The Press Box - The American Men's Soccer Bust, Graham Platner’s Media Refuge, and the Return of LeBron’s Free Agent Spotlight

Episode Date: July 7, 2026

Today on The Press Box, Bryan and David recap their experiences watching Team USA’s run at the World Cup come to an end. Then they discuss Politico's story about Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner (14:30). They also talk about LeBron James taking his time with the latest version of "The Decision" (36:50) and the guest list at the Taylor Swift–Travis Kelce wedding (43:14). Plus, the Overworked Twitter Joke of the Week, and David Shoemaker Guesses the Strained-Pun Headline! Hosts: Bryan Curtis and David ShoemakerProducer: Isaiah Blakely Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

David? Yes. We were so excited. America was a soccer country now. We weren't going to lose to any second-rate European nation like Belgium. By the way, before the match last night, how little geopolitical material did the United States have to work with regarding Belgium? People were trying to make waffles.

the thing. It's like, is that all we got? Yeah. There wasn't an AP history Tuesday devoted to U.S. relations with Belgium. Do they actually make Belgian waffles in Belgium? Or is that just a thing we call it, like Chinese checkers? That's a great question. Probably should have been a little pregame research for you and me, but it's over now. I don't care anymore. Where'd you watch match? At my house. Like I've been moving. So like it's just like a TV disconnected from the wall leaning against the wall on in

another room is about the best I can do right now. That would have been a classic place to watch a successful sporting event. And that'll just be like, yeah, remember when we were moving and things were kind of weird and the United States got its clock cleaned in the World Cup? Yep. I was watching on the airplane, which is kind of an interesting place to watch any sporting event. Just, and this sounds like

Tom Friedman talking to taxi drivers, just pure anecdotal evidence, but I want to say that at least half the plane, probably two-thirds of the plane, was not watching USA Belgium, which gives you an idea of just how big soccer has become even in this moment in the United States.

You know how the guy next to you in the airplane is inevitably? You always are worried it's going to be like a really porny, awful thing to be watching in public. And in fact, it turns out he's just watching an action movie that was made some time in the last 15 to 20 years that you can't identify. Like, are they in Iraq? What's going on here? I think that's every airplane ride to me. And I swear, I swear to God, the guy next to me yesterday flying to Boston was watching the nameless action movie that might

have been in Iraq. Yeah. But not soccer. Or sorry, football. Not football. So, Maybe that says something about how excited America was or is about this whole thing. I think they're excited. I mean, listen, you just asked me where did I watch the game, not did you watch the game? I think there's a presumption that people that were watching this thing. Yeah, I mean, this is huge. I mean, it does feel like the U.S. men's national team is following like a very deliberate narrative arc here, right? you just get, and listen, they could have stood to advance past the 16 this year,

but still, like it does feel like the we've watched soccer grow through World Cups in this country. You and I were probably a little bit ahead of the national curve just because we are in New York City, you know, and surrounded by so many diehard soccer fans. But we've watched it grow kind of from that, from, you know, this game is boring too. This is the greatest game ever. And we're all watching it now in a pretty short amount of time, but in a very like functional,

very practical amount of time. Every four years, this gets a little bit bigger. And now, and our team gets a little bit better. And, yeah, it's going to suck when they don't,

like, win the World Cup next time out because I think that's the way to be this narratively is heading. But, but yeah, I mean, it's, it's pretty incredible to watch anything grow in such a

linear way. I don't want to bring back the early 2000s soccer trolling that was so prevalent in places that weren't New York. But David, that match yesterday, that was boring. I'm sorry. It was just boring. I didn't want it to be boring. There was some amazing soccer in this tournament, but that was really boring yesterday.

Let's just come out and say it. That was not the beautiful game. Are you sure? Yeah. I mean, it's, yes, yes. But there's just something so enthralling about the presentation of soccer, right? The sort of feeling that like you're hearing the whole crowd the whole time, like you're hearing like the whoosh of the wind as it passes by the cameras,

you know, like it's, there's just something so immersive about it that is different than any other sport. And I mean, it's sort of the way that like you watch golf if you never watch golf, although it's a little, obviously golf's a little snoozier. But it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, I can watch a bad soccer match. And, you know, sometimes when you're up at 4.30 on a Saturday morning, you do watch a bad soccer or, you know, that soccer match you're not totally infested in. But, um, but yeah, I know, I just think it's, it's, it was a boring game, I guess, compared to other games. But I think that people, figure, once people like, start to understand soccer, even a little bit, it just like, it's, it defies all expectations. I was thinking about what the appeal of this World Cup is for America. And I came up with four reasons. One, the expanded field was incredibly fun. Two, the matches last night accepted have been incredible.

See England, Mexico on Sunday, Cape Verde, Argentina, and on and on and on. We have gotten to see great stars play great soccer, Harry Kane, Erling Holland, and on and on. By the way, do you love the return of that old column Bill Rowan? for page two where he's like, I want to be a soccer fan. Tell me what team to support. I swear to God, I have seen so many people, including our very own Van Laith and just be like, actually, I'm into soccer now. Please help me find a team.

