News and Views of the Day:

Three captain comebacks in Week 17

The Clean Sheet: 'Tis the season. This is a pretty good column. Go read it. I am not patriotic, but I do love the following quote from the last paragraph: So Mexico goes to Copa America to represent for CONCACAF in a glamour quarterfinal with Brazil and ... gets annihilated. Sheesh ... do we really have to do everything ourselves these days? That aside, Palace makes his points well, and I do happen to agree with him. Teams do need the motivation to play better. Then again, we are talking about the league that used to have shootouts to break regular season draws. Never mind some of the seriously weird playoff formats they have had over the years. Enough of the MLS-bashing for now. I hope that the fact that I maintain a blog on MLS is enough indication that I do enjoy and support the league. However, I believe in thinking critically, analyzing everything. Yes, I know. I am weird. Get over it.

Crew host one more before break