Colin is joined by Nick Wright, host of “First Things First” on FS1 and the “What’s Wright” podcast, live from the Hard Rock Bet party bus.

They start with the USMNT looking far better than anticipated (4:00), the World Cup being absolutely incredible through the group stage (8:30), and what their expectations are for the USMNT in the knockout stage (12:15). They laud coach Mauricio Pochettino’s aggressive style of play (17:00) note the African nations for being very competitive at the tournament (20:30), look ahead to how the bracket could play out and explain why Bosnia is a must-win game for the US (26:00).

They pivot to the NBA and react to the Heat trading for Giannis (31:45) and the Wolves trading for LaMelo Ball (44:00), preview the Colombia/Portugal game and react to the fans coming to the World Cup falling in love with American culture (58:00).

Finally, they make their predictions for the winner of the World Cup (1:06:00).

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Colin’s top takes of the week.

First, he’s joined by Danny Parkins, host of “First Things First” on FS1.

They start with the World Cup and Colin argues that even non-soccer fans can spot greatness on the soccer field, and that the USMNT has looked great so far, and even though we may not win it… we’ve substantially closed the gap with the world’s best teams (3:30).

Colin points to changes made by Adam Silver leading to a new NBA Finals champion every year and that parity has been better than dynasties for the sport (12:30).

Then, Colin is joined by Mike Mulvihill, President of Insights and Analytics for FOX Sports.

They start with FOX’s process for predicting the TV numbers for the World Cup to advertisers, and Mike explains that the viewership is similar to two full NFL regular seasons and will reach around 150 million viewers (24:30). He also discusses the breakdown between casual and die-hard soccer fans (27:00).

Finally, they discuss the impact of Messi and Ronaldo’s star power (30:30), and dive into the rise of soccer culture in the United States in recent years (33:00).

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Colin is joined by Mike Mulvihill, President of Insights and Analytics for FOX Sports.

They start with FOX’s process for predicting the TV numbers for the World Cup to advertisers, and Mike explains that the viewership is similar to two full NFL regular seasons and will reach around 150 million viewers (3:30). He also discusses the breakdown between casual and die-hard soccer fans (5:30).

They discuss the surprisingly high ratings for some of the lesser known teams (9:30), and what the ceiling for viewership could look like for the USMNT and top flight teams in the later stages of the tournament (12:15).

They talk about the controversial implementation of the hydration breaks and the considerations behind making the change, and the network seeing no drop off in audience after the breaks. (17:30)

They discuss the impact of Messi and Ronaldo’s star power (25:30), the viewership trends between FOX and Telemundo (28:00), and the live event communal experience of World Cup watching (29:30). They dive into the rise of soccer culture in the United States in recent years and the impact of stadium environment on viewership (30:45).

Finally, Colin also argues the World Cup transcends everything else in sports and the unifying nature of fans all over the world enjoying a shared experience (40:00).

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