That's right, the most important sports video game show on the planet is back! Episode 5 of The Lineup is now live and ready to get you through the dog days of summer where there's nothing but baseball to watch. We've got it all in the latest episode: Rick Nash doing mo-cap for NHL 2K9, the NFL rookie Madden Bowl, an X's and O's segment on Top Spin 3, an interview with Vernon Gholston of the New York Jets, and a crazy clash of crashing custom cars in Nascar 09. Only one of our semi-talented hosts can be declared the winner...

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Shanker thinks he can hang with this year's crop of NFL rookies. This time we made him back up his smack talk and sent him out onto the field to display his "skills." You don't want to miss it. You know, now that I think of it, doesn't Shank Dogg (his nickname for himself, not mine) look amazingly like the Waterboy?

Are you upset that Madden is the only professional football game in town? Why not sue Electronic Arts? According to this news story, people are doing just that. Two people--one in California and the other in Washington, DC--have filed a joint lawsuit that claims that gamers worldwide have been harmed by EA's exclusive licensing agreements with the NFL, NCAA, and AFL (Arena Football League).

The suit states, "This vigorous competition (between NFL2K and Madden) benefited consumers. Electronic Arts could have continued to compete by offering a lower price and/or a higher quality product. Instead, Electronic Arts quickly entered into a series of exclusive agreements with the only viable sports football associations in the United States." At least the pair isn't asking for much--only restitution for damages for people who purchased EA football games since 2005. Oh, and they'd also like those pesky exclusive licensing agreements to be voided. Those two things should only cost EA a billion dollars or so. No biggie.

While I agree that anyone who was unfortunate enough to waste money on NFL deserves at least an apology from EA, these lawsuits are just plain crazy. I don't see these guys suing 2K because the buggy, disappointing MLB 2K8 was the only baseball game for the Xbox 360. In today's market exclusives are a way of life, and not just for sports games. Sega has the Hulk and Iron Man licenses, Activision has Spider-Man and James Bond, EA has Harry Potter and Superman, and THQ has the WWE. Video games are just one of the many, many products that garner exclusive deals. Martha Stewart's home products line is available only at Macy's, McDonald's sells only Coke products, and the only (official) service provider for the iPhone is AT&T. You're not going to see The Masters anywhere other than CBS, you won't find American Idol on ABC, and the only place to see the Olympics this year is on NBC.

Anyone who takes the position that gamers would be better off with more choices when it comes to yearly franchises certainly has a valid point. I'll admit that it was nice to have both the NFL 2K and Madden series battling for my affections. While I think the short development cycle that results from releasing a sports game every year is mostly to blame for the lack of innovation in many franchises, it's certainly possible that developers would push themselves harder if they knew they had a direct competitor.

Look, I'm not a big fan of exclusive deals when it comes to sports games, but I do know that silly lawsuits like these aren't going to make things any better. Vote with your wallet, write a blog entry, or speak your mind on the message boards. If enough people feel the same way, things will change.

What do you think about the lawsuits? Is EA the devil? Are you losing sleep because there aren't more Arena League options available? If the 2K football series was so great, why was there a bug in 2K5's season mode that had CPU teams using their starting QBs as punt returners? How long do you think it will be until EA snags the Pop Warner license? Leave a comment on these important questions below!

Welcome to The Huddle, a periodic look at the latest news in the sports gaming world.

2K Sports is set to reveal the cover athlete for its upcoming NBA 2K9 tomorrow night in a 30-second spot on ABC, just before Game One of the NBA Finals between the Celtics and the Lakers. On the NBA 2K9 Web site, you can guess who you think will be on the cover from a list of 16 players: Chris Bosh, Baron Davis, Kevin Durant, Kevin Garnett, Andre Iguodala, LeBron James, Yao Ming, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker, Chris Paul, Paul Pierce, Brandon Roy, Josh Smith, Dwyane Wade, Deron Williams.

So, the question for the guys from GameSpot and SportsGamer in this installment of The Huddle is: Who do you think 2K will announce tomorrow night as the cover star of NBA 2K9?

BRIAN: Personally, I think we can knock Tony Parker, Brandon Roy, and Josh Smith off that list right now. At least, I hope we can. While my heart is with Baron Davis, my head has to go with Kevin Garnett. He's been responsible for the revival of the Celtics from a cellar dweller to an NBA Finals contender and, even though I know Shanker thinks he lacks the killer playoff instinct, I think he's done more to associate himself with Boston in one year than he did in twelve in Minnesota.

