We've Found the Next Brian Urlacher: Luke Kuechly

Luke Kuechly has all the makings of being the next great middle linebacker. (Credits: Nell Redmond/AP Photo)

We in sports often, and all too often, look to find a successor for all of our great players. We're doing it right now with LeBron James and Michael Jordan. Sidney Crosby and Wayne Gretzky. Matt Kemp and Ken Griffey Jr. Patrick Willis and Ray Lewis. All those comparisons are realistic in theory, but only in theory. Sports change from generation to generation and it's really hard to compare players 20 years apart, no matter how similar their statistics might be. Different from making direct comparisons, however, we can predict players that may assume the rule of "Best player in league X or in position Y." Luke Kuechly is really starting to remind me of Brian Urlacher, very much so actually.

Urlacher was seen as a contrasting version of Ray Lewis. Lewis was a do-it-all middle linebacker whose playmaking abilities made it seem as he could play outside linebacker. Urlacher was as pure middle linebacker as it came. As a tackle machine, it became quite clear from his Defensive Rookie of the Year campaign that he'd become a bonafide leader for the Bears for a long time. Don't sleep on his playmaking abilities though as he finished with 22 INTs, 11 forced fumbles, 15 fumble recoveries and 3 total defensive TDs in 11 full NFL seasons (missed half of '04 and almost all of '09 with injuries). Although Urlacher's statistics are quite impressive, it was his leadership qualities that separated him from most. He led a top-5-or-better scoring defense in five of his 11 seasons and led the Bears to only their second Super Bowl in franchise history. If it wasn't for the greatest linebacker of all-time being a part of his generation, Urlacher would've been the best linebacker of the 2000s.

With the ninth overall pick last year the Panthers selected the highly touted Luke Kuechly out of Boston College. Sure, scouts were gushing over Kuechly's size, instincts and leadership qualities, but it was still Boston College. The BC-product left college with 532 tackles 13 short of the FBS record and an undoubted amount of talent. That talent was seen from the get-go.

Playing on one of the lesser defensive units in the league last season didn't stop Kuechly from grabbing the Defensive Rookie of the Year award much like his predecessor Urlacher. He notched a league leading 164 combined tackles, along with two picks and three fumble recoveries. But most importantly he lived up to his reputation as a leader, taking over for the Dan Morgans and Jon Beasons before him in even more impressive fashion. Sure, the Panthers defense wasn't going to rewrite records last year, but Kuechly definitely had the look and the feel of a long-time stud linebacker.

I get that it's preseason and it really doesn't matter, but watching him on Monday night vs. the Ravens was one of those "Wow, this guy is dominant" moments. He was literally all over the field and every time the Panthers defense made a play it was of Kuechly's doing. Some guys just have a knack for getting to the football and he's certainly one of them.

Good linebackers can go unnoticed on the field, but great linebackers are always noticed on the field. Kuechly's hard to miss.

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NFL Divisional Power Rankings

The Bears and Packers headline what should be the NFL's toughest division this year, the NFC North. (Credits: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

Different from the rest of the major professional sports, the NFL has eight divisions split across two conferences allowing for true rivalries to flourish in a more organic fashion. Another thing these smaller divisions provide us with is a true feel for each of them. In the bigger divisions of the MLB, NBA and NHL, there are only certain times that the divisions can give you an indication whether or not they are tough or weak. That's purely statistical. In the NFL the divisions, because of their quant size,  often take on a deeper sense of identity year in and year out. This year we're giving our preseason Divisional Power Rankings, which will probably be completely wrong come November. But, anyways, here we go.

8. AFC West
Predictions:
Denver 11-5
Kansas City 7-9
San Diego 4-12
Oakland 3-13

It feels like an eternity since the AFC West has really been a competitive division from top-to-bottom, but really it's only been two years. San Diego looks like it's trending in the wrong direction, while Oakland will continue to be Oakland by remaining somewhere between embarrassing, hysterical and downright ugly. Kansas City was a train wreck last year, but as I've said before they were the best 2-14 team in the history of the NFL. They'll be much better, but I'm not sure if they'll be able to flip the switch entirely and be a playoff team.

7. NFC East
Predictions:
Washington 9-7
Dallas 7-9
NY Giants 6-10
Philadelphia 4-12

There's a lot of empty hype surrounding the NFC East as I think it's greatness of the past few years is really starting to wear off. Washington is still the cream of the division, but I'm not entirely sure that makes them an actual threat in the playoffs. Dallas will be right in between should be good and completely dysfunctional, although their best-case-to-worst-case scenario spectrum is always pretty wide. The Giants are in a transitional period and will see their moments of brilliance as well as sloppiness. Philadelphia's offensive line (or lack there of) will have them potentially in the Clowney sweepstakes.

