Columbus are MLS Champs! Really!

Although you won't hear it from ESPN, Fox Soccer Channel or even the league office, the Major League Soccer champion was decided this weekend when Columbus picked up a point on the road against Chicago, putting them an unreachable 10-points ahead of second-lace Houston in the single table.

By picking up the Supporters Shield for the most points in the regular season, Columbus should be named league champions, but alas, MLS execs cling tightly to the playoff system, a bastardization of all that is good in American soccer. It makes no sense to refer to the MLS Cup winner as the MLS champion. This club has been successful in a single club tournament, consisting of four matches. The league champion should be the club that managed to secure the most points in the course of the season, not simply the team that plays best in October.

After all, the Supporters Shield winner gets all the rights and privileges of a champion (see last year's league champion DC United).

Every year I rail against the injustice, the blatant stupidity of naming the MLS Cup champion the league champion and every year it's the same. I have a dream, a dream that one day the club that finishes atop the league standings after the 30-game schedule will be named the MLS champion.

But I fear I'll be forever dreaming.