SHANKER: By process of elimination this becomes much easier to predict.

1. It can't be Chris Paul since he was last year's cover athlete. Many reasons for this but one is that the cover athlete offers extensive motion capture time as part of his agreement and they already got plenty of stuff from Paul last year. A video game cover is no different from a magazine cover--it has to be fresh and catching with every iteration. Ever wonder why Madden doesn't just show a picture of Big John every year anymore?

2. Andre Iguodala, Brandon Roy, and Josh Smith can be removed as they simply don't have the star power or universal name recognition. If past covers are any indication, you can get high-profile stars on your cover if you really want them and guys like LeBron James will simply move more copies than an Andre Iguodala.

3. Kevin Durant was EA's cover athlete last year for March Madness 08. Choosing him would be even worse than putting Paul on the cover again.

4. Yao Ming, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, and Dwyane Wade all had down years either due to injury (Ming, Wade), age (Nash), or cruddier supporting staff (Nash, Nowitzki). All could have been on the cover last year but they are simply yesterday's news.

5. Bosh had a good year, but plays for a small market team. No one has seen him play and those that have probably remember him more for his All-Star commercial than anything he's done on the court. I feel bad for saying it but it's true.

6. While not bad choices, 2K just did the point guard thing last year. This includes the mo-cap for the position from the game's best. While they do have different styles of play, it makes it unlikely that they will choose Baron Davis, Tony Parker, or Deron Williams.

Ok. That leaves: Kevin Garnett, LeBron James and Paul Pierce. The decision here is simple... if you can get LeBron James, get LeBron James. His marketability is what Kobe's is without the rape trial or trade demands. The next best option is Kevin Garnett just because of the screaming two-handed dunk pose. In fact, if 2K chooses him, I guarantee that is the image they use for the cover. Paul Pierce is just "ehh". He's a great player and has had a terrific year but I would have no difficulty naming 20 guys in the league that are better than him (I'm not just saying this because I hate the Celtics). He's a decent third option if you can't get the other two.

AARON: Well, my first guess was Kobe Bryant, but then Brian encouraged me to actually read the list of candidates before I started pontificating on why I thought it would be Kobe. Now that I've taken a look at the list I think the answer is obvious: It's LeBron. Why would he be on this list if he wasn't going to be the guy? LeBron is the best player of the 16 candidates and he's easily the most well known. You don't tease people with King James and then announce Chris Bosh as your cover athlete. Any other choice makes it look like 2K couldn't get their man.

DANIEL: There isn't any question in my mind about who the NBA 2K9 cover "athlete" will be. Most people agree that the NBA 2K series is the most realistic basketball simulation of all time. With that being the case, the person who dons the cover of the game needs to represent that realism. This person needs to be the face of the NBA. When you see this person, you need to think to yourself, "yeah, this person is a 'game-changer'". Who is this person? It has to be David Stern! He's the Vince MacMahon of the NBA. That's right – the NBA is as real as the WWE. The great secret is that most people haven't figured it out yet.

There's a famous quote from a great movie, The Usual Suspects – "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." The devil, my friends, is David Stern. He dictates the NBA. He determines who wins and who loses. It's just amazing that so many people are still fooled. How could trades like Pau Gasol happen otherwise? Why on earth would Minnesota give up Garnett for just about nothing in return? Why are game so poorly refed, so often? Let's not make any more pretenses. Put David Stern on the cover of NBA 2K9 and let's make this game truly realistic.

KYLE: Well, KG and Lebron are certainly the two favorites in my opinion, with KG having a slight edge. However, I'm going to go with the philosophy of, "If it ain't broke, then why fix it?" The 2K basketball sales from last year improved once again as Chris Paul not only won over the cover, but also won over NBA fans everywhere. Placing Paul on the cover for a second consecutive season isn't entirely unprecedented either. 2K Sports did the same thing in 2K6 and 2K7 when they placed then Miami Heat center Shaquille O'neal on the cover in back to back years. Paul is already a superstar and he's only going to continue to get better. CP3 in 2K9!

Who do you think's going to be announced as the cover star of 2K9?