6. AFC South
Predictions:
Indianapolis 11-5
Houston 10-6
Tennessee 5-11
Jacksonville 2-14

A whole lot of stock is being put in Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts to make that next step and become a 13-win team. Sure, they have the passing offense, but I don't think their defense will push them to the "elite" category. Houston (Matt Schaub and Arian Foster especially) continues to be overrated, although their defense is too dominant for them to be anything less than a 10-win team. I'm not sold on Jake Locker at all and the Tennessee defense isn't great, so I only see Chris Johnson carrying them to around five wins. Jacksonville is certainly a front-runner for Clowney.

5. AFC East
Predictions:
New England 10-6
Miami 8-8
Buffalo 8-8
NY Jets 6-10

This probably could be a reach, but I think this whole division will somewhere between 10-6 and 6-10. The Pats have weapon depletion issues and I still believe they have a reluctance to run the ball, though I don't understand why. A lot of people are hyping up the Dolphins as a surprise playoff team. They could be, but it all rides of Tannehill's growth. If he's as-advertised, then they will, if not they'll be .500 or so. The Bills defense is going to be surprisingly good with D-Coordinator Mike Pettine's exotic and overwhelming blitz scheme and the Jets defense will be strong enough to overcome their lack of firepower on offense.


4. NFC West
Predictions:
Seattle 13-3
San Francisco 12-4
St. Louis 5-11
Arizona 5-11

The NFC West definitely is the league's most top-heavy division with Seattle and San Francisco both being Super Bowl contenders. The Cardinals and Rams both actually have pretty interesting pieces on defense and should survive in that 5-7 win bracket, but offensively each are quite anemic. I like the Seahawks a bit better than the Niners, but they are basically neck and neck. Don't fall for all the talk about the bottom half of the division, they will be bad, bringing this whole division down.

3. AFC North
Predictions:
Cincinnati 13-3
Baltimore 10-6
Pittsburgh 8-8
Cleveland 6-10

Cincinnati could very well be the AFC Champion come February, with an emerging Andy Dalton and a defense that should only get better. Everyone is riding the "Ravens will suck this year" train, however I'm not buying. This is one of the best organizations in football and I'm quite sure they'll be a playoff team again. A Super Bowl team on the other hand? Probably not. Pittsburgh's defense is in a transitional year and their running game is wrought with injury turmoil. Again, hard to think the Steelers will be that great, but then again they won't be horrendous. Another 8-8 year in store for them. Cleveland actually isn't as far off as people think with Trent Richardson and their defense on the underrated side. Weeden's the big question mark. All in all, the AFC North has lost it's luster over the years, but not too much.

2. NFC South
Predictions:
Atlanta 12-4
Tampa Bay 10-6
Carolina 8-8
New Orleans 7-9

Atlanta will once again be the cream of the crop in the NFC South, but the rest of the division won't be far behind. I think the Buccaneers will be back on the positive side of things after a bit of a disappointment last year. Josh Freeman, Doug Martin and Vincent Jackson provide a nice triple threat and the defense will continue to be immovable on the ground. Their improvement in pass defense will be the key to a winning season with the acquisitions of Darelle Revis and Dashon Goldson. New Orleans and Carolina will both be right there with Drew Brees and Cam Newton at the helm, but the New Orleans defense worries me (dead last in rush d, second to last in pass d last season). Carolina could be even better than .500 if their defense plays like they did against the Ravens in preseason (it's preseason I know). Every single one of these teams could be a playoff team, but they also all could be mediocre.

1. NFC North
Predictions:
Green Bay 13-3
Chicago 11-5
Detroit 10-6
Minnesota 8-8

I think the NFC North is only going to improve from last year. They had three 10-win-or-more teams, although the Bears didn't make the playoffs. Green Bay will once again be at the top of the NFC, as it's hard to argue against a team led by Aaron Rodgers. Chicago's hire of pass-guru Marc Trestman should only help Jay Cutler stay focused. Combine that with what should be a monster defense and there's no doubt the Bears will be in the playoffs come January. Detroit will probably have the biggest turnaround of any team this year. Their four wins last year was more and indictment of locker room issues than it was talent. They're just too good across the board to miss the playoffs (or at least win 10 games). Minnesota will take a step back as I think AP won't be able to carry the load like he did last year. Relying on Christian Ponder more is nothing but bad news for the Vikes. Either way the NFC North is going to be a dousy this year.

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Bostic's Fine Has Completely Melted All Boundary Lines

He lead with his shoulder. He hit Willie in the chest. Clean hit right? Then why was Bostic fined $21,000?

