Call of the Day: USMNT, Egypt & The Lesson That Sports Isn’t As Important As Life or Politics

I wanted the headline to read: Call of the Day: USMNT, Egypt & The Lesson That Sports Isn’t Always As Important As Life but opted to take out the word “always” because when faced with actual life and death situations, sports is never as important as that. I’ve long said that sports, ultimately, is a distraction from real life, but there is no distraction from this:

The U.N. human rights chief said on Tuesday she had unconfirmed reports that up to 300 people may have been killed in Egypt’s unrest and called for calm during the day’s protests which could be a “pivotal moment”.

“Casualties have been mounting on a daily basis, with unconfirmed reports suggesting as many as 300 people may have been killed so far, more than 3,000 injured and hundreds arrested,” [United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi] Pillay said in a statement. Her spokesman said that the unconfirmed toll came from non-governmental organisations.

The statement also noted that Tuesday is likely to be a pivotal moment for the conflict-ridden nation, which includes a seriesREAD MORE

News@Noon: Bradley to EPL, Strasburg Quits Chew, KD/Bosh, Media, SAGs, Phil’s Layup & Pujols Math

News@Noon is a collection of links from people we know and like or stories about folks in sports we know and like. It is, and will always be, completely arbitrary. If you have something you want linked, send along.

• The transfer window deadline day has been must see reporting and tweeting and reporting about tweets and tweeting about reporting. Plus, news(!) like USMNT midfielder Michael Bradley making the move, reportedly, to Aston Villa. Many people think Bradley is a prototypical EPL midfielder, and finally he’ll get his chance.

• Last week we linked to Richard Deitsh of SI, tweeting about whether or not he’d be interested in Ombudsing for ESPN. Here’s Deitsch’s take on Don Ohlmeyer’s run with the WWL and other media thoughts — including an interview with Mike Mayock — in his Media Circus column.

• Big League Stew posted a story from the Washington Post about Stephen Strasburg trying to quit chewing tobacco because his former college coach, Tony Gwynn, was diagnosed with parotid cancer. Hopefully high school kids who think it’s cool to dip — baseballREAD MORE

DL499: Here Are Ten (Or Eleven) Of Our Favorite Show Memories

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I always hated when, around the holiday season, my favorite shows would be listed in the TV Guide as *NEW* but wouldn’t be anything more than a damn clip show with five minutes of “new” material only used to transition from one clip to the next.

So, with that, I ask this: what would you do, baby, without us? IT’S A CLIP SHOW!

The difference in our situation, of course, is that we’ve been gaining listeners over the course of the last few years, so you, dear reader, may not have been around to hear Rick Telander talk about running into Jay Mariotti in a sauna, or Ian Eagle tell the story of when Bill Raftery invented the term “Onions,” or when Tony Kornheiser called me a narcissist. (Note: all in the show).

There are hundreds of clips we could have pulled. Some of the notables NOT in the show include: Norman Chad telling us that Kornheiser is dead to him, Annie Duke talking about just getting back from speaking in front ofREAD MORE

DL487: LeBron, NFL v NBA, Ron Santo & Soccer’s Future in a Cupless USA with Jon Tannenwald

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Second show of two today. It would be odd to not have Tannenwald on the show after the World Cup announcement, given how much time he and I talked about this day for the last six months.

Alas, it’s Qatar. We talk about the bid, what this means for the growth of soccer in America and what it might mean for the head of US Soccer, Sunil Gulati. Tannenwald is, to understate, mild-mannered. This is as heated as he gets.

But first, we discuss the passing of Ron Santo before talking about LeBron’s return to Cleveland. Is it just me, or my Philly sensibilities, or did nothing really happen? There was booing, there was a blowout and that’s about it. I actually expected worse, and while it’s good that most Clevelanders handled themselves calmly (there were tweets of inappropriate slurs thrown his way during the game and the TNT online cameras caught at least one fan in the stands trying to goad LeBron into a war of words (or more).

But it allREAD MORE

Making Sense of Russia, Qatar and FIFA with James From Unprofessional Foul

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Look, there’s a lot of soccer to be discussed today. James T of Unprofessional Foul and I try to make sense of Russia and Qatar getting the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids.

James actually called this, so he’s a good person to talk about HOW THE HELL THIS HAPPENED.

There’s a fair amount of talking me off the ledge. With James hailing from Liverpool, we talk about the English bid as well, what this means for them, and what this can…and will…mean for the future of US Soccer.

