Jon Tannenwald of Philly.com’s soccer blog The Goalkeeper joins the show to talk about USA-Brazil. But first…WHAT IS LEBRON JAMES THINKING?

Don’t think for one min that I haven’t been taking mental notes of everyone taking shots at me this summer. And I mean everyone!

Is this, before our eyes, a real-life heel turn? We mentioned this before with regards to Tiger Woods. He’s made enough money, so why not go heel and try something new. At the very least, he can be himself and wouldn’t feel beholden to corporate interests. And, think about how many people love the villains (see: nWo) so the endorsements may be just as lucrative as a bad guy.

This, it seems, is LeBron’s marketing strategy. It’s fantastic. Or, if he’s not trying to do this, it’s a continuation of one of the worst summers in the history of public relations.

We start the show talking about the great races in MLB, specifically the fact that with 50 games to go five of the six division races are within two games. The next few months — even with football starting — should provide some compelling (and attention grabbing) baseball.

Will we get a Game 163 again this year? Can you imagine the AL Central without one at this point? And what will happen with all the rain outs that will turn late-season off days into extra days of travel and baseball.

We also talk about Jason Heyward’s birthday homer (more on that later today at Press Coverage).

SPECULATION STATION

We play a game of “Do you believe” to discuss if we believe Woody Johnson when he says he doesn’t expect Darrelle Revis will play this season. THIS SEASON?!@?

The headline basically says it all.

We talk about the Hall of Fame. We talk about Bill Leavy’s admission to the Seahawks that he may have had a few bad calls in the Super Bowl FIVE YEARS AGO.

TALKING BASEBALL

We talk about Derek Jeter’s hits and how despite being the most prolific Yankee of all time, he’s still 39th in MLB history and doesn’t yet have 2,900 hits, let alone the magic 3,000. What does this latest “record” mean for baseball? Nothing, other than the Yankees had great teams in their history, but never a player who had 3,000 hits. That’s about it.

We also talk about Brandon Morrow’s near no-hitter to go back to our conversation from a few weeks ago asking if you root for the no-hitter or for it to be broken up. Evan Longoria did just that with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, taking a no-no away from the Blue Jays hurler. It would have been the THIRD time the Rays were no-hit THIS YEAR (add in the one Matt Garza threw and that’s a lot of no-hitters to be involved in) which is pretty amazing for any team, let alone a team fighting for a division title.

HOUSEKEEPING

Nick brings up Barack Obama’s celebrity pick-up game with LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, et al that the President had for wounded troops to mention the fact that the media was not allowed in. Did not allowing the media inside make the story more interesting to the media, and thus create more coverage from an event that you were trying to not have covered?

On that note, we briefly discuss if the First Family is living two lives — one of governance and one of celebrity. They seem great at the celebrity, but is that hurting the other role? Or could anyone be successful right now in the other role?

Somehow this turns into a conversation about Obama hanging out with LeBron and how you can be famous, but not all that well liked by those in America. That leads to a conversation about how Brett Favre should be hanging out with George Bush, and they should play in some kind of pickup game against Obama and LeBron. They have to be the four people in America we like/hate the most right now. It just seems right to get them on some kind of field or court together.

Speaking of not liking those who represent your country, some very prominent English soccer players got booed on their home soil in this weekend to their World Cup failures. Would that happen in America? Do we care enough about any international competition? Landon Donovan and Bob Bradley did the talk show circuit after the World Cup and they were knocked out in the same round as the English team. Should our expectations be higher, or is booing those who represent your country bad form?

Ah, the nether regions.

We talk about Daulerio/Sterger/Favre and get back into the whole BLOG ETHICS discussion with regard to Deadspin.

Further down, we talk about Lance Armstrong getting dimed out by anyone to ever ride a bike. The NYT reports that Floyd Landis claims Amrstrong’s team SOLD BIKES to buy drugs.How amazing is that?!

Then, at the bottom of the nether region…or is it the top…we talk about A-Rod.

We do our best to avoid letting the show get hijacked.

Instead we have a lengthy (and rather unexpected) debate — fine, not really a fight as the headline indicates, but whatever — about when is and isn’t the right time to throw at the other team. And, as was the case in the Red Sox/Indians game last night, is it okay to throw at the other team more than once if you miss the first time?

We also ask the question of who fans would rather have owning their team — the Hall of Fame player (who has done a good job running the team so far) or the dynamic local owner of another team that you know will do everything to win?

We talk about the Albert Haynesworth situation and how every media member is now trying to pass Mike Shanahan’s fitness test. The most recent is Mike Golic, who didn’t actually pass the test, despite ESPN giving him credit for doing so.

Not only did Mike Greenberg call out “one minute eleven” when Golic passed the line on the first run — a second late on the 70 second mark — before they decided he had actually crossed the line at “one minute ten” you can CLEARLY see that Golic isn’t exactly getting to the cone before he makes his turn.

Total cheater, but what do you expect from someone who went to Notre Dame. (We kid because it’s fun).

Nick and I also talk about Ozzie Guillen’s comments comparing the treatment of Latin players to Asian players, and how the ChiSox have handled the situation as well. Oddly enough, we think it’s not only great that Ozzie speaks his mind, but great that MLB can then come out and defend its record when challenged by one of its own managers. A PR win all the way around, we feel.

We touch on the whole Whitlock situation that Daulerio wrote about at Deadspin, as well as Joe Paterno being 150 years old and still coaching. Has it gotten to the point that his own assistants are using negative recruiting to get them players? It has to be.

Thanks for listening. If you try this conditioning test, please don’t cheat.

What do Lindsay Lohan, Mel Gibson, Ben Roethlisberger, Jeff Pearlman, Deadspin and the giant weekend feud between Phillies bloggers and traditional media all have in common?

You’d be amazed, but they all (somewhat seamlessly) fit into our first segment.

For a point of reference, read this piece at SI from Pearlman. It’s a launching point into a conversation about how much is too much to remain a fan of someone famous.

With celebrities, the gossip is the game and the other stuff (actual movies/TV and other things that actors do) is secondary. Sure, you can make a ton of money doing a movie, but you’re not going to get on the cover of any magazines unless you show up drunk somewhere or adopt 50 kids or, yes, go to jail. But how much is too much?

Is Mel Gibson a bigger star this month than last, or did he go too far and is his career over?

And how does this translate to sports, where the game is the most important thing and the gossip is superfluous? Is Pearlman right that we shouldn’t root for Big Ben anymore? If you believe all the allegations, then yes, he’s probably right.

But why do we have morality when we root for our teams but not when we watch the celebrity fish bowl? We can’t stop paying attention to – and in a way, by continuing to perpetuate her fame, rooting for – Lindsay Lohan, so how can we be expected to be any different when it’s an athlete.

And, parenthetically, is Roethlisberger a monster like Pearlman claims, or is he just really, really dumb and entitled? If he’s a monster, didn’t we create him?

To pile on a bit, read this about the whole LeBron thing from Pearlman where he basically rips ESPN.com’s Rob King to shreds while talking about journalistic ethics, yet basically gives Daulerio credit for something he didn’t even write (note: not the first time Deadspin was credited with having something on this LeBron story that they didn’t have first.)

• We also talk about a report that Shaq may be looking at Europe, Rafael Marquez coming to MLS (and the Red Bulls) and Tim Tebow as a cult figure in Denver already.

Thanks for listening.