You don't have to graduate Summa Cum Laude from Yale to figure out that the NFL is going through a series of internal crises that have them looking more befuddled than JaMarcus Russell staring at a playbook. Clearly, the NFL is trying to "soften" their game to reduce the amount of head injuries, by slowly killing off the kickoff as well as this new rule that disallows running backs from lowering their head downfield. But these rules only offer up more debate and confusion. How far is "downfield?" What truly constitutes a helmet-to-helmet hit? What's the real definition of "horse-collar tackle?" Really all of these new safety provisions have just created more controversy and put unnecessary pressure on referees to overcall penalties to remain on the safe side. The NFL's latest fine has destroyed any boundary line between legal and illegal hits.

ESPNChicago.com-- CHICAGO -- Bears rookie linebacker Jon Bostic was fined $21,000 Wednesday for his hit on San Diego Chargers wide receiver Mike Willie.

A source familiar with the situation confirmed the fine.

The rule in question involved Bostic lowering his head and making forcible contact with a defenseless player's body, the source said. This wasn't a violation of the new "crown of the helmet rule," according to the source.

"I'm still trying to figure that stuff out," Bostic said. "Obviously I'm new to the league. There's going to be a lot of new things I'm going to have to find out. I'm learning from the older guys and really just finding out the process. I'm really just figuring out all of this stuff."

Bears' first-year head coach Marc Trestman said he thought it was a clean hit.

"I don't have any reaction right now about anything," Trestman said. "When I looked at it, other than to say that I thought it was a clean hit, his head was up and he hit with the shoulder from my vantage point on the field, and upstairs looking at it on the tape I thought it was a clean hit. That's all I need to say about it."

-Read the full article by Jeff Dickerson here.

Jon Bostic hit Mike Willie with a bone-jarring, fumble forcing, CLEAN hit. He didn't lead with his head, he simply had his head up and went to wrap Willie up. Since Willie wasn't expecting a hit from his blindside, Bostic ended up destroying him and making his head snapback. There was no foul play. If the Bears rookie had lead with his head, Willie surely wouldn't have gotten up under his own power and Bostic probably would be facing a suspension. Fortunately, that's not the case. Does the NFL realize that there wasn't a flag on the play for good reason? The refs were watching the same game as the league reviewed later and they originally determined (correctly) that the play was not dirty. It was absolutely a clean hit and you would imagine that the refs, staring directly at the play would launch some yellow laundry onto the field if they felt that it was illegal in any way. But they didn't and yet rookie Jon Bostic still has to pay $21,00 of his own money because he hit someone exactly how he was supposed to hit him. Where's the line, NFL? This decision pretty much eviscerated that line and leaves defenders in a seriously tough situation.

My reading into why the NFL fined him comes as this. Now any hit that is termed "violent," such as one that produces whip-lash or makes a clearly audible noise on contact is going to be deemed a fineable offense. To a defender this means that they'll have to go low every time in fear of being fined. How do you play defense and try to hit people, when you're worried about coughing up $20,000? It's infuriating because it basically makes defensive players second-class citizens. Don't give me this new "leading with the helmet" rule they placed on running backs. That does not "level the playing field" I bet not a single RB is fined this year. The NFL, as quickly as it can, is eliminating the "violence" in football, which is at the core of the sports foundation. Football isn't a contact sport. It isn't a collision sport. It's a violent sport. Especially violent with the sizes of these individuals being 250-plus pounds while still running around at 4.5 speeds. 

On the flip-side you have guys like Brian Hartline complaining about defenders "going low" at ballcarrier's knees, like on Dustin Keller's ACL-tearing play. What is D.J. Swearinger supposed to do? He can't hit Keller anywhere high because it might just cost him 20k. Now that he's going low it's a dirty play? Riddle me that NFL. Where is the line? Because without a line, this game will start to lose it's credibility and it's nine billion dollar foundation will start crumbling within.

As I've said before, the NFL is in a lot more trouble than its $9 billion revenue figure makes you believe. More ridiculous fines like this and I'm not sure where defenders can go from there. Figure it out Goodell, we're all sick of this nonsense.

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The Mets Aren't as Far Off as They Seem

Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler headline a pitching staff that will get the Mets back on track faster than expected. (Credits: Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)

Go ahead and check the standings, the Mets are nowhere near the playoffs. 12 games out of the second wild card spot and eight games under .500 doesn't scream "WATCH OUT." They haven't won more than 80 games since '08. There's no cinderella run in this outfit, no '73 Miracle Mets September redux. I guess if you want to take any solace in the NOW, at least the Mets are a solid 3.5 games ahead of the Phillies and their $159 million payroll ($71 mil. more than New York's). But "right now" was never in the question for the Mets. We knew this was a rebuilding process, we knew it would take a while. Well "a while" is a lot closer than people think.

What the Mets have going for them will bring them into the playoff contention picture a lot faster than the most teams turn around. Young arms. Sure, you're going to feel good about yourself if you've developed a couple nice bats. Possibly a collection of sluggers and .300 guys. That's going to put some confidence in your coffee. But when you're collection of budding farmhands happen to be of the starting pitching variety? Now that's when your confidence produces results.