Mostly, we talk about the logistics of hosting a World Cup in a nation the size of Connecticut and how, per James, that could help FIFA. Fewer people at the event means more watching on TV, and that’s a big part of where FIFA can make their money. So is less more? AHHHHHHHHHHHH.

There’s a lot of that. But it’s not just ranting, and James is a very good, calming influence. Plus he’s British, so he automatically sounds smarter than most of our guests.

There are twoREAD MORE

Russia, Qatar To Host 2018, 2022 World Cups. Yep.

I’m not going to write 1,000 words on this (yet). Russia beat out three traditional soccer nations in England, Spain (with Portugal) and the Netherlands (with Belgium) to host the 2018 World Cup. Russia kinda makes sense, though. It brings the World Cup to Eastern Europe, somewhere it’s never been before. And Russia is huge, with many giant cities capable of hosting such an enormous event.

Conversely, the United States (and Australia and a few Asian countries for what that’s worth) lost 2022 to Qatar.

If I could use my leg, I’d go kick a dog or something. Wait, I like dogs. What do kids hug and take for walks in Qatar?

I’d like to kick a giant barrel of oil right now.

The country has 1.7 million inhabitants and one major city (with a population under one million). Actually, according to the CIA World Factbook, the population estimates in July 2010 was 840,926.

They have one stadium, promising to build stadiums that could be taken apart and shipped to Africa and other actual soccer countries after the tournament isREAD MORE

DL454: Jon Tannenwald of Philly.com on Soccer, Charlie Davies and Phillies, Eagles & Popularity

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Here’s Jon Tannenwald’s line to end our show today:

We forget, sometimes, that Philadelphia is the fourth largest media market in the country. And we forget, sometimes, how much influence…I can have.

That’s fantastic, and for those who don’t know, it speaks to the fact that Tannenwald’s job at Philly.com is to layout the site from 6p-5a. Trapped miners on the front page…that’s him. Phillies get top billing on the sports page over the Eagles? Blame that guy.

Or thank that guy. But either way, he does have a fair amount of power at the regions top news site. We get into the Eagles v. Phillies debate, in which I compare Eagles fans who comment on Philly.com and call into sports talk radio to the Tea Party movement. We also talk about the traffic to philly.com for each team and how people pay more attention to the Phillies next opponent than what the Flyers are doing. The Big Four in town has become the Big Two. So which is the Big One of those two?READ MORE

DL427: Bob Bradley, Mike Wise Reactions, Mariotti, Mad Men, Vacation

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Long shows always beget short recaps. Nick and I discuss more of the Mike Wise situation from a social media construct and try to parse some of the reactions to his original comments and his apology. If you haven’t listened to him on our show yet, please do that first.

We also talk about Around the Horn discussing Jay Mariotti’s situation. Good job by ESPN and the producers of ATH.

Jon Tannenwald of The Goalkeeper then joins the show for a lengthy discussion about Bob Bradley. Is this a situation where he couldn’t get a better job and the U.S. federation couldn’t find a better coach so it’s a marriage of convenience? Or is Bradley actually the best man for the job?

Also, Tannenwald explains how the coach of the USMNT is responsible for far more than just coaching the top team and we spin that into a conversation about how, in theory, the development of kids as young as three years old falls under his oversight. Hey, that’s how other countries doREAD MORE

Call of the Day: Neymar……GOOOOOOOOOOAL

The U.S. men’s national team faced off against a young Brazil squad in front of more than 77,000 fans at The New Meadowlands on Tuesday night. The match was a chance for fans in America to see our national side play against one of the best teams in the world and Brazil’s young strikers surely didn’t disappoint. The USMNT lost 2-0 (more on the game in today’s On the DL conversation with Jon Tannenwald of The Goalkeeper.)

Keep in mind, Neymar — who scored the goal below with his head but is far more lethal with the ball at his feet — is only 18 years old. Pato, who scored the second goal for Brazil, is just 20.

Here’s the international call from SporTV of Neymar’s goal. Sorry, Neymar’s GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL.

Note for sports media wonks: the video feed is from the reverse angle of ESPN2′s coverage, which means that the New Meadowlands has capabilities to install hard cameras on both sides of the field? That’s awesome. Will they use both hard cameras for NFL games? There has toREAD MORE

DL417: Tannenwald on USA-Brazil & The Amazing LeBron Heel Turn

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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.

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,READ MORE