I took a very interesting course in linguistics and the professor professed that "whom" is nominally wrong in its use because the word is dead. Segares and Boswell stand out in my mind as arguably more deserving.
good, i hate using whom. it always sounds so jackassy. yeah when it comes to awards like these its always a rough call. i think its easier to name like the top 5 or whatever. once you get there its really a crap shoot. i think in the end, the player on the best team ends up with boost they need to win. both boswell and segares had good years. better than marshall? no. but was marhshall's any better? proabably not. but his team winning the shield helps him and he scored a few important goals. chicago had the best D in terms of goals against (right?). so maybe a stronger argument could have been made for him. but i wouldn't say anyone got screwed.
No, Houston, for the 2nd year in a row, had the best defense in the league...and didn't win DOTY, nor GKOTY. Oh well. We'll just take MLS Cup instead, I suppose. I guess that's a good substitute. I would have given it to Segares, personally. He was a monster.
Don't hate. It's not good for the soul. Have you seen any of his matches vs. the teams with league leading scorers? He was BOSS! Look at the highlights if you still doubt the skills. You and I both know how important set pieces are to the game. He's had numerous header attempts on or near frame, along with his goals scored. Yeah, a defender with goals scored. True, there are some other hard defenders out there, but the voters have spoken.
I think Marshall earned it, especially when you consider he was able to do all of this while playing with either an undersized converted defensive midfielder or a rookie as his partner in central defense.
Danny O'Rourke. Ezra Hendrickson. Andy Iro. These are the central defenders who partnered Marshall. All of the other candidates were partnered by vastly superior players than any of these. That Marshall played well with them really distinguishes him in my book this year.
fair choice. ok, boswell, segares, throw in marvell wynne, had good seasons. but clb wins because they're strong in the middle. marshall. and don't overlook evans. (also moreno up front chases everything). i think all of us are over the point of thinking robbie rogers is the key to this team. ps-marshall did get one kind of help on defense. his central partner is never exceptional, but clb does have good outside backs.
Chad certainly deserves it. On Rogers, have you noticed the Crew works best when he is creating havoc on the wing.