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

DL497: Talking FIFA Bribes, Blatter’s Anti-Gay Remarks & Other Conspiratorial Debates

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Drexel beat Louisville. Jon Tannenwald and I talk about that.

Mostly, though, we cover the two huge stories surrounding FIFA and head honcho Sepp Blatter. First, the rumor put out on Twitter by Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter that FIFA officials were paid $10 million for their votes. Here are a few of his tweets:

Soccer scandal: Brits, U.S. (Including Bill Clinton) wasted time going to Zurich to win World Cup. Fix was in for Qatar!!

Soccer scandal cont: Press in FIFA nations shld probe how FIFA members spend their new $10 million apiece. Qatar bribed way to victory.

I didn’t read about $10 mil apiece soccer bribes. I heard it from very well-placed source. Hope Twitter can flush out more

Um…wow.

This isn’t just some crackpot Twitterer. This is a respected Newsweek journalist. So why the hell isn’t Newsweek doing this investigation? Why would Alter put it out on Twitter and then ask us to “flush out more.” What the hell is that? Is that what journalism has become?

Besides, even if it’s true, who can police it?READ MORE

What The Simpsons Monorail Episode Can Teach Us About FIFA & The IOC

In one of the many conversations this week trying to wrap my brain around the fact that FIFA awarded the World Cup to both Russia and Qatar — on the heels of an event in South Africa and in the midst of Brazil feverishly trying to stay on schedule for the 2014 World Cup — I came to the realization that FIFA, and the International Olympic Committee for that matter — are a lot like Lyle Lanley.

Who is Lyle Lanley? Well he’s sold monorails to Brockway, Ogdenville and North Haverbrook, and by gum it put them on the map.

Can’t you just hear Sepp Blatter making the mule with a spinning wheel joke? “You know a town with money…”

The context came during my conversation with James from Unprofessional Foul, in which we tried to figure out why FIFA insists on awarding the tournament to countries without a proper infrastructure to handle the number of games, and tourists. FIFA awarded 2018 to Russia over established European powerhouses like England and Spain who both have the stadiums (orREAD 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

DL483: WikiLeaks In A Sports Context, Dexter Theories, The Undrainable Knee

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The doctor couldn’t drain my knee because it has coagulated. They tried three times. I have a Frankenknee.

Nick and I try to figure out if this WikiLeaks story can be put into a sports context. Then I mention soccer.

Then we talk about Dexter.

Thanks for listening, and we hope the topics of today’s show pertain to your interests. Especially the knee thing.

DL458: Cliff Lee, AJ Burnett, Cole Hamels, Wayne Rooney, Sepp Blatter, Dexter Morgan & Don Draper

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The show starts like this:

Me: “The world belongs to Clifton Pfieffer Lee.”

Nick: (groaning sound).

It’s not that we don’t like Lee, and that we aren’t grateful for his time in Philadelphia, but we both have a serious case of Lee Fatigue, so much so that we’ve been rooting FOR the Yankees. Seriously, this is for no other reason than the Phillies fans hammering home how terrible it was to let Lee go. The man has done nothing wrong, but other fans have ruined him for us. It’s an odd feeling, but we don’t think we’re alone.

We preview the games today, including the crazy idea that AJ Burnett still might pitch game four and if Joe Girardi’s name swirling around the Cubs job may have something to do with his decision. There really is no pressure on Girardi right now, so maybe he does go with Burnett. Crazy.

SPECULATION STATION, SOCCER EDITION:

Jon Tannenwald from Philly.com’s The Goalkeeper joins the show to talk about Americans invading the EPL and if the English fans will everREAD MORE

DL401: World Cup Finale, LeBron’s Continued PR Disaster & More Ranty Goodness

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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.

Thanks for listening.

DL400: A World Cup Conversation with ESPN’s Bob Ley

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This is the 400th episode of our little show. In that time we’ve probably done…carry the one…close to 200 interviews, including conversations with some really big names. But for a show that considers itself a sports media show, there are very few people in our industry who garner the universal respect and esteem as Bob Ley.

Considering Ley is anchoring ESPN’s fantastic coverage of the World Cup that culminates in the finale this weekend, it is my incredible pleasure to have the opportunity to talk with him, especially for one of the episodes that ends in 00. Those do feel more like milestone moments, even if it is just one more show than yesterday.

We discuss, at great length, the World Cup to this point and spend a lot of time focusing on the production by ESPN. Ley shares some insight to the interaction between those on the set — and the fortune of having analysts from USA, England and South Africa along with Spain, Germany and the Netherlands.

We discuss some ofREAD MORE