I'm going shopping. It's fun to see that come back around. All right, that's three. And number four was the U.S. had a pulse. The U.S. was at least theoretically a tough out. I'll be interested to see the just level of interest in the World Cup. I think as you say, it'll be pretty substantial because this is a linear progression. People know a little bit more for all the first, all the first three reasons are still intact.

But it'll be interested to see it going forward. And if you watch that match last night, John Strong, who Fox has made the play-by-play guy for every single U.S. match in this tournament. Interesting decision there. Maybe we can revisit that later. But he said this. He said, if you've enjoyed what you're seeing, well, support your local team. this doesn't have to be the last soccer you watch for the next four years.

It's a beautiful sport. Mm-hmm. Which is such a strange plea and seemingly desperate plea to stick at the end of a game that tens of millions of Americans were watching. Yeah. I just thought that was pretty funny.

Yeah, that is true. It's like, it's like when you're leaving a restaurant, you're like, this is surprisingly good. Like, thank you so much. They're just like, please tell all your friends. We're like, we might be at a business. business in a month. If you don't rate us on Yelp, you may not be able to pay the rent.

It really felt so weird. And again, it comes from a good place. I do not root against soccer, but I just thought it was funny. Speaking of newbie soccer fans, Donald Trump, David, has been trying his best to understand what red cards mean. Sorry. I was so sure when this whole story began, I had a visceral, like tangible memory of Donald Trump's shape.

talking soccer. He was one of the early 2000s trolls. Was he? I don't know. I'm asking. That's what I assumed, but I can't find any record of it. Not only that, but according to Fox Sports, he played a year of varsity soccer in high school. So there's a, there's somewhat amount of tradition here. Also, there's a lot of him saying, we got to change our football to a different name because football is soccer, which is a wildly, well, all just like lefty.

but display the space to stake out. True. But yeah, I mean, but I think that, but those might have been after FIFA gave him the piece, the FIFA Peace Prize. So I'm not exactly sure about the, about the timeline there. But yes, Donald Trump,

one would assume would be out on soccer. There is some history between him and soccer. Also, he hates the NFL, you know, various times. So, like, that could be part of it. But, but yeah. So he's, but he's had some trouble with the red card thing. And I think, you know, he really, he decided to get in there. I thought in a very kind of surprising way. He decided to get in there. What the red scare was to Kennedy, the red card is to

Donald Trump. Now, I happen to be at the gym yesterday when he was doing his little press conference. I don't know, do we call that a press conference when he's just standing in the Oval Office surrounded by people and talks at length and forces them to listen to him? It's a, it's an availability. Oh, yeah. Fielding questions that are somewhat unscheduled. If he stays awake, you can call it whatever they want to call it, man. But it was so funny, he was talking about how he had not known what a red card entailed in soccer. He was talking about how he was trying to get it overturned by calling FIFA President Johnny Infantino. And also, he was desperately steering away from pronouncing Phelera and Balagan's name or even saying it at any point.

also he rift on golfing with Harry Kane I don't know if that was public or not but he just kind of threw that in there to demonstrate his newfound soccer fandom that you refer to. But what an absolutely wild thing for the leader of the free world to do to call up the FIFA president

and be like, actually, can you review this thing? It would mean a lot to my country if you could. Can I just say that I think this is maybe the only acceptable use of the president? presidential influence that Trump was engaged in and his now two terms of presidency. This is, I think, a totally, listen, complain about FIvo all you want,

but this is a totally good use of Donald Trump's presidential power, right? Build fucking monuments made out of gold and complain to international sports authorities. Like, that's what I, that, those are things that I think it's okay for Trump to, like, waste his time on. Yeah, very, very bizarre situation and hilarious how big of a deal is.

I am just personally shocked that soccer mattered enough to the country and to the White House for Donald Trump to want to intervene. It's true. It is sort of telling when he's like, I didn't know how this stuff worked when usually he would say a lot of people don't know, you know. And he did say some of that. But like instead of saying, I didn't know, he said a lot of people don't know. no he was just like yeah i was trying to figure out how this shit works it's like it's kind of a basic part of the game you know it's like now do corner kicks you know like whatever um but uh but but yeah but it

what a what an incredible news cycle that was it was and dude i'm i'm i'm right there with you i don't know if i'm going to encourage the president of the united states to get involved and sporting events going forward but i could not work up the liberal outrage for this one It's just like, I realize this is wrong, but I also don't, I really don't care that one. Specifically international sporting events. Yeah. Or you could be like, you don't, you don't like it. Get a better fucking president.

Or like, you don't like it? Get bigger. Get a bigger GDP, motherfuckers. No. But especially international and two, more than anything, when we're dealing with like an just a wildly corrupt organization. Donald Trump's like in the, he's a fucking pig and shit, you know? It's like Donald Trump dealing with Infantino. He's like the exact person we should send in to do that.

Get a bigger GDP motherfuckers as close as you have ever come to sounding like Megan Kelly. That was unbelievable. I'm going to just start wearing that t-shirt around. It's going to be great. Don't you think it appealed to Trump because Trump loves making a call? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. The things you can do with the phone call. Dude, I'm in the process of moving right now.

