u/DefectorMedia

Defector writer Kelsey McKinney reviews Phoebe Bridgers' The Lost Tour: "Bridgers often sings the way a person prays: her voice soft, almost a whisper, a tugging plea for help. Part of what has made Bridgers a defining star of her generation is that her songs embrace a world in which things are hard and feel bad. Often, her songs are stuck in the miserable, terrible present. At her best, her work is laden with sorrow, open to misery, and full of the recklessness you can only reach for in the worst moment of your life."

Here's a blog post about Tom Dundon's ongoing dispute with the Portland City Council and whether Sheel Tyle, who's been promoted as the enthusiastic local face of the Blazers ownership group, is living up to his reputation as an advocate for the city's interests.

"Dundon's title is "controlling governor," and he is the face of the team's new ownership group, which bought the Trail Blazers in March 2026. But he is not the all-powerful franchise owner, the way we tend to think about sports owners. In order to purchase the team from the Allen family, Dundon had to pull together a team of investors and pool their resources, and as a consequence of that arrangement there are only so many things he can do unilaterally. Defector spoke last week with a Blazers source familiar with the ownership group's decision-making process and was told that on the matter of, say, relocation, there would be a vote of governors, and in that process Dundon's vote would count the same as anyone else's. Dundon puts a Darth Vader-y countenance on decisions made by this group of governors, but he is not absolutely empowered to dish vengeance on the city for opposing him too strenuously in arena negotiations. For that, he would need the support of at least two of his four fellow co-owners.

"That is probably encouraging to Blazers fans, especially because there is another guy out there, with the job title of "alternate governor," who is putting a different kind of face on the new ownership group. His name is Sheel Tyle, and in a profile in The Athletic published back in early April, when the ink on the team's bill of sale had not yet dried, Tyle is depicted as a happy-go-lucky, hoops-loving, regular-type Joe, who lives in Portland and is friends with Damian Lillard. Better yet, he is described in the profile as a "local Blazers co-owner" and as "one of the only Oregonians to own a share of the team," one whose "local presence" will "give Portland a voice" if Dundon ever broaches the topic of relocation.

"Back in April, the profile read as a mildly annoying puff piece written by a journalist allowing himself to become overly enamored with a member of the ownership class just because he's young and seems normal. Now, months into Dundon's rhetorical campaign against Blazers fans and the city of Portland, it naturally raises some questions about what Tyle has been up to this whole time."

Tom Dundon Isn't Acting Alone on defector.com

Defector writer Patrick Redford reports on the unprecedented temperatures at the Tour this year.

An interview with LeeAnne Hutchison, who also teaches at Defenders Academy.

Defector writer/Knicks fan Giri Nathan talked to longtime NBA photographer Nathaniel S. Butler about his artfully stage-lit photos at MSG from Game 1 of the Sixers series.