ESPN the Magazine puts out a special issue each year, titled NEXT, about the next up-and-coming stars in sports. Previous NEXT athletes have included LeBron James (2003), Adrian Peterson (2004), Reggie Bush (2006), and Dwight Howard (2007). To say the least, if you're featured in this issue, the future looks bright for you.

But honestly, I've heard enough about these athletes. Every year there will be another pitcher, quarterback, point guard etc to laud over because those sports always get the most coverage. It's not covering something (or someone) new or exciting if the it's the same thing year after year, but with just a different name.

Here's the real NEXT that ESPN should cover: Which sport will be the next to join (or even replace) one of the current big 3 sports. Football, baseball, and basketball (in that order) have the largest fan bases in America, and every sports-jock radio show or sports section you pick up will cover these sports more than anything else.

But how long can it last? The average America, your Joe-Sportscenter, can't really be satisfied with just 3 sports to obsess over, can he? 3 sports can't successfully canvas the 4 seasons, could they?

We might be able to live with 3 sports, but for argument's sake, let's say they couldn't. Which other sport could successfully join the ranks of our nations elite pastimes? Which new sport could compete with the Super Bowl, March Madness, the BCS-debacle, and the Little League World Series for our nations undivided attention? After extensive research, we can boil down the suitors to 3, each with their own advantages and drawbacks.

The Longshot: Nascar

Auto racing has always been a part of this country's rich, illustrious history. Today, we have both Nascar and Indy racing, with Nascar getting considerable more attention with the advent of the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series. There's a good amount of name recognition right now in Nascar, including a nice mix of veterans and rookies. Jeff Gordon, Dale Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logono, to name a few. This sport could really take off if they somehow managed to get Danica Patrick over from the IRL. Rumors have been fluttering around that, but so far they've just been rumors.

Why it won't work: The Point System
Nascar just doesn't fit into our sports system. For starters, the point system is wayyy to complicated. No one knows what it means, and no one can really figure it out. Anytime you see Nascar standings, you see the leader, everyone else, and how many points behind they all are. Does anyone even know how many points are a lot or a little? If someone told you that Jimmie Johnson held a 141-point lead over Carl Edwards with 1 race left, would you know that meant JJ is a better lock to win than Bernard Pollard for "Season Killer of the Year" award? Doubt it.

How they can fix it: KISS [Keep It Simple, Stupid]
According to Nascar 101 on Nascar's official website, "a race winner can earn a maximum of 195 points" per race. There are points awarded for leading laps, leading the most laps, and overall finish. This is never going to work. A fringe fan of Nascar is never going to take a peek at the standings and think, "Oh my gosh, JJ only needs to lead 14 laps and finish in 32nd to beat out a first place finish by Carl Edwards and win the Sprint Cup by 13 points." If people can't even figure out what 12 items means in a grocery store, they sure as hell can't get this straight. Ditch the algorithim that is your point system, and then we'll talk Nascar.

The Darkhorse: Hockey

I'll admit that of the 3 sports I'm going to talk about here, hockey is my personal favorite. I love the free-flowing style of play, the tough-as-nails players that play it, and that Crosby kid is something else. But for whatever reason, hockey has fallen off the map in recent years. Sure, the strike probably sent a lot of it's niche fans packing, but it's always been just that: a niche sport. Hockey reminds me of a girl who you used to be in a relationship with, but now you see her for booty calls only. When you see her it's late at night, you're probably drunk, and you can't think of anything better to do. Yup, that pretty much sums up the relatinoship most sportsfans have with hockey.

Why it won't work: Canada
I'm pretty sure the real reason why no one cares about hockey and hasn't yet broken from niche sport status is because our little brother Canada is so good at it. Everyone knows that Canada's best could beat America's finest any day, any time. And no one ever likes getting beat up by their younger siblings. Another, more valid reason, why hockey gets no love is the timing of its season. Hockey opens its season around Week 8 in the NFL, which is about the same time the NBA is tipping off. This means that by the time the NHL season really gets underway, the NFL regular season is ending and the playoffs starting, and college football is getting ready to crown a champion. Not to mention the entire NBA season runs side-by-side with the NHL. The timing just means that someone is going to get ignored, and unfortunately its the NHL.

How they can fix it: More gimmicks
The NHL spent the longest time appealing to it's private fan base. And then they lost them. Every single one of them. Bickering over dollars and cents. Which is probably the last thing that their true fans would ever worry about if they were making the same kind of money league was pulling down. Well since you've lost them for good, don't even try to get them back. Start appealing to the younger generation, the ones who love flashy uni's, student-priced tickets, and towel cannons shooting cheap cotton 20 rows into the upper deck. Keep dolling out the swag, and you'll find more seats getting filled each day. Who knows, maybe they'll even start caring about sport, like your old fans did.

The Favorite: Lacrosse
That's right. Lacrosse. The sport that has a swelling, young fan base coming out of the Northeast is getting ready to spread across the country. With the exception of the incident with the Duke team a few years back, lacrosse has done nothing but build momentum to take off. Among high schools and colleges, lacrosse is quickly becoming the most popular sport, behind only football in terms of enrollment numbers.

Why it will work: The youth movement
Everything new in this country picked up steam because the youth was behind it (Barack Obama anyone?) Lacrosse has slowly been building steam with the youth because it's easily one of the best casual sports, the same way 1-1 basketball or pickup football is. Hockey's too tough, because half the year it's too warm to play and you have to buy extra equipment for street hockey. And Nascar, obviously you can't bomb around your neighborhood at 200 mph. With lacrosse, it's just a stick and a ball and a wall, or a friend if you have one. What could be simpler?

The Bottom Line: If a sport is easy to play. People will play it. If people will play it, people will want to be good at it. And from this, sprouts competition, teams, rivalries, and everything else we love about sports. Lacrosse has it. And that's why it's NEXT.