And when I can accomplish a thing with a phone call, I am so, because I have a million tasks. My to-do list is 500 things long. I call the 180-100 got junk people. They're like, yeah, we'll be there in an hour. It's like, fuck yes. You know, I'm just like so excited. I am powerful.

I feel like I just scored a goal in the World Cup. It's so cool. This is what Trump loves. Making a call is high power, low effort. Yep. I made a call. And then something happened. Mm-hmm.

We can close here. I love this tweet from Simon Cooper of the Financial Times. He's written a number of books about soccer. He was on Twitter. I'm not sure Simon Cooper tweets all that much, but he was back for the World Cup. And he wrote this yesterday. In my job interview at the FT when they hired me in 1994,

I explained I'd just written a book about football and politics. The then editor couldn't see a connection between the two topics. Presumably ironic, he asked. Presumably ironic. Wow. Oh, Donnie Trump showed him, didn't he? Yep, he sure did. All right, David, coming up on the press box before Graham Platner's Senate campaign reached its probable end stage,

he went to friendly media outlets to get out of trouble. We'll also talk about the agony of NBA fans once again being held hostage by another LeBron James decision. Plus, what every press box listener has been waiting for, our take on the Taylor Swift Travis Kelsey Wedding, which somehow included Dean Blandino. All that much more on the press box. A part of the rigor. Podcast Network. Hello, media consumers. It's Brian Curtis. It's David Schumacher. It's producer Isaiah Blakely. David, by the time anybody hears this podcast, Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner will probably not be running for that job anymore.

I don't think we need to record a new top for this one because it seems like he will be out. he's been abandoned by just about all of his political supporters, not to mention his normal on-the-ground supporters there in Maine. The reasoning here is a story in Politico by Jessica Piper and the press box's very own Adam Wren. It was published on Monday. It begins with this sentence. A woman who dated Platner says he forced her to have sex with them nearly five years ago, despite her repeated objections. Platner denies the allegation, calling it categorically untrue. and then his campaign threw some stuff into their denial about out-of-state establishment operatives, et cetera, et cetera.

How political reported this story is interesting? The authors write that they spoke with a man whom the woman dated and confided in years after the alleged incident. Also reviewed documents, emails, messages between her and an acquaintance whom she warned against getting involved with Platner years before he ran for office. If you watched any morning Joe this morning, but Mikka, excuse me, Mika Britsynski was all over that. I almost said Minka Kelly because we sat next door in a restaurant in L.A. the other day.

Nice. Sorry to make that mistake for the one and only time. Platner, as I said. What did she say? What was the morning Joe take? She was pressing Adam Wren about how you get from. allegation that is made into a story published in Politico. Yeah.

And he was going through the steps that I just said. Looking back at things she'd said at the time, looking back at messages, she had sent before Platner became a candidate for Senate or became a politician at all. As I said, he's gotten abandoned by just about all of his supporters, including Elizabeth Warren. Shane Goldmacher, political reporter pro over at the New York Times reported yesterday, that somebody on his campaign staff or somebody sourced close to the process, as we say in NBA reporting,

was saying that Platner was trying to have some influence on the candidate that would replace him, which seems unlikely, though perhaps he might. Plattner is politically sort of an idealist, and I think that it would make total sense that I mean there's a lot about this story that's just sort of oh man I just don't even want to talk you I mean it just whatever but uh but in a vacuum yeah

if you're grand platinum you're getting out of the you know you're being forced out of the race um why not just be like you have to agree to these three platform positions or I'm not getting out of the race be like whatever like that that seems pretty straightforward it's a very short time frame here too for for for Maine Democrats, about a week. I just have two points for you that I want to put before you just to talk about the story. And we'll, of course, talk about it more as it develops here. Number one is it was a little bit fashionable, even a couple of weeks ago to say,

well, all political scandals don't matter anymore. Joel and I even did a segment about that on the last edition of the press box. The idea being that Trump has perpetrated so many terrible things that candidates following in Trump's weight, even if they're Democrats now are being graded on a totally different curve. That's not totally wrong, but it's not totally right either.

Well, I think that the widespread, pronouncements that Grand Platon should get out of the race by the Democrats, by people who had previously supported him, for the people that did not support him, part of this is just the sort of like battle lines were previously drawn within the Democratic Party, and it's just like, like, I don't have any time for the, you know, the previous anti-Platonor forces,

but now maybe they were all right. But the people who were supporting him, I think that you see people who are now denouncing him, that's the Democratic Party trying to hang on to the distinction that you're talking about, the difference between Democrats and Republicans, because I actually think that the scandal argument that you guys made is correct. I think, I mean, Platner can stay in the race. Planner might win the race. even now you're saying that yeah dude i mean i think one of the most troubling things about this is the degree to which like conspiracy theory

the conspiracy theory mindset has now seeped into every corner of of the political sphere right it's just like the number of like ostensible liberals who are just like this is definitely not true this is definitely a plant that whatever that that nancy pelosi has forced you know it's the sleeper cell that nancy a polosey's awoken to take out this but whatever the conspiratorial mindset, it's pretty widespread in all of our politics now. And I don't think it would be hard for him at all. It's just pivot. They're trying to bring me down with all these lies. And you could probably, you know, bring a bunch of swing voters with you.