Everyone knows about Matt Harvey. We don't need to laud the man anymore; he's arrived at the top and he's here to stay for a while. But, the re-emergence of Dillon Gee (2.73, 2.88 and 1.27 ERA in June, July, August respectively), Jeremy Hefner's flashes of brilliance and Zack Wheeler's continual growth should have the organization thinking playoffs much sooner than anticipated. Oh and don't forget Jenrry (Henry) Mejia; the Dominican righty had a nice little stretch allowing only seven earned runs in 27.1 innings. Noah Syndergaard, the other man in the R.A. Dickey deal, is lighting up Double-A going 6-0 with a 1.59 ERA in 10 starts. Rafael Montero's looked pretty good at Triple-A Las Vegas. The rotation's future is glowingly bright.

I'm not saying this rotation is going set records in the future, but the Mets staff as a whole ranks 10th in ERA, 10th in quality starts and 12th in WHIP in only the first season of the "rehauled" Amazin's. As these young pitches continue to hone their stuff, develop their killer instinct and learn how to handle the moment, the Mets will start contending. That could happen two years from now, hell it could happen next year.

You're probably asking me if their pitching staff is so good, then why are they 12 games out of the playoffs? Simple, there's no bats. Outside of David Wright there's no one in the lineup who can hit .300. The future aka Travis d'Arnaud is learning the ropes the hard way going 1-for-11 in his first four Major League starts. You expect it from a rookie, especially when he has no one around him to protect him. d'Arnaud will be a stud, it'll just take time. But, even the second coming of Mike Piazza won't turn this ship around by himself. Time for Sandy Alderson to go shopping.

First things first, the Mets need outfield help. Although Marlon Byrd has produced a solid season of power, he's more of a stop-gap player at his age than a future option. Juan Lagares has had his moments, but you can't rely on him to be the future CF either. The obvious option for the Mets is Jacoby Ellsbury, but do you really want to shell out a $100 million-plus contract for a guy with his injury history? But then you look at his league leading 45 stolen bases and his .300 consistency and it might make you salivate. Team him up with the absolute burner that Eric Young Jr. (nice little Mets pickup) and dear lord do you have a lethal speed combo. We all know speed in the NL is vital. I'm on the record in favor of Ellsbury. I think he's got all the intangibles to live up to the contract and he will  immediately alter this lineup. The question remains, however, will the financially shady Mets open their wallets for him?

More affordable options are Shin-Soo Choo or Hunter Pence, both guys who will hit around .290 and give you some quality consistency. This is probably a more realistic option with the way the Mets are spending; they simply don't want another Jason Bay on their hands (shoot me now just thinking about it). I want no part of Curtis Granderson or Nelson Cruz. Nate McLouth is another interesting low-level option, but I see him as a last ditch effort.

I think the Mets have found their Ike Davis replacement at first base with Josh Satin. He's no one to write home about, but if he can keep that OBP around .400 and batting average around .280, I think he's a real steal. Let me run on a little tangent here. Is Ike Davis not the worst thing you've seen out of the Mets in a while? Hitting a sizzling .206 with a gaudy eight home runs, it seems that Davis is better suited to the PGA tour with that golf swing of his. Unfortunately the former first round pick seems like a good guy, so it's tough to see his career go down the tube. The guy's lost it and he's definitely not going to find it here in Flushing. Move along buddy.

Anyways, the Mets are getting there and I see them as legitimately playoff contenders two years from now. If Alderson can pull off some wizardry in the war room this offseason then this team could vie for the playoffs next year. That's a bit of a long shot, but the top-10 pitching gives them a chance almost every night they go out there. When you can't hit and you leave your pitcher (cough...cough Matt Harvey) with about a thousand no-decisions-that-should-have-been-wins, it's hard to be good. Next year I see the Mets winning 80-plus games and giving Queens real excitement.

Pull some strings and the Mets might just be looking at Hanley Ramirez and David Wright patrolling the left side of the infield.

David Wright and Hanley Ramirez patrolling the left side of the infield...

Laugh all you want. Tell me that the Mets will mess this up somehow. I won't listen. Not when Harvey's dealing 12-6s and Vermont Sharp Cheddar like they two are going out of style.

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All Cylinders Clicking for Soccer to Explode in America, Then Again it's America

NBC's new broadcasting agreement with the EPL could make soccer relevant in the U.S.

With NBC debuting its newfound relationship with the English Premiership on Saturday, the major television network, among others, is trying to capitalize on the most tantalizing run in United States soccer history and their timing could just be perfect, catapulting soccer into into the minds of millions more Americans.

