This week on Only A Game, the David Beckham experiment: boom or bust? Also, a Tour de France update, and the story of the Veteran’s Cup. It’s a soccer tournament for players over the age of 30, and over 40, 50, 60, 70 and yes, even over 80.

Here’s a list of music featured on Saturday, July 18, 2009. Only A Game’s Senior Producer (and music guru) Gary Waleik comments on his choices.

Bill traveled to Lancaster to witness the Veteran’s Cup, perhaps the only place on earth where an 85-year-old man in gold shorts can compete in a soccer tournament.

The David vs. Goliath sports plot is almost as old as sports itself. The U.S. Olympic hockey team against the mighty players from the Soviet Union, Buster Douglas pitted against heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, and The New York Giants matched up with the undefeated New England Patriots, to name a few. Bill finds that as the second half of the baseball season heads underway, he is rooting for a different type of underdog.

Certain athletes bring baggage with them wherever they go. Ron Artest and Terrell Owens come to mind. In Grant Wahl’s book “The Beckham Experiment,” it is apparent that instead of driveway workouts or fistfights with spectators, David Beckham’s baggage corrupted the infrastructure of an organization.

The Detroit Shock, three times the WNBA Champs, have lost a lot this summer. This week on “Only A Game,” their current story. We’ll also ask “Whither golf in these hard times? Will it whither?” Whether or not it does, we’ll witness bad bowling at the Big Lebowski Fest.

Only A Game’s Charlie Schroeder was in California to cover the Lebowski Fest, where the participants go all out all the time.

Predicting that pitcher Tim Wakefield would make his first All-Star game in 2009, a full 21 years after being drafted as an infielder, would be perhaps the only thing harder than predicting where his fluttering knuckleball will end up. Bill reflects on the career of the longest tenured Red Sox player in his commentary.

This week on “Only A Game,” an Independence Day conversation about an American named Armstrong, bicycling in France. We’ll update the tennis from Jolly England, and we’ll have a fishing story about a Greek. But he’s fishing in New York, and he’s pretty independent.

Here’s a list of music featured on Saturday, July 4, 2009. Only A Game’s Senior Producer (and music guru) Gary Waleik comments on his choices.