I think that'd be very hard to do without the Democratic apparatus supporting you. How much the Democratic apparatus was supporting him to this point? But look, look, Joe Biden won Maine. Graham Platner to win Maine needs normie Democrats to vote for him. Yeah, I don't think it would be, I don't think he'd go in, he would win with the numbers, with the polling numbers he's at now. But I just think it's like a non, there's a non zero chance. He could just like, like, basically, I mean, he wouldn't be the same candidate. He would just pivot to like being, you know, to being, you know, to being a Joe Rogan Democrat, you know, and just be like, pretty close to being anyway. No, I'm just saying that like, but like, that's the, it's like, I don't need your establishment. Just like, you know, middle fingers in the air. I'm going to keep going. I don't think it's implausible that he. could win. But I don't think that there's any

path forward for him politically. Like, he would have one term. You know, like, whatever. Or he would be brought down by another scandal along the way. Like, I think there's so many different ways it could go. I just think all of that is to say he does have like a certain amount of like negotiating power here. But I just, but that's, you know, who knows, whether or not anybody anybody agrees with me. I mean, I don't think it really matters. He's going to be gone. I want to try back to a point you made there. a second ago when you talk about conspiracy theories.

Isn't that a legacy of Donald Trump, too? Not just that a scandal-plagued candidate... I'm not sure how much... Yes. Can hang in there, but the scandal-plagged candidate can be like, every scandal is a result of my political enemies? Yes. Did you see when he blamed the freaking wait,

the reflecting pool paint coming up on Obama? And he was literally like, wait for it, Obama. You know, like, and it was like somehow all his fault? Yes. I do think it's a thing, it is a Trump, it is a piece of, of, you know, Trump's legacy. I think it will be, right, you know, it will be part of the Trump chapter in the American history books. Just imagine that, by the way. Like your high school, you reading a chapter about Donald Trump.

Imagine how just negotiated that'll have to be. I know, I know. And all those books come out of Texas, right? I mean, it's going to. Oh, God. Anyway. We will have to hang the book on the wall with that specific chapter open. in Texas classrooms.

But I do think that the conspiracy thing is not just, is not necessarily as much a result of Donald Trump as it is just like coincidental to his time. I mean, I think it's about the internet. I think it's about the way that we engage with the world. I think it's just the way that that isolation, particularly in the COVID

and post-COVID era, just changes the way that our brain chemistry works. I think that we're all, I think that like the people that we pointed at two or three years ago and said, ha, like look at that conspiracy theorist because they spend too much time in the wrong, like, Reddit, you know, Reddit pages or whatever. I think that's all of us now.

I think that that's so many people now that you're just more open to believing nonsense, you know, you're or believing that something's afoot. And I think that that's partly because there's very little, like, establishment. There's very little, there's no baseline anymore, you know, there's no Walter Cronkites anymore that read you the news in a straightforward way. and also just because there's so much more of attention-grabbing clickbaity sort of news that's in our diet whether or not we want it to be. I think that's all true and I think Donald Trump has made it freer and easier to just indulge in that than...

Well, I think it's saying it's made it more of a political reality for sure. You know, like this is a thing that you're allowed to do or that can work. And look, there's a certain mindset in the Democratic Party that's like we should be just doing what Trump is doing, right? Like we're not beating him, so we need to just do it. what he does. So why wouldn't we indulge in this or why wouldn't we, you know, to go down those roads? That's point number one. The second point I just wanted to make was whenever Graham Platner's campaign got into trouble over the last several months, he always went to friendly liberal media outlets

to try to get out of trouble. When those Reddit posts came up, he went to Pod Save America, which gave him a very nice hearing on those. When the first round of newspaper stories about his relationships with women came out last month. He went to Chris Hayes on MS now. I just want to play you how his interview with Chris Hayes start. I just want to say at the start that like, you know, we've had you on before. And I think you and I are both people that in other contexts talk about income into quality and health care and all those issues, which are extremely important. And we devote a lot of time to you on this program. This is not, you know, the thing that we spent a lot of time chasing. But, you know, there's some serious stuff that I want to go through with you. And I think

voters have a right to know about it. And I want to start with what Ms. Now, in fairness, Chris Hayes did a pretty good interview after that opening. He read him the thing. You read him all the charges have been published in newspapers. He pushed him on things that he found unbelievable or answers that he found unsatisfying. That is the cringiest opening I've ever heard. You are Chris Hayes. You do not have to basically apologize to a politician and say, I'm sorry, we're not talking about income inequality today. No, he's not apolly. I mean, he was apologizing

like nominally to Grand Platter. He was apologizing to his audience. He's saying to the real diehards out there, I'm sorry that I have to get mean with the guy that you like right now. But that's part of the job. Dude, so well said. It's so well said, isn't it? And that

leads me to my point, which is that like, you know, I've talked about this many, many times over the years. Often on this podcast, I feel like just the normiest press critic of all time when I'm defending the New York Times. I'm like, no wonder I haven't had as much success as the dirtbag left. I'm the one telling you, hey, the New York Times isn't as evil as you thought. Those journalists aren't. And I feel like I'm often reacting to what people say. But this is one of those instances where normie journalists are just going to handle somebody like

Graham Platner a different way than people who want the Democrats to win or want a please an audience, as you just put it, that desperately wants the Democrats to win. I don't think the press has covered themselves with a whole lot of valor in the Platner story, or at least didn't do it in an especially timely fashion. These are very, very difficult stories. I don't want to celebrate mainstream media here. All I'm saying is that the world has gotten very mixed up. Van Lathen says this all the time.