Let's be real, the only people that really care about soccer are a part of a small contingency of individuals who somehow have been captivated by the world's, but not America's, most popular sport. I am in that group that thinks soccer is exhilarating, albeit in far different ways from the other four major professional sports in America. For the rest of the country, soccer remains a big joke. A Downey soft game both physical and psychologically. The number of the sport's "fans" grow every four years with the onset of the World Cup, but interest quickly dwindles after the tournament. Sure, a few fans are caught in the net and start paying attention to soccer, but by the end of that four-year event, most Americans are already drowning themselves in a bucket of NFL news or the beginning of MLB playoff races. However, things could be different this time around.

It's well document that the Americans are on a tear that has literally never been seen before. They're smashing their own record books to pieces, with precision football and the emergence of true team chemistry. Coach Jurgen Klinsmann already has to go down as one of the greatest coaches in USMNT history and he hasn't even coached them in a World Cup or a Class-A Gold Cup yet. The team is relatively young and growing by the minute and it's hard for even the biggest of soccer-haters to ignore what they're doing. But we saw this before in 2010, albeit maybe in a different (and less dominant) way, when the Cardiac Kids pulled off two magical wins to salvage what should have been an easy ride to the knockout stages. People were fired up by that American squad, but things returned to normal only days after the team's 2-1 loss to Ghana in the Round of 16.

This is certainly a more impressive U.S. unit, with a more high quality and more experienced coaching staff; they are undeniably better. Couple that with NBC and Fox amping up their coverage of international soccer and the door for soccer to creep into mainstream American sports talk has just been cracked open. Americans are obviously getting fired up for the World Cup and may tune in because of that, but both of these networks want it to be a long term obsession. My question is can it ever be?

If the U.S. continues its scintillating run of form and cruises through their last four qualifying games and NBC's EPL coverage is a hit then we'll be entering a possible "last chance" situation with soccer in America. Right now there is no reason for soccer not to explode, other than the fact this is America and we don't like ties or 1-0 games. We don't understand back passes or free kicks. There's no way we can get hooked on superstars who really have no stat sheet to work from. Come next August when the EPL starts up again, hopefully after a deep U.S. World Cup run, the growing popularity must be there or the sport will never take a foothold in this country.

America is America and if we don't want to like a sport, you're damn sure we're not going to like that sport. Unfortunately we'll be giving up on a great game and we'll be the ones who are missing out.

Either way, let's do this World Cup right U.S.A.

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Perfecting the Playoffs: MLB

Evan Longoria, Ben Zobrist and the Tampa Bay Rays missed the playoffs last, they wouldn't if MLB adopted these changes. (Credits: J. Meric/Getty Images North America)

It's the "dog day"s of August. You're probably enjoying a vacation at some unreal beachtown/island or you're getting to the boiling point with your summer internship/job, either way you're probably doing a lot of thinking. Well, we at BDD&C have been doing some thinking (and we only do that "thinking" about sports) and we think there's something wrong with the four major professional sports leagues. The Playoffs. I don't mean that they're not interesting, riveting or gut-wrenching, they totally are. I'm saying even the most exciting time of our sports years can be improved. So we went out and decided to perfect each playoff system, some by addition, some by alteration. Enjoy these completely hypothetical, most likely unrealistic improvements to the playoffs.

MLB:
Add another team to the Wild Card scenario, creating a six-team playoffs in each league. The first round is the 3rd best team in terms of record vs. the 6th best team (last) terms of record and the 4th best record vs. 5th best record. These teams will play a three-game series over three days (much like a normal series during the season) and then will have one days rest before the normal division series.  The top two teams in each league will receive a bye into the division series. 1st seed will play winner of 4-vs-5 and 2nd seed will play winner of 3-vs-6. A division winner will be guaranteed a playoff berth, but then will be seeded based on record.

I loved that Major League Baseball implemented the extra wild card spot last year and I think it made the game that much more interesting, but why not just add two short best-of-three Wild Card series in general. It'll take place immediately after the conclusion of the season and will run three days in a row to simulate just another regular season series, except that it's the playoffs so it's not your regular old series.

The only problem people have come up with this new Wild Card game is that it doesn't guarantee that your number one starter will pitch in that game. With a quick best-of-three series, there's a better chance you'll see your ace pitch without making the postseason absurdly long. The teams that are "waiting" in their bye slots will at most miss four days, and at least one pitcher will be still be in his regular five-day rotation.

Baseball enjoys the fact that its playoffs are the most exclusive, but that exclusivity can, at times, hurt owners more than helps them. With six teams or more in the running you have more markets involved and therefore more money in all the owners pockets. The more fans that have hope their teams will make it to October and the game's popularity will only skyrocket. At the most teams could play 22 playoffs games, which is only two more games then the maximum now. I don't see the problem. Let's play some more October baseball why don't we?

