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.

SOCCER TALK:

We go pretty in-depth into the U.S. soccer match with Brazil, but keep it framed within the ESPN telecast. Namely, was Bob Bradley coaching for his job, and were we surprised that ESPN spent the entire telecast talking about if Bob Bradley was coaching for his job. It was a bit surprising, but nicely handled by ESPN, especially Rob Stone who handled the extended pre-game show very well.

To shift gears, Tannenwald was also on the scene recently when a city bus smashed into a local bar. He talks about the story of being an intrepid reporter. I hope he was wearing the proper fedora.

Thanks for listening.

Then, Jon Tannenwald of The Goalkeeper joins the show to talk about the World Cup thus far. We spend most of the time on the USMNT, talking about the merits of Jose Torres and comparing his play to that of a point guard in the Princeton offense. Also, will they win? They have to win.

Thanks for listening. Enjoy the sports this weekend.

First, Jon Tannenwald of Philly.com’s soccer blog The Goalkeeper joins the show to talk about the USMNT following their pre World Cup match against the Czech Republic last night. What did we learn? Who will make the final squad and hop on the plane to South Africa?

We run through the night, the players and take a look at Saturday’s match in Philly where, presumably, the starting 11 will take the field.

Following that, at around the 19 minute mark for those only interested in one of our two topics today (please listen to both), Kevin Kaduk of Yahoo’s Big League Stew joins the show, not to talk baseball, but to talk PUCKS. We run through the recent history of the Blackhawks and talk about bandwagon jumpers this time of year (which I am probably one).

I’ll be honest, I thought we’d talk more trash, but it became a pretty reasonable conversation. Oh, and we do have our bet mayoral bet set up for the Stanley Cup….Eli’s Cheesecake vs. TastyKakes.

Since we have Kaduk on the show, we do spend some time on baseball, talking about the whole Stephen Strasburg situation.

Thanks to Jon and to Kevin. And to you.

Jon and I run down the weekend’s games – a full compliment of storylines so deep that we didn’t even get to the Maryland-MSU game that may have been the best (and worst for some in my family) of the weekend.

We do talk a great deal about Cornell and try to figure out exactly why we didn’t pick them over Temple. We also look forward to the announcing crews for the Regionals. For more on that, and a look back at this weekend’s job – and how Gus Johnson  had the most boring games of anyone – read Press Coverage today at TSB.

SPECULATION STATION:

Tiger Woods did two interviews yesterday. We said we’d talk for five minutes about this and it goes about 14 and change. And I know I said at the start of the segment that I have Tiger fatigue and then spend those 14 and change talking about the topic, but it’s not so much about Tiger as it is about the media covering Tiger. Why would CBS not do the interview, even if it was only limited to five minutes? And why are media people applauding that decision. From an outsider (me) and an insider (Tannenwald) in the media world, we have a pretty frank debate about whether or not putting a shot clock on the interview is fair to a reporter, and if that would be a deal breaker for some.

For a question-by-question breakdown of Tom Rinaldi’s and Kelly Tilghman’s interviews, head over to TSB for Press Coverage. It’s pretty interesting to read them together.

HOUSEKEEPING:

Tannenwald also runs the soccer blog over at Philly.com, so we discuss the resolution to the MLS labor situation. Good that it’s over, and with Jon going to Seattle for the first game — involving our own Philadelphia Union — it’s good that a deal has been agreed upon.

We also briefly touch on the hospitalization of Vin Scully. It’s great that he’s already back to work. Nick should be back tomorrow. Thanks to Jon for filling in and thanks to you for listening. Again, I’M SORRY FOR THINKING THE BIG EAST WAS ANY GOOD.

• In which Nick gets me fired up about local radio hosts thinking Erin Andrews’ wearing skimpy outfits on DWTS is tantamount to getting peeped.

• In which Chris Dobbertean from SB Nation’s Blogging the Bracket talks about his prognostication prowess (or lack there of) when it comes to the field of 65 and their respective seeds.

• In which Dobbertean and I (and later Nick and I) equate the concept of Bracketology to an SAT Prep course, in that he’s not trying to figure out who will win the national title, but rather who will make the field of 65 and where they will be placed.

• In which Nick and I wonder if the selection committee pays attention to the likes of Joe Lunardi when filling out the final bracket and some of the seeding quirks are really a dig at all the Bracket Gurus out there.

• In which Jon Tannenwald of Philly.com’s Soft Pretzel Logic drops the biggest bit of Temple-Cornell knowledge you’ll ever need to know to pick that game.

• In which Tannenwald and I (then Nick and I) discuss what the heck to do with Villanova.

• In which Nick and I look at the week in SAS. Yes, our friendly-neighborhood general columnist is taking on the Temple Owls, with such delights as: “Before one captures glory, he must believe he can do it first. To believe it, he must envision it. And after four years at the helm of Temple, considering the legacy he was handed by the irascible one himself, John Chaney, along with the record and accomplishments of this 2009-10 team, Dunphy can hope for the best all he wants.”

• In which we thank you for listening.