People think that everyone has the same job. And the Pod Save guys are very good political analysts. Like they have a good show. They have a good podcast. And I think people hear things and they're just like, oh, well, you know, I really want the Democrats to win. I want them to take the Senate. I think Trump is, you know, a national emergency each and every day. I think the only important thing here is that Democrats win and limit him as much as they can for the next couple of years.

That's what they think. And they have found media outlets that have the same marching orders, right? That have the same North Star. but the same time I'm always like, are you sure that when the candidate goes on those that they are getting the kind of grilling the kind of skepticism that they would be getting if they went somewhere else?

You know, and even if you're... And that skepticism, I'm sorry, just to drill down, that skepticism, because I totally agree, but the way that you're saying it, does that skepticism positively affect the candidate because they're prepared now in these uncomfortable situations or is it affect the, or is it more for the voters to get, like, you know, like an actual, like, multifaceted view on someone.

I think number two would be the thing I would be most concerned about personally. But I also think if you are just like, look, I have one job here. The only thing I care about is that Democrats win. A skeptical media is not necessarily a bad thing for you. Yeah. Right? The whole thing of like, all they're doing is trying to tear us down. It's like, are you sure, right?

Like, is that what it is? Because if this story, what if this story had come out like two weeks from now when he couldn't have gotten, when Grand Platner couldn't have gotten off the ballot? And then what would have November have looked like for the Democrats? I just think, again, I think the world is, and I don't begrudge the Ponsave guys. I don't begrudge Chris Hayes, certainly, all that stuff. They do good work. But I just think people think it's all the same thing now.

You know, it's just all the media and they're talking politics. It's like, it's not all the same thing. the I totally agree on that point. People have different jobs. The timeline thing is really interesting because I think all everybody involved in this fiasco would be, would have been much happier on the Democrats. Sorry, I don't mean everybody involved.

I think the Democrats establishment or not would be much happier if this had come out when it was too late to get him off the ballot because then they could have just kept their fingers crossed. Toby got elected and deal with it later, you know, like let him remove himself from office and replace him, you know, like whatever. Oh, man. I don't know. I think just the chaos and the fact more than anything else that suddenly we're all reminded

of the last presidential election where Joe Biden decided to drop out at the 11th hour and like, and let's figure out how to get somebody else in. The most, I've said it before in various conversations, but I swear to God, the, the, the most damaging thing about Biden dropping out was the perception that became fairly widespread. The Democrats don't care about elections, that they don't care about voters, that they're just like, now, we'll just put somebody else at the top of the ticket. We know we've already had the primaries. And I just think that getting that, like you, that's part of, I think, a lot of the motivation in getting him out of the race, too.

I mean, from a practical point, not from a moral one. It's just like, we can't have another fuck up like this. We can't have this perception language. It's fascinating, isn't it? And people pointed this out on Twitter that this is the rerun of what Democrats thought they were going to get in 2024. Where it's like, oh, we have like a primary that lasts a couple of days or a couple of weeks. And we pick a new candidate. It's going to be interesting to see how main Democrats handle that.

While I'm, you know, drawing a silly mustache on Chris Hayes, I do want to do want to give him credit for this because he did come back to this question that I think has hung over the Platter campaign, especially over the last month or so. Here's Hayes asking it near the end of his interview with Platinum. Are there texts of yours, pictures of yours floating around out there, which again, maybe from a time capsule, but people, I think are understandably, a little nervous. Maybe you'll be the nominee, probably be the nominee for the main Senate on Tuesday. And then it's October 10th. And here's a text or picture of Graham Platner that is not the kind of thing that you want to see. Like, are you worried about that? Are there texts like that? I'm not worried about it. I mean, I, one, I, it's interesting, isn't it? And he went on to talk about, you know, hey, I've talked about my past. And this is, you know, I've been very,

open about this, but doesn't it feel like Hayes is circling one very specific nightmare scenario October surprise, which is a picture of Graham Platner? It's like that was what he was expecting there. It is, it seems it felt in retrospect, it feels like he knows what he's, he's referencing something very specific, right? Also telling that the Platner's response, that he asked Plattener, are these pictures, are you worried about that? Do these pick, does something like that exist? And his response was just, I'm not worried about that. Not these pictures don't, or these things don't exist.