2012 Playoffs based on these alterations
AL:
1st seed-bye: New York Yankees
2nd seed-bye: Oakland Athletics
3. Texas vs. 6. Detroit
4. Baltimore vs. 5. Tampa Bay

NL:
1st seed-bye: Washington
2nd seed-bye: Cincinnati 
3. San Francisco vs. 6. L.A. Dodgers
4. Atlanta vs. 5. St. Louis

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It's Jozy Altidore's World and We're Just Livin' in it

Jozy Altidore's hat-trick last night may be the beginning of the future of American soccer. (Credits: Fehim Demir/European Presphoto Agency)

Freddy Adu was supposed to be the star, the "future" of American soccer. The 14-year old signed with D.C. United and surely was on his way to stardom once he transferred to Portuguese side Benefica. He was supposed to headline the explosion of soccer in America, but then someone else stole his spotlight. That man was 17-year-old Jozy Altidore, and now the "future" of American soccer is upon us.

Somewhere in that 31 goal campaign for Dutch side AZ Alkmaar, everything came together for Jozy. We always knew he had the physical tools to be a special player, but the mental side of his game was in question. A lack of confidence, immaturity, instability, whatever it was Altidore was an incomplete product. At one point early in 2012, when Jurgen Klinsmann was figuring out what pieces he had to work with, we thought that he might have lost it entirely. Boy were we wrong. The 23-year-old striker is now swimming in a lake of confidence, brazen and mature. We might be watching the first "phenom" American actually unfold the way we thought he should and that is a sensational thought.

Wednesday nights' game vs. Bosnia (a seriously underrated team) was a tale of two halves. The Americans didn't play as bad as their 2-0 deficit looked going into halftime, but it was clear that Jozy wasn't being put in the situation to be aggressive. A slight switch of the formation by Klinsmann and Altidore transformed into a threat every time he touched the ball. First was the beautiful touch pass to Eddie Johnson, which gave the veteran an empty net. Then on his first goal (the second of the game) he took a deft touch with multiple defenders around him, turned confidently and fired a ball into the low corner, an unstoppable rip past an unexpecting keeper. I'll be honest, Geoff Cameron's ball was perfect, but Jozy's touch, turn and shot was masterful technique. There was no flare, no luckiness. Just pure goal-getting 101.

I don't even know what to say about his second goal. When's the last time you've seen Altidore take a free kick. Never seen it, but I love the decision by Jurgen. If a guy is hot, a guy is hot. He recognized that Jozy was in the zone and he was rewarded by handing him the keys to that free kcik. You cannot hit a ball better than the way he hit it, a darting shot from right to left into the top corner, just inches away from the crossbar. Even better than the goal was his celebration, where he just lifted his arms up in manner that said, "What can't I do?" Confidence just oozing out of him. It was a moment of realization for him that his time has come.

The third goal was just the icing on the cake. While the play was completely made by Michael Bradley's splendid through pass, Jozy still delivered a perfect finish right between two defenders. A minute or so after scoring that second goal, it was just a moment of "Oh my God, this man is on fire." He knew it. His teammates knew it. His coach knew it. We knew it. The country of Bosnia knew it. Tim Tebow knew it. Brett Favre knew it. LeBron James knew it. That third goal could be the moment we always remember as the start of the most exciting player in American soccer history, or maybe it was five games ago when he started this eight-goal, five-game run. Either way, it's Jozy's world and we're just livin' in it.

Some people are a little nervous about Jozy's second stint in the Premiership as his last one with Hull City a couple years ago was somewhat of a disaster. This is a different Altidore, however. World's different actually. He'll be playing for a much better team in Sunderland, who many think could improve greatly under the tutelage of new head coach (and soccer great) Paolo Di Canio. The club is basically being overturned and will most likely be revitalized under the former Aston Villa star. It's a perfect situation for Altidore in the fact that he'll (barring some disaster) be the starting striker and will be able to compete against the best in the world. Sure, Sunderland isn't going to finish in the top-4 or even in the top-10 but if he can become a instant force for the lower tier club, the big boys will come knocking.

Jozy Altidore is finally living up to the absurd expectations we gave to him as a teenager and that's something we as Americans really have been able to say before. 

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The SEC Thinks it's Above EA Sports NCAA Football

Although the SEC might be college football's premier conference, it's arrogance is ridiculous.

ESPN.com-The Southeastern Conference has joined the NCAA in announcing it will no longer license its trademarks in the EA Sports NCAA football video game.

The move comes a month after the NCAA said it would not license its trademarks, either. That ruling, however, allowed each individual institution and conference to license its trademarks with EA Sports for future college football games.

"Each school makes its own individual decision regarding whether or not to license their trademarks for use in the EA Sports game(s)," the SEC said in a statement. "The Southeastern Conference has chosen not to do so moving forward.

"Neither the SEC, its member universities, nor the NCAA have ever licensed the right to use the name or likeness of any student to EA Sports."

The Collegiate Licensing Company recently announced it completed licensing agreements for approximately 150 of the institutions it represents, including some SEC institutions.

