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🎤 QUICK START ✍️

📺 Charissa Thompson hinted at more changes possibly on the way at Fox Sports with her Fox NFL Kickoff show.

⛳ YouTube golf star Grant Horvat won’t play in an official PGA Tour event over broadcast rights and not being able to bring his own film crew.

🎙️ Joy Taylor may be out at FS1, but Gilbert Arenas made it clear he’s already wanting to bring her aboard his growing podcast offering.

🚨LEADING OFF 🚨

MLB or ML(not to)B?

This week has felt like the beginning of the end for ESPN’s decades-long relationship with Major League Baseball. With their postseason Wild Card games representing what (for now) will be their final act, the Home Run Derby standing alone on Monday night on the sports calendar could have represented a curtain call moment.

However, if you were expecting any extra pomp and circumstance from ESPN celebrating MLB this week, you were sadly mistaken.

Instead, ESPN has used the week of the All-Star Game to unofficially kick off football season, dedicating much of its daily talk show lineup to America’s new national pastime. Get Up and First Take ignored the derby beforehand on Monday, and there was only a brief recap on Tuesday. Meanwhile, it was Pat McAfee of all people who seemed to be the only prominent ESPN personality to care, as he was on site in Atlanta for the derby.

As for the event itself, baseball fans weren’t thrilled with ESPN’s coverage of the Home Run Derby and their lack of home runs or the presence of Pat McAfee. In spite of that, ratings for the event were slightly up.

So now the attention turns to where MLB goes next with ESPN’s package after the two sides announced a split earlier this year. MLB commish Rob Manfred had signaled that he wanted a deal done by the All-Star Game. But that obviously hasn’t happened. Instead, Manfred signaled “progress” this week while also opening up the possibility that multiple broadcasters could get a share of the ESPN package.

Does that include ESPN coming back to the table? That possibility still exists, but it’s looking more remote than ever. Sunday Night Baseball has performed well this year, but ESPN is showing serious restraint when it comes to live sports rights (see their contentment with letting F1 walk away to Apple).

If NBC or another network makes an offer MLB is happy with, even if it’s dicing up the ESPN rights, Bristol is unlikely to be in the same ballpark with what baseball wants in revenue. And after seeing how the network approached baseball’s signature midseason event this week, it’s more complicated than ever to see their relationship being resurrected.

📣 SOCIAL EXPERIMENT 🌟

You haven’t truly lived until you’ve watched the full ten-minute review of Superman from Mike Francesa, which may be the most relevant and viral movie review we have seen since the days of Siskel & Ebert.

Nicole Briscoe and Ryan Smith channeled the spirit of Charley Steiner with their reaction to the incredible meme offered by Chicago Bulls rookie Noa Essengue after being posterized during Summer League action.

MSNBC’s Morning Joe took a timeout from the histrionics of the political world to have a laugh over home run hero Cal Raleigh’s “Big Dumper” nickname.

🔦 IN THE SPOTLIGHT ☀️

After imploding its daily lineup once again, FS1 is facing a major sliding doors moment as Fox has to seriously consider the future of the decade-old cable channel and whether it’s still worth investing in original content.

🗣️ NOTABLE QUOTABLES 🗣️

"RGIII, tweet another monkey post about my girl Angel Reese, and I'm going to punch you in your f---ing face." - Shaquille O’Neal addressed RGIII’s latest controversy with Angel Reese and made it clear he was not playing games with the former quarterback.

“It used to be a glorious buffet where you could pick and choose what you wanted. Now it’s like a banquet dinner: chicken or fish?” - Trey Wingo on the current state of play at ESPN where Stephen A. Smith and Pat McAfee dominate.

“I think he deserves a lot of credit. Single-handedly, with the changes he’s made the last two or three years to really save our game, he probably belongs in Cooperstown.” - Alex Rodriguez offered EXTREMELY high praise to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred.

🔥THE CLOSER🔥

What to Watch Wednesday

The day after the All-Star Game is traditionally the slowest day on the sports calendar. So if you need some live sports content to quench your thirst and the ESPYs aren’t going to cut it (or you don’t want to “touch grass” as the kids say), then there are still plenty of options to fill your sports-loving cup today.

1) WNBA: Indiana Fever at New York Liberty, 7:30 p.m. ET (CBSSN)

Caitlin Clark is currently one of the biggest draws in all of sports, and the WNBA couldn’t have scheduled it any better than putting her matchup against the defending champion New York Liberty in Madison Square Garden in primetime on CBS Sports Network. If this doesn’t draw the network’s best WNBA audience,e it would be a surprise.

2) Soccer: Italy vs Norway, 3 p.m. ET (Fox)

The Club World Cup may be over, but international women’s soccer is still taking center stage thanks to Fox’s coverage of the UEFA European women’s championship. The first quarterfinal takes place on Wednesday afternoon, with Italy squaring off against Norway.

3) Soccer: Colombia vs Venezuela, 8 p.m. ET (FS1)

Not to be outdone, Fox is also offering coverage of the South American women’s soccer championship with group stage action on FS1 between Colombia and Venezuela.

4) NBA: Summer League Basketball (ESPN/ESPN2)

The ESPN family of networks will air a trio of Summer League games throughout the evening for those of you who are basketball junkies or if you’re the type of person who will willfully bet real money on NFL preseason games.

5) MLS: Inter Miami vs FC Cincinnati, 7:30 p.m. ET (Apple)

And if you’re ready to fork over some subscription dollars if none of those pique your interest, the pick of the lot is Lionel Messi and Inter Miami facing one of their top Eastern Conference MLS rivals in FC Cincinnati. If you already have your League Pass subscription, MLS and Apple offer their sincerest thanks.