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, this whole thing. You know, this news just broke yesterday. There's obviously a lot left to play out. I have the luxury of being able to be a little circumspect, like sitting here in my house, even though we have a podcast and say, like, let this stuff play out. You know, politicians have to go out there

and make an official statement with, you know, barely, with basically zero information. But like, Hayes asks sort of, it's getting to the real question there where it's like, it's not do these things exist. It's like, if these things exist, this is more or less a question more of a proclamation. If you are a man with any sort of,

any of this sort of stuff in your, in your backstory in the closet and whatever, just stay the fuck away from national. political. Like, you're allowed to volunteer. You're allowed to go out and do whatever you want to help affect change. Or you could, you know, I mean, if anything, the Donald Trump, the Donald Trump thing is almost like in wrestling, like the Rick Flair thing is like, you're so, like everyone's opinion of him is so bad that there's no story that can actually cancel him, you know, in terms of just like morality. If you want to run as that sort of candidate, well, that's another conversation, I guess.

And by the way, Planner was kind of trying to be, I mean, he was, he was increasingly in that lane. I mean, this is a different level. This is a different kind of accusation and a different level of story. I don't want to, but he was his whole pitch was like. But if this is true, I mean, and part of the reason I'm being circumspect about it is because, like, if this is all 100% true,

then this is just like death penalty shit for me. Like, I cannot. Like, it's like John Edwards shit, right? It's like you seriously are out there campaigning and like the whole, like, as if you really care about this shit when you know, then what you're doing is like such, damage to the cause for so many years to follow. You know, it's just like, what?

Nobody is that good of a politician. Even Donald Trump. Nobody is good enough, as good a good enough, as good a politician to make that tradeoff worth it. And if Graham Platon started this campaign and with this stuff, and this stuff is true, then like, I could not possibly hate the fucker in anymore. All right, coming up, the decision is back. But first, let's do the overword Twitter joke of the week where we celebrate a gag that was so obvious that all of media Twitter made it at exactly the same time.

Senior nominees at the press box pod where they are always, David, always gratefully received the USA Turkey World Cup match, David, or U.S. Turkey A as we learned to pronounce it. Can we just have like a free, like a freaking like international meeting of some sort of council situation or we just agree on the pronunciations? I think we're at a point of maturity of our country where we can just like establish that like Japan is not the way they say it in Japan. And we should just try a little harder here. Well, what was weird about this is like when that came down and I was like, okay, this is good. I'm ready to I'm ready to pronounce it however you want me to pronounce. I was like, oh, FIFA is recognizing a pronunciation that the New York Times is not. Yeah.

It was just kind of an inconsistency. Anyway, during that match, the cameras caught Edward Norton. chatting with Brad Pitt in the stands. You know where we're going here. It was an overwork Twitter joke to write. Edward Norton was seen talking to himself at the USA Turkey A match. Thanks to numerous press box listeners, including Chester Lemon, or not Chester Lemon, excuse me,

if you think the first rule of overworked Twitter jokes is always send them to the press box. Congrats. You made the overwork Twitter joke of the week. Here we go. Someone's already claiming this is our year. Someone else said that last year. year too. A round of Jameson, ginger, and lime arrives at a table. Smooth enough for kickoff,

smooth enough for extra time. New friends pulling up a stool. Debates about whether that was a handball. Cheers rising like a roar around the room. Because match days are about the shared moments. How did Jameson to your match day lineup? Jameson, it's what you bring. Please enjoy our products responsibly. All right, David, quickly before we go, a little behind the scenes podcasting here. when we do our monthly issues at the press box, sometimes we're trying to get away from the news cycle. We're like, wouldn't it be cool if David and I talked about in cold blood for an hour and Truman Capote?

That would be fun. Sometimes we're trying to anticipate the news cycle. And for the June issue, I'm like, okay, I was talking to Connor Nevins, the wonderful Connor Nevins, and we're thinking, you know, look, LeBron, he's going to have one final decision to make in his NBA career. LeBron, who has kept us, you know, maybe. Rich Paul says maybe more years after this. Who knows?

LeBron, you know, but he's going to get to do it. And we're going to do this one more time. Let's get Brian Winhorst to talk about all of LeBron's decisions. So good. And I was like, that's awesome. Let's do it. I reached out to Wendy. Then a couple things happened.

The NBA finals was amazing. the story was the Nix. The Janus trade started to heat up. We knew that was happening. Kauai going elsewhere started to heat up. Jalen Brown was percolating. And I'm like, oh my God. Are we sure that LeBron's final decision

will be an interesting topic that will actually take up any oxygen in our sports, even at the ringer? But I'm having to make this choice because I feel like I'm about to talk lose Wendy to free agency and I want to make sure we get like an hour of his time and pin him down so we do it. And the show comes out and then I'm like, oh my God, we are back to everybody is hanging on LeBron's everywhere. There's a formality to LeBron's decision making for the first time

in a free, in a LeBron free agency that I can recall, I feel like everybody is totally at peace with his with his tempo, with his lack of, you know, with his lack of decision in the decision. because I think we're all used to it now. Also, he's not the player that he once was, and so his placement doesn't actively shift the balance. Teams aren't holding like half of their salary cap open waiting for his decision, right? So it's a much different situation. I think if they were, even at this age,

people would be more, you know, angsty about LeBron taking forever. Yeah. But there is a huge element that we're all in search. We're all constantly in search of monoculture. And so we got the Reagan Dragons back on HBO. and now we got LeBron's decision. Like, it feels very comfortable. We got Rich Paul with a whiteboard.

