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.

Quick recap, so go listen. And thanks for doing so.

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.

Thanks for listening.

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.

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.”

Baseball:

We rant a bit about the Phillies lack of depth and, well, lack of Cliff Lee. Plus, a debate about whether or not Ryan Howard owes it to the fans to be in the Home Run Derby and exactly how ridiculous that event has become. Robinson Cano and Corey Hart? Really?
More soccer stuff later in the week, including a conversation with ESPN’s Bob Ley to preview the World Cup Final.