DL417: Tannenwald on USA-Brazil & The Amazing LeBron Heel Turn
Jon Tannenwald of Philly.com’s soccer blog The Goalkeeper joins the show to talk about USA-Brazil. But first…
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.
Nick and I talk about , Dom Brown’s debut, the and what that means from a PR perspective (and how to fix that if you’re ESPN) and other stuff, including a little on the shakeup at ABC and how TV has changed in the last five years and some talk of the MLS All-Star Game.
Quick recap, so go listen. And thanks for doing so.
We talk a lot about the World Cup final, which saw Spain defeate the Netherlands in, let’s face it, a dreadful match. But it was a pretty fantastic tournament.
There were some highlights, but the Dutch had a gameplan that included fouling Spain as often as they could. It did not make for great soccer.
We then talk about LeBron’s continued PR disaster and get off on about six or seven rants. It’s a ranty show.
Click to listen.
The first of two shows today. Nick and I talk about LeBron’s rumors and whether or not the people — namely show guest Stephen A. Smith — were right in reporting that LeBron was going to Miami. So many things have happened since that report, but if he ends up going, does that make the report correct and thereby confirmed, or nothing more than coincidental?
The analogy that I use is that of a math problem. If you get the answer right, but your work is wrong and you just happened to end up with the right end result, does that mean you were right at all? If 2 plus 2 is 4 and you got 4 as your answer but did so by adding 3 and 1, were you right? Maybe I’m over-thinking it.
Nick also talks about the AT&T this weekend and his brush with Tiger Woods at the 10th tee. People are in awe of the man. Tiger, not Nick. Well, Nick’s pretty good too.
Thanks for listening. Check the next show out for our World Cup recap and finale preview with Jon Tannenwald of The Goalkeeper.
We discuss the unavoidable: LeBron’s personal signing day.
Specifically, we discuss the news that ESPN will have an hour-long special. It’s a great get by the WWL, even if the hour is going to be completely and utterly ridiculous. My suggestion is that LeBron should name a team without cap space for him and give them an hour on live TV to make room. That would be great TV. Nick thinks it should be like a wrestling PPV…Oh my gawd that’s Chris Bosh’s music!
Either way, it’s ridiculous. But should we expect anything less from “King James.”