That was, that's monoculture. That was maybe the greatest moment in podcasting history. I'm a fan of Game Over just because I like being in the room with those two guys. Like, it's just sort of, you know,

it's like overhearing a bar conversation that's great. But that whiteboard was, that was wild. I mean, the fact. The Maverick stuff was my favorite part. Yeah, all the things about Mavericks, I mean,

about being a Mavericks player that you didn't even, that you never thought about. Yeah, it was very interesting. It was very interesting. By the way, I feel like the Mavericks are not, I don't want LeBron on the Mavs. We're both Mavs fans, listeners.

If I had to guess, my guess would be LeBron's, I mean, going back to Cleveland makes the most sense. But if he's going to, but if that's not what he's going to pick, I think that it's less about, I would probably less about hunting for rings and more about leaving your mark. And I think LeBron being able to say,

I turn to Cooper flag into, Cooper flag for the next 40 years is probably is it is not nothing you know it's probably same thing with anthony day i mean anthony edwards like i don't i think that i think that's going to be part of the calculus that would be fascinating because that feels like two decisions ago remember where he was like scoping out dallas as the upset special i take your point about the monoculture and also i think this is like the one time you're right that nobody's clearing out salary for lebron but also nobody would feel bad about lebron going anywhere oh no one's going to have feelings about him going to your rival or whatever. It's just like it's LeBron. Let him do what he wants. Cleveland would be fun. Miami

would be fun. The team like Philly would be fun. Yeah, it's a very interesting decision in that one. And you know, when I was, it's funny, like you always get off podcasts and every reason, be like, man, I wish I had asked that question. And the question I wish I'd asked Wendy, we were talking about how LeBron sort of created or helped create Wojbomb culture. This idea that one of the best players in NBA history actually changed teams that many times. And it just rewired the way we think about the NBA. The one thing I should have asked him was, did LeBron changing teams, especially Cleveland to Miami, decision number one, did that just make everyone in the sports media

and I think general fandom as well, except that players just have agency? Like the first one was so awful and brutal and the burying the jerseys and all that kind of stuff. And it's just funny to remember, like people thought he didn't have the right to go wherever he wanted. that Cleveland by by winning the lottery

just was somehow going to be LeBron's team forever and the fact that he just did it and then he did it again and went to Clinton and then he went to LA at some point we don't care anymore right nobody's like you know I hate that this guy

we will now I think accept almost anything from a basketball player we're like he wants to hold his team up and make them trade him and dictate his destination where he'll go we're like okay yeah they the players got the power cool yeah I mean I think specifically the holding the team up thing is probably has more to do with the perception maybe it's a subliminal thing but they sort of the general vibe that this is a that this is a broken system

or maybe a corrupt system and that players got to do what they got to do you know to to to to make it work um but yeah I mean I think that in terms of agency I think that that we've come a long way since the first decision the idea that anybody is i mean it is really weird that you got like like how many years between curb flood and the fucking decision but like that's the real that i mean it's that span of time it took everybody for it took that long for people to process it right you look back at some of the biggest trades or like sign-in trades for agency moves and that's really not the way in in NBA history that's not the way this was cast you know nobody was like like when shack went to the lakers it was like why is the league letting the Lakers do this again?

You know, it wasn't about like Shaq wanting to live in L.A. No. Or be a movie star. Yeah. All those kinds of things, right? It was like, yeah, there's just an acceptance. And it,

and you know, sometimes I'll look at this stuff and be like, this is just dumb. Like this is, this is all about transactions now and it's all about someone so's mad and all this stuff. And this is just,

to me, is like, I don't find it like morally repugnant. I just find it kind of boring after a while that that's how you think about basketball. But I think LeBron's helped create that world. Absolutely. I completely agree. I mean, think about the inverse, right?

I mean, the world in which he doesn't do that, the world in which he just plays with Cleveland his whole career because that's what basketball players should do. If he's saying this openly, I think we're in a completely different world right now. Finally, the Taylor Swift-Travs Kelsey Wedding. I just got a text. From?

I won't say who, but it's of a meme. It's a screen grab of a meme that has a picture of Travis Kelsey and Taylor Swift in their, you know, in their wedding formal outfit saying the second most famous wedding at MSG and then below that is a picture that says the most famous wedding at MSG. Can you guess who's in that picture, Brian? Triple agent Stephanie. I saw it. Macho man and Elizabeth, is he? Oh, whoops. Sorry.

People, David, come to this podcast to hear us talk about this. They come for Taylor Swift and Nina Totenberg. Whenever we do a survey, we find that out. I just had one note here. And as the celebrity guests at the Taylor Swift wedding were being unveiled, it felt like there were a ton of Fox Sports people. We assume, or at least I assume, that Carissa Thompson and Aaron Andrews are not only pals with these people, but just.

Fox's ambassadors to Hollywood. They're in that world. Okay. Tom Brady. Okay, super famous guy. Then we got down to Kevin Burkart being at the wedding. God. Just catching Strazier.

I'm a fan of Kevin Burkhart. He lives in L.A. Like I can plausibly get us there, but I'm like, this is the NFC network that did not call a bunch of Travis Kelsey Chiefs games. Yeah. Even though he and Greg Olson,

who was also at the wedding and a magnificent hat that looked like Star Wars character Cadbane. He was at the wedding as well. They did call a couple of Chief Super Bowls. Okay, so maybe we can get there, you know, and there's a lot of people here.

