and wondering how good the food is at this viral Detroit food truck. And as a...

Happy 2024, listeners. Here’s to another year with more Distractions. We’re giving you the classics on this two-man episode: leading off with Drew vomiting and how weird are the fans of the teams in the college football finals. Then our favorite football guys are truly being their best self at the turn of the year: Dan Campbell going for two many times in a row, the Broncos performing publicly ridiculous management malpractice, and...

The podcast title is referencing Final Fantasy, so you know that Defector’s own Dan McQuade is joining Drew and Roth. They’re talking about how bad the Eagles are, how bad Jalen Hurts is, and which PS1 games fit which NFL teams. In the second half, they wonder if any team would take Draymond Green, and by team they mean wrestling organization. And as always, we get some voicemail Funbag questions.

This is our last episode of the yea...

Drew and Roth drill down on the most important story in sports right now: is Tommy DeVito’s agent proof that we’re living in a simulation? Because it’s just too on the nose. But first, Roth unspools the effects of Shohei Ohtani’s signing, on the current baseball picture and the sport as a whole. And we’re a little late on it, but we need to go through the incredibly ridiculous stories about Sean McDermott, because there’s more than...

The Simpsons executive producer and co-showrunner Matt Selman joins Drew and Roth to talk about something only he knows: the food at SoFi Stadium. But seriously, Matt explains what it’s like making the historic cartoon in 2023, how necessary it is to have silly people together in the same room, and how to make jokes for people who’ve been watching the show for decades. In the back half, they hit the weirdness of the college footbal...