Remarkable season. Traded twice and still wins Golden Boot & MVP (while winning all three MVP voting groups: club reps, players and media). Congrats to DeRo!
Here is a question, has an MVP in any american sports league ever been traded mid-season? How about being traded twice?
Davis had a helluva season, unquestionably. While I wanted to see DeRo get it -- and I am admittedly biased as a DCU supporter -- I thought Davis not only had a strong case for MVP, in my mind he was the slight favorite (because DCU failed to make the playoffs). That said, I've always been in the camp that believes "most valuable player" is simply "player of the year".
I didn't get to watch many Houston or DCU games this season, but DeRo really earned a lot of character points for keeping up his level of play despite getting traded around like a sack of potatoes. 99.9% of professionals would have mentally quit, citing disrespect. What he accomplished demonstrated true dedication and love of the game. His overall MLS record is especially heartwarming because I'm a DeRo fan going back to when Yallop kept him as a benchwarmer, and I kept lamenting why.
DeRo winning the MVP award is definitely interesting in terms of gauging what constitutes an MVP-season: Is it playing the best soccer of your MLS career and helping propel a championship-caliber team studded with good players into the playoffs (like with Davis and Beckham), is it to secure a second Supporter's Shield (Beckham), or lifting up and carrying your average, build-in-progress team to a respectable finish like with DeRo? Hmm...
if it was named "Most Outstanding" there'd be no debate. but i'd say the consensus is that MVP is the same thing since we don't have separate awards for both. i was thrilled to see it. TFC didn't need him in a rebuilding year, but I was stunned when NY got rid of him. when i saw him in TFC@DC he put on a heroic performance.
Yeah he should be called a league builder, Im a tfc fan naturally, and Im now a DC fan because of him.