No One Paid $85 To See the Umpire

We open the show with Nick Kayal, Dawn Stensland, Sean Farash, Phil Almquist, and Jimmy Kelly setting up a packed Tuesday. The crew starts with Team USA’s 4–1 loss to Belgium, fake soccer fandom, Fox and Telemundo coverage, and whether American sports fans really care about soccer once the U.S. is out. The conversation turns into hockey toughness, football toughness, and the jokes around Dawn’s jacket color before Nick sets the table for the Big Take, Graham Platner, Matt Rooney, the cut sheet, and Fight Club. Dawn’s news brings us through the end of the PECO strike, with IBEW Local 614 reaching a tentative deal after a short but historic walkout. We talk about the wage hikes, support for utility workers, and what a real protest looks like when nobody burns anything down. Dawn then moves into the heavy rain and flash flooding that hit Camden County, the BJ’s Wholesale Club roof collapse in Ocean Township, and the criminal charges filed against former Bucknell strength coach Mark Kulbis in the death of freshman football player Calvin “CJ” Dickey Jr. The hour closes with deeply local and national stories. Dawn shares the heartbreaking South Jersey drowning death of three-year-old Elijah Stephen and the family’s choice to donate his organs. We then get into egg price-fixing allegations, New Jersey’s Fair Price Protection Act on personalized grocery pricing, and Phil’s sports report: the Phillies getting crushed by Kansas City, Kyle Schwarber getting tossed, and the U.S. World Cup exit. Nick’s Big Take then hits illegal immigration and housing costs, the Dallas Fed working paper, Scott Jennings on CNN, Patriot Front, the viral Metro photo, and media double standards.