donovan wins another honda POY award

I really do like LD as a player and all, but the media is going LD nuts now. There is no way he deserved this award over Bocanegra and Howard, but he's getting the nod now because he is the marquee name. Its a shame that politics always get intermingled with performance the way they do.

 

Although I would not have minded Boca winning the award, Donovan does have the numbers to back up his claim to the award as well. From the referenced article:

"Donovan led the U.S. National Team in scoring with seven goals. In a July CONCACAF Gold Cup match against Cuba, he became only the fourth American player ever to score four goals in one game. He finished in a tie as the Gold Cup's leading scorer."

 

Donovan is a posterboy and it will always go to the posteboy. Obviously, he's a great player, but he's a name. It is the same reason Aerosmith continues to win Grammy's, people just know who they are.

 

Despite the whole Man U thing, I would've voted for Howard. Can't stand Man U in the least bit but I have to at least support the USA.

I think these media folks just voted for LD b/c they recognized the name. I don't really know of many people who have heard Howard or Boca's names but they all know who LD is. ("He's that guy with the really nice abs, right?")

 

voting results

A total of 206 United States sports journalists voted:

Donovan 396 points
McBride 194 points
Bocanegra 130 points

http://www.mlsnet.com/content/03/mls1007donovan.html

It looks like even McBride pulled in more voters than Boca. Right or wrong, americans and the media love their statistics. 7 goals and 5 assists was enough to convince the media that their "posterboy" had a better year than the other two candidates.

 

Maybe they finished top 2 because they were the only ones in the provacative NY Times Magazine spread.

 

I wonder if he was more excited by the trophy or the really big key.

 

Take out Cuba in the Gold Cup and this would not be a discussion. Boca was a more consistent player this year.

 

That would be in your humble opinion, right? And of course as a member of bigsoccer, you're obviously more knowledgeable than any sportswriter.

Get over it, it's a small prop for a good year.
Boca a good player, and so is Brian. Any one of them deserves the award, IN MY HUMBLE OPINION.

 

well duhhhhhh, of course he has more goals ......... he IS playing forward, isn't he? the trophy isn't for top goal scorer. it's for player of the year. and as you have noted, 4 of those goals came against a week side that we beat 5 or 6 to nothing. where was Donovan when we needed a big goal against a REAL team, say Brazil the 2 times we played them? oh yeah, that was Bocanegra, our CENTAL DEFENDER who was too busy scoring! it ain't about stats, it's about effect on the game. and consistently, Boca has had more of a positive effect on games than has LD.

 

Bocanegra really got badly hosed here. I thought it should have been a slam dunk for him. He not only had a better year than anyone else, he might have played the best throughout the year of any USA defender in recent memory.

Terrible.

 

I try to look at it as which would have the most negative impact if they couldn't step on the field?

Thinking of it that way, I say that Mcbride is definitely a rung lower than Charlie and Landon.

Although a fairly tight race, I think that Charlie was more important (valuable). No matter who he took the field with in defense, he always finished as the veritable "mortar" holding the sometimes shaky brick wall together.

Example: Without Bocanegra (due to his offensive and defensive prowess) the Brasil game never goes to extra time and USA walks off in big time defeat in regular time .

 

I can't agree with you there.I think Boca would have been a good choice, but Landon led the team in scoring and is an absolutely indispensable part of the attack.It is one thing to say that Carlos deserved it, but hosed? I don't think so.
By the way, the top attackers always win the awards-that is ther nature of the sport I guess. Has Pope won this? I don't think he has but I am not sure.He certainly deserved it over the years.Who was the last defender to win the EPL player of the year? I know that Steve Nicol won inthe 80s but has any defender won since?

 

With all due respect to Landon, I would have voted for Bocanegra. My 2nd choice would have been McBride, especially for his time with Everton.

 

as bluedaddy said, it EXPLICTLY is for national team play.If club was included, who else but Friedel could have won last year?

 

I try to look at the BIg Picture: public relations, the face of US soccer (other than Mia Hamm), name recognition, good looks (a'la Monty Cliff) -- unfortunately, not a baritone (either shut him up or overdub his voice with Sylvester Stallone).

In other words, he may be a punk, but he's our punk.

 

I totally agree with you. LD is the American Beckham. MLS/The Media is betting on promoting a superstar INSTEAD of the entire league.

LD is very good, but he is on a GREAT team! I'm bias of course I love Bocanegra. The man plays possessed....all over the pitch.

 

And you realize why he got hosed, right? When people don't know anything about a game, all they have to make a judgement on is the "stats". as a result they did the neandertha thing ........... "we see goals. more goals for Donovan. Donovan better. Donovan win."

 

Seventeen, Tiger Beat, and all those Cory magazines more than likely. Bocanegra and McBride are cute and all, but come on!!!