But then we got down to Dean Blandino, who is the ref in the booth or ref in control central for Fox. What was Dean Blandino doing? It's sweating? This is why you don't run out MSG for a wedding. because the guest list is just can be as long as you want it to be.

And once you're inviting, once you're inviting Kevin Burkhardt, then you're just like, well, fuck, we kind of got to invite Dean Blanino. He's going to get an attitude about this whole thing. You know, like, it's just so big. Nobody, dude, nobody cares about Dean Blanino's attitude about it, though. Nobody's like, you know,

Dean Blanino's feelings will be hurt. Like, nobody's ever said that in human history. But also the people who are actively, who are actually making these decisions, which is to say not, Travis Kelsey or Taylor Swift. don't necessarily have the latitude to make that assumption about Dean Blandino for the... So they're like, oh, Fox's number one crew.

Yeah. It's Aaron Andrews on the sidelines. Rinaldi's busy with the World Cup, so he politely declines, presumably. We got Burkhart, we got Brady, we got Olson who used to be in there. Also Dean Blandino. Yeah. Did they go to the truck? Did Richie Zions get an invite?

Alful announcing had the suggestion that maybe Fox is trying to hide. hire Travis Kelsey for his post-playing career TV work, which would make a certain amount of sense because, you know, Howie and Terry aren't getting any younger and he'd obviously be a big get for anybody. Fox loves the K&A list. Yeah, maybe that's true,

but the presence of all these people at the wedding seems sort of beside the point, right? They were going to say yes to this invitation whether or not Fox is courting Travis Kelsey. Why don't, but just is it, was it a business deal generally? Oh, like they've been, they spent a lot of time, in the same rooms together lately or something. Yeah, maybe. Maybe. I mean, that's just that

to me is how you get that deep on the roster. I mean, listen, Adam Sandler was the, was the efficient here. I don't even, I didn't do any research, although I did, the first story I saw said their close friend Adam Sandler. I don't know if this is true. I don't recall seeing either of them at the Mark Twain Prize as a ceremony. This just felt very sad to me. That it's just like a dude who you Probably interacted with three times as a close friend and a celebrity and we'll do the way. I don't know. The wedding guest list is always weird because it is a snapshot of you were in my wedding. I was in your wedding.

It's a snapshot of a time in your life. And there are people that are your really close friends and there are people like, hey, this is my best work friend of the period. Yes. Who made sense and it would have been weird not to invite them. And then maybe you just don't see them that all that much. You know, there's a lot of that in a wedding. Mm-hmm.

But it did, I mean, all three anchors of Good Morning America, They are that close with all three anchors. Not just George Evanopoulos, but also. We kind of like George, we kind of like George Stephanopoulos, but if we invite him, we go to what we invite the other two. It'll be weird. And then, yeah. That's a normal wedding decision then, right?

Yeah. Invite so and so, that'd be fine. But anyway. All right, it's time for David Schuemaker. He gets a straight-bunt headline. Let's do it. Last Tuesday's headline about an Englishman's goals at the Texas-based game of the World Cup, boy, that was an awkward sentence, was the team.

was the Texas Cane Score Massacre. Today's headline, David, comes to us from an alert listener whose name I misplaced. I'm sorry, I'll thank you later. Comes from the Chicago Sun Times. The Cubs beat the Brewers. They won a series against the Brewers, David, whom you might know is the brew crew. Cubs over brew crew. What was the Chicago Sun Times Strain Punt headline?

Cubs. brew crew I feel like you're just handing it to me on a platter and I have no idea what it's I kind of am why don't we go with crew and classic literature so what did we do to the crew

classic literature we like an animal we didn't break them but we it was the what of the crew oh the taming of the crew the taming of the crew is the answer He is David Shoemaker. I'm Brian Curtis.

Prodixie Magic by Isaiah Blakely. Coming up, David, on the press box, it's New York month here. I'm going to be doing a lot of very fun interviews here in New York City where I'm coming to you from a beautiful hotel room at the New York Spotify Studios. We've got some big names.

Really? We have some big names. Some interesting names. Press box, we go for interesting names that are also big names. Do you want today's? Oh, I thought it was all hypothetical. Well, they've been scheduled, David.

It's just, you know, when do we reveal the names? Yeah, okay. What if I told you, a little out of our comfort zone, or at least my comfort zone, the artist known for Sin City and the Dark Night Returns, Frank Miller, is going to be on the press box. No way.

Holy shit, yes, he is. That's unbelievable. I just read it. He has a new memoir out called Push the Wall, which has great stories. about all that stuff. So we're going to talk about creativity. That's so cool.

And Marv. Mm-hmm. Anyway, much number of people coming up from the worlds of journalism. Follow us IG Pressbox Ringer at PressboxWringer, pressbox ringer at pressboxdringer. Pressbox ringer at gmail.com. If you need to email us, David, I will see you next Tuesday in Sin City. With more lukewarm jakes about the media. See you later, Brian.

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