Which of these sports would you like to see more mainstream in the United States?

Hard choice. I'm a big fan of Womens college softball. And though a league exists/existed its not too mainstream. However, thanks to colleges I can still get a healthy dose of the sport.

MLS on the other hand? Its just not as appealing as Premiere and Champions League football in Europe. I think its because the league itself is sold as other American sports are sold. The majority of team names are traditional location plus nickname (Chicago Fire, Seattle Sounders, etc.). Plus, the format is similar to other North American sports. They award the MLS Cup to winners of a playoff between the highest ranked regular season teams while they award a Supporters Shield to the team with the best record. Thats similar to the Stanley Cup and Presidents Trophy (and really who cares about the Presidents Trophy?).

Look, don't get me wrong. I love American/North American sporting traditions. I'm a huge baseball and football fan and I like hockey. I'll support the St Louis Cardinals more than anything else.

But soccer is such a huge sport world wide that it may do better trying to sell itself to Americans by pushing traditions from outside the region. At its base hardcore soccer fans aren't going to care too much because they just want to see soccer. But some soccer fans are fans because they look to the Euro leagues and international events and they like the difference - its not the stuff they're used too. A little difference is good.

Take me. I played soccer in school a little, did decent on defense. But the sport was never a big deal to me because I came from a football/baseball background. Thats whats in my blood. So, I started to get interested in soccer again in the last decade as I studied and learned the European traditions and teams. I became a Liverpool supporter. I was sold because I liked the sport and the trappings of the game gave a welcome respite from the traditional stuff I get from four other sports here in the US. Liverpool FC, Man U, Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Barca, Real Madrid. Those aren't how American teams name and brand themselves. Its unique.

And their systems of play? The Premiership that takes each to through an equitable double round robin, one at home and one away at every other team? Perfectly balanced and fair schedule. The team with the best record wins the Premiership. No playoffs. They do have separate tourneys but the difference is that those are open to most all teams - not a result of regular season play. It gives a chance to the usual lower tier teams to best the upper teams in an elimination tourney for some pride they may not get through the grind of a regular season. So both awards have solid value.

The Supporters Shield is merely a tossaway trophy on the path to the real MLS Cup prize. As a fan of other American sports I don't particularly care about the Presidents Trophy or the Conference/League Trophies you win in the playoffs because those are stepping stones to the top prize.

If you ask me, The MLS Cup should be awarded to the team that wins the regular MLS season and given the size of 19 teams the schedule should be the same as the Premiership. No need to break it into "conferences". Just 19 teams home and away for the MLS Cup. Turn the Supporters Shield into its own tournament that seeds in all 19 teams.

Sell the MLS with trappings similar to Euro Leagues. Sell the difference. Don't try to make it fall in line with the other four.