Headhunting: Acts of violence; the custom of cutting off and preserving the heads of enemies as trophies. But, headhunting in professional football?What has recently been revealed about the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal may not have come as a surprise to many, but I find it extremely disappointing and just plain wrong, in a league where players are already paid millions to assault each other every Sunday. I love watching the Saints; they are an incredible team with exceptional players. And Drew Brees? An amazing quarterback. So why the bounty scandal? It really gives the Saints organization and the NFL a black eye.

This is a huge misstep for the Saints organization. It’s shocking to me, since I cannot believe the amount of money and bonuses NFL players are being paid to lay the pain on unsuspecting victims. Now all of the sudden, after finding out that the bounty program has been going on for three years, some incidents that once seemed like normal football plays, now look a lot more like a mob boss placing a hit on one of his rivals. Here’s a few that come to mind: the 2010 NFC Championship game where Brett Favre took a beating when he was already hurting. It seemed like the Saints were trying to take him down and end his career that night; Favre hasn’t been the same since. However, the biggest incident was the monster hit on Peyton Manning that more than likely precipitated his neck injury, when he played against a Redskins defense coached by Gregg Williams. Think about this for a second: this bounty program could have effectively ended the career of a man who was on pace to break every single quarterback record in the books!

At the center of all this mess lies Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams. Williams has seemingly instituted his bounty rules at every stop he’s made, including his prior stint with the Redskins, until he got caught; he’s presently the Rams Defensive Coordinator. Williams met with the NFL Monday to discuss his side of the story, and things don’t look good. Former and current players under Williams are coming out in droves, even Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma has been associated with the program, to have allegedly offered cash “prizes” to his teammates for executing a bounty. This would take the scandal to a whole new level if both coaches and players are giving out cash for injury-inducing hits. What’s possible now? Anything, it seems, if coaches and players were to continue to get away with incidents such as these.

In a time where the NFL rules have changed and blows to the head are deemed much more dangerous than they used to be, this bounty scandal has taken things too far. We’re now in a time where it’s a distinct and tangible possibility that an NFL player could literally die right there on the field. Players are faster, stronger, and quicker than ever before, and with this new bounty scandal, it may just simply be a matter of time.

So, where does that leave the Saints? They are disheveled right now; they are in the process of signing Drew Brees and have been exposed as not playing football according to the rules of the game. The Saints spent so much time re-building the New Orleans community after Hurricane Katrina, and re-invigorating a once dormant fan-base. It’s a shame to think all of that progress could be lost because of one man’s decision to take headhunting out of the Amazon, and bring it to professional football.

USA! USA! USA! Sound familiar? During the 2010 FIFA World Cup, you couldn’t go anywhere without shouts of patriotism being screamed from city streets all across the country. However, let’s face it; soccer is definitely not on most people’s radars at the moment. Except maybe after a thrilling 1-0 win against Italy, for the first time. The United States is finally building some confidence and momentum after Wednesday night’s win. It was a rare victory over a major soccer power; in fact, it was unprecedented. With Clint Dempsey’s goal in the 55th minute, the Americans’ beat the Azzurri for the first time EVER. That’s 82 years of trying to beat one of the world’s best. Make no mistake about it, this was a huge achievement for the USMNT.

But what does this win really mean? It will probably garner attention for a few days…maybe even a week. That’s the norm for American soccer fans. It was just a friendly match, and even though this win will give the team a much-needed confidence boost going into world cup qualifying this summer, the big question still remains: Why is there not a huge soccer following in the U.S?

Sure, there are scores of die-hard soccer fans scattered throughout the country, but it’s always football or baseball or basketball that seem to come first for Americans. Soccer seems to be more of a foreign, European/South American sport we don’t know much about and frankly don’t care much about. What are the rules? Why is the game so slow? For true soccer fans, every game is exciting, whether the score is a 5-4 shootout, or a 0-0 tie. Every game has a story and every game is a beautiful display of athleticism at its finest. Soccer players are incredibly talented athletes. Stamina, agility, quick footwork, these are just some of the things that soccer players excel at that sets them apart from all other athletes; imagine watching a football player try to play a full 90-minute soccer game.

So, I’m sure as the 2014 World Cup in Brazil approaches, more people will begin following soccer, but until then, the reality is most Americans are nothing more than fair-weather fans when it comes to the sport. Will soccer ever catch on in the U.S.? Does the win against Italy mean anything, or will nothing matter until the World Cup gets here?