The NCAA's statement last month included similar language about current student athletes, but cited legal costs as the reason for not renewing its contract with EA Sports.

"We are confident in our legal position regarding the use of our trademarks in video games," the NCAA said. "But given the current business climate and costs of litigation, we determined participating in this game is not in the best interests of the NCAA."

-Article here by Kristi Dosch

We've seen this before with players in MLB games like Barry Bonds, Kevin Millar and Sammy Sosa. We're seeing it go before the court in the case of Ed O'Bannon. Now we're seeing an entire conference abandon likenesses in a video game. EA Sports will certainly survive without the SEC, but will this become a snowball effect?

I get that the SEC is the premier college football conference and that it doesn't financially need any likeness contracts, but it's sort of ridiculous. The video game experience only enhances a school or conference's reputation with a user seeing the name repeatedly. This decision only removes the SEC logo and likenesses associated with it (i.e. the SEC championship) but it can easily be replicated because the school's engage in a totally different likeness agreement.

What is the conference trying to accomplish here? Well I think it has something to do with ego-pumping (why they need an ego pump I have no idea) and separating itself from the rest of college football off-the-field. We all know about the SEC's dominance over the past seven years, but do they really need to take that on-field arrogance, and in this case dismissiveness, to the video game sphere? Absolutely not. That's the how the SEC rolls, however, and now it's big head might hurt its reputation.

"Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown."

Honestly, I doubt there will be any SEC BCS Title streak breakers this year or for the foreseeable future, but wouldn't that be great if the another conference won the title this year? I mean someone has to get through to the conference that, although they might be above the rest of the sport, they aren't above a video game that only further portrays its domination in a positive manner.

My biggest concern? The rest of the conferences will follow suit and the NCAA Football game, as a whole, will take a huge hit and possibly disappear. I think it's one of EA Sports best products and I'm disappointed that it has a cloudy future.

This is just another issue that the NCAA and its respective conferences have to deal with it. Hopefully one day they'll be a different governing body that doesn't allow petty, unnecessary actions like this to be taken on top of all the other ridiculous stuff they pull.

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Perfecting the Playoffs: NBA & NHL

If the NHL's regular season played out the way we think it should have, the Wild would've finished fifth in the West. (Credits: Hannah Foslien/Getty Images North America)

NBA:

Eliminate the "Division Winner Automatically Gets a Top-4 Seed" clause and eliminate the 2-3-2 NBA Finals Format. Division winner guaranteed a playoff spot, but it's based on record/tiebreakers.

Although the 2012-'13 playoffs weren't affected by division winners claiming a higher seed than their record showed, it's another small and annoying clause. I don't think a team should ever been penalized for being in a tougher division or rewarded for being in a mediocre division either. Sure it'll probably only push a true fifth or sixth seed into a fourth seed like it did in the lockout season (Boston was fourth, although Atlanta had a better record), but it's a small nuisance.

I believe the NBA playoffs are pretty much perfected this point. 16 teams is a fair number and they play out seven games in all of the rounds, which is the right way to do it. My only qualms with the playoffs comes in the Finals where they employ the 2-3-2 format. I get that this is because it's a West vs. East thing but with today's air travel and technology, traveling from coast-to-coast isn't a difficult task. The reality is that the team's with home-court advantage don't really have an advantage at all. Unless they are swept (which means they don't belong) they have really have to win both Games 1 & 2 to guarantee that they won't get embarrassed in their three consecutive road games. The away team is riding the moment of "stealing" a home game and all of the sudden it's a daunting task to bring things back home. Great teams have done it, but something about the 2-2-1-1-1 is just a thousand times more exciting.

These changes did not affecting seeding in the 2012 playoffs.

NHL:

Change the points system to award 3 points for a regulation win, 2 points for an overtime win, 1 point for a shootout win, 0 points for shootout loss/OT loss/regulation loss.

I've read the rules on the new NHL format and I'm really not sure how it's going to go or how the damn thing actually will work, so I'll form my opinion on it come April. However, there is a way we can alter the regular season, which in effect would alter the postseason.

There's nothing more irksome than when teams coast through the last five minutes of a regular season game just to grab a point and then coast (or trap) through an overtime because they are more confident in their shootout play. Eliminating the point for a loss in overtime and a shootout would make each game that much more exhilarating and tense. Since when in America have we ever been accepting of losing in any capacity? Get rid of these silly points given to teams that "played their hearts out." Well some teams attempt to get to OT just to guarantee a point, which is ridiculous. This would put an onus on winning in regulation, where games should be won. Then if you win in OT, good for you, but you're going to get one less point putting even more importance on that regulation win. You want to see 60 minutes balls-to-the-wall hockey? Make regulation is the ultimate win. Sure teams won't have 105 points anymore, but they also won't be rewarded for losing, which is ridiculous.

