I love soccer. I have cried, overwhelmed with emotion at Santiago Bernabu Stadium in Madrid, where historic soccer events have taken place - like the FIFA World Cup, UEFA Champions League finals, and of course, epic battles between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.

Call me old school, but for a long time I've been less than comfortable with the proposition of paying college athletes. That's not to dismiss the salient arguments that, particularly at elite D-1 programs, these athletes generate significant prestige and revenue for their schools, but I would cling more strongly to the belief that the opportunity for these athletes to advance themselves afforded by a scholarship and the life lessons and maturation process provided by competing at such a high level is undervalued in the debate.

One of the most storied sports teams in history, the Washington Redskins, find themselves stuck on defense in a public debate of their brand name The legendary success of the franchise is rooted in the community, a primary reason Mr. Snyder paid $800 million for the team in 1999.

Another NFL season is here - and the bloggers, pundits, talking heads and oddsmakers have already selected who they think will be hoisting the Lombardi Trophy at Met Life Stadium next February - it's a good time to consider some of the basic contradictions often found in the marketing of major league sports teams here in the US.

No disrespect to the uber-talented Mr. Bruno Mars, but this past week's announcement that he will be headlining the halftime entertainment for the upcoming Super Bowl in NJ/NY took many by surprise. No Jay Z? Alicia Keys? Bon Jovi? A Sinatra hologram? Perhaps a sequel from the Boss or another native star? Besides having no real ties to the geography (which no doubt will be a big part of the game), one has to wonder if the "Joe Six Pack" NFL fan will have any real interest in the pop star's performance.

Sports and numbers are indelibly intwined, but it is how you analyze and use those numbers that can make a difference between winning and losing, setting new records or accomplishing feats that previously had been unreachable.

There's an inherent connection between social media and sports that can't be denied. Fans love turning to social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to weigh in on hot topics, from questionable fouls and off-season injuries to controversial opinions on their favorite blogs. Consider the NFL replacement referees debacle of 2012: Green Bay Packers' TJ Lang lashed out on social media, which resulted in one of the most retweeted tweets ever. A couple days after the slew of social media rants around the controversy, the regular referees were reinstated. Social media is no longer a benchwarmer, but rather a leading …

When Scottish tennis star Andy Murray won Wimbledon earlier this summer, it marked the first time in 77 years that a Brit had clinched the Gentleman's Singles Championship at the All-England Club. The entire UK seemed to embrace Murray at once. There was even talk that he would be knighted. It was a big deal.

The onset of Fall has always been a bittersweet time for me. I've always been a warm-weather person, and, while I certainly welcome the start of the football season, there are few things in life that I find truly more relaxing than a steamy hot summer day at a baseball game. Call me old school, but the idealistic vision of baseball as America's past time evokes Norman Rockwell-like allusions of kids delighting at mascot antics, post-game fireworks, dollar hot dog nights and the standard fare of promotional give aways-from caps to car magnets to a never-ending collection of bobbleheads.

In training facilities and practice fields across the nation, players prepare for NFL Football. A much different group is getting hyped for the new season, too,but not on the gridiron; they are on laptops, tablets and phones. The excitement is at a boiling point, and, if you are in the business to sell something to NFL fans, you should also be engaged in that second-screen battle.