2012 Playoff Standings with these alterations.

East:

1.Pittsburgh- 67

2.Montreal- 53

3.Boston- 51

4.Toronto-50

5.Washington-47

6.NY Rangers- 44 (Win tiebreaker on goal difference)

7.Ottawa-44

8.Winnipeg-42 (Win tiebreaker because of less shootout wins)

9.NY Islanders-42

As you can see the points are certainly diminished with the decrease in points awarded to a shootout or overtime winner. The standings here in the East didn't change much however, Toronto and Boston are now rightfully higher than Washington because I don't believe in giving division winners that sort of standing. Also the Islanders miss the playoffs, which would be interesting to see because of Winnipeg's raucous fanbase.

West:

1.Chicago- 61

2.Anaheim- 53

3.Los Angeles- 51

4.St. Louis- 49

5.Vancouver- 46

6.Minnesota-45

7.Detroit- 44

8.San Jose- 42

9.Columbus-38

The West had much more movement than the East. Vancouver rightfully so (as they were swept in the first round) moved from third to fifth. Minnesota jumped from eighth to sixth and Los Angeles jumped St. Louis from fifth to third.

A new format will change things indefinitely and I'm interested to see how it goes. I'm sure at some point down the line, however, I'll want to get my hands on the playoff format...If only we ruled the sports world.

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Perfecting the Playoffs: NFL

In this NFL alteration we would've seen one of the best playoff games (Wash vs. Sea) in the right venue, CenturyLink Field. (Credits: Al Bello/Getty Images North America)

It's the "dog day"s of August. You're probably enjoying a vacation at some unreal beachtown/island or you're getting to the boiling point with your summer internship/job, either way you're probably doing a lot of thinking. Well, we at BDD&C have been doing some thinking (and we only do that "thinking" about sports) and we think there's something wrong with the four major professional sports leagues. The Playoffs. I don't mean that they're not interesting, riveting or gut-wrenching, they totally are. I'm saying even the most exciting time of our sports years can be improved. So we went out and decided to perfect each playoff system, some by addition, some by alteration. Enjoy these completely hypothetical, most likely unrealistic improvements to the playoffs.

NFL:
Add two playoff teams to each conference playoffs, eliminate the playoff bye-week and get rid of division-winning home field advantage. Top four teams hold home field advantage in the first round (1v8, 2v7, etc format). Division winner is guaranteed at least 8th seed, but will be ranked based on record/tiebreakers.

Sure the NFL as an league doesn't really need any changes to continue bringing in its 9 billion dollars in revenue, but adding two teams to each conference playoffs would make it even more exciting. Yes, I understand that those top-two seeds have "earned" a bye in today's system, but only two of those last six Super Bowls (and none of the last three) were won by a team with a first-round bye. Small sample size for sure, but it doesn't exactly mean that having a bye guarantees you a Super Bowl ring.

Fans of dominant teams that usually hold the upper seeds with completely argue against this system because it's the NFL and it would be a single elimination situation. There would be complaints the minute a 7-9 8th seed beats a 15-1 1st seed, but that's what would make it even more riveting, much like the NCAA Tournament.

On the contrary, you would also eliminate the "Division Winner Automatically Gets First-Round Home Field Advantage" clause. I agree that a divsion winner should be awarded a playoff spot, but is it really fair when a 7-9 team hosts a 10-6 team like the Seahawks did two years ago? Adding two more teams would also allow for those 10-6 and 11-5 teams to make the playoffs for sure. No way should a team like the '08 Pats or '85 Broncos miss the playoffs winning 11 games and I think that goes the same with the 11 teams over the years that went 10-6 and failed to make the playoffs.

This system would get more fanbases engaged deeper into the season all while keeping the regular season still that interesting. It will also ensure us more playoff football (two more games) and who the hell doesn't want more playoff football?

2012 Playoffs According to This System
AFC:
1. Denver (13-3) vs. 8. San Diego (7-9)
2. New England (12-4) vs. 7. Pittsburgh (8-8
3. Houston (12-4) vs. 6. Cincinnati (10-6)
4. Indianapolis (11-5) vs. 5. Baltimore (10-6)

This would produce a rivalry game in the 1-vs-8 game, a classic recent playoff rivalry in the 2-vs-7 game and an interesting switch of venues in the 4-vs-5 game. Interested yet?

NFC:
1. Atlanta (13-3) vs. 8. NY Giants (9-7)
2. San Francisco (11-4-1). vs. 7. Chicago (10-6)
3. Green Bay (11-5) vs. 6. Minnesota (10-6)
4. Seattle (11-5) vs. 5. Washington (10-6)

Here we brought in the always ready-to-make-a-run Giants in the 1-vs-8 game and the 4-vs-5 game played in the venue it should have been played. Sold?

If only we ran the sports world...

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