Ricardo Clark seems to be on his way to Rookie of the Year. He has done a great job for the Metros so far this year. The Metros should try to Market him more and help him secure the award.
NYC native Sharlie Joseph who played HS (psal), college (St John's) and PDL (NY Freedom) in NYC, is doing very well as a starter for the Revs. In a way Joseph should not be considered a rookie because he is 25 and has had national team experience in his native country. But he is a rookie according to the rules. Right now I would say those two are the frontrunners.
I would actually say the 2-3 top candidates for Rookie of the Year would be Ricardo Clark, Todd Dunivant, and Logan Pause. I was thinking it was a no brainer that Rico would win but this year's crop is better than one would think. Ralph and Jaqua from Chicago, Gbandi from Dallas (he was hurt all last year), Magee, and to be honest I haven't been that impressed with Eskandarian or Joseph.
If the season ended today Clark would clearly be ROTY. The season doesn't end today. Let's see what happens over the next five months.
Well, with over 2/3 of the season remaining, Magee (3 goals) is almost halfway to what Faria scored in 2001 (8 goals) when Faria won Rookie of the Year (and Faria was 6 years older as a Rookie). Granted, so far, Faria's 2001 goals per minute was better than Magee's. Still - 8 goals remains the MLS record for a rookie, currently held by Faria, Cunningham and Wolff. With Clint out for National team duty, and Moreno hurt, Magee should be getting enough minutes this season to break that record. For an 18 year old, no matter what the goal per minutes is, that might put him on top of the list of candidates.
Both. Let's not be "naive" about "native". He moved to NYC in 1995 from Grenada. Just a typical New Yorker. Comes from Crown Heights in Brooklyn. Went to Wingate HS. http://www.mlsnet.com/content/03/90min0509joseph.html
Naive? Hmmmm... Born in Grenada, native 'Granadian' (or whatever they're called). Moved to New York 8 years ago, not a New York native. Not sure how that opinion is 'naive', but consider it whatever you want.
Christ he was born in 1978! Moved to New York when he was 17, and he's a 'native New Yorker'!? That takes some imagination stretching, now doesn't it?
Let's see: moved here to Brooklyn at age 17 ... so his Brooklyn high school attendance was probably limited to at most 2 years, depending on when in 1995 he arrived. Then he went to a junior college near Syracuse, then St. John's, and then he was drafted by the Revs in 2002, but not signed, and went to Italy and Germany to try his luck, then back to New York to pay for the NY Freedom in the D-3 league (on St. John's campus), then back to the Revs after the 2003 draft ... all before he ever turned 25. All that moving about in a scant 8 years, and still time to become a "native"! Funny, but I moved to NYC at age 22 in 1989. Somehow, though, I've never considered myself a "native New Yorker".
Could be worse, look at our Senator. Hillary Clinton is from Illinois, spent years in Arkansas, then DC and as soon as Moynihan left the bizzotch throws on a Yankee hat and starts calling herself a New Yorker. She was smart enough to not use the word "native" but she calls herself a New Yorker, and used her bus trips around Rochester, Buffalo and Albany to establish "street cred.". In her mind, it worked. In the minds of idiot voters, it worked as she got elected. I will never consider her a New Yorker. Not now, not in a couple of years when she runs again, not in 2008 when she tries to be president. Never. After 8 months of campaigning though, she convinced herself she was. You should only get to be "from" one place, and to be "from" there you either have to be born there or have lived > 50% of your life there. He qualifies on neither count, so I'm not going to say he's from here. Then again, who cares?
Magee is scoring goals, this is true, but Ricardo Clark is establishing himself as one of the best defensive midfielders in MLS, at any age. The people that vote will have seen him play and understand why he is the leading candidate even though he doesn't have a single point. Those other guys, Pause, Ralph, Joseph, are impressing because they're playing and not getting abused. Clark is playing and actually doing the abusing. I mean seriously, can anyone who has seen him play really say that he's not one of the league's best at holding the ball and fighting off defenders and dribbling through traffic? This is at 20. Mark it down, he will be on the 2006 World Cup team.
How I justify calling a New Yorker of 7 years a "native": The population of NYC, especially the outlying boros, is extremely transient. A person who lives here for 7 years is a person who has lived here much longer than most of the population (I'm guessing that is the case). Therefore he/she is like a "native" in the sense that they have been here longer than most other people.
You should probably try *staying* on your medication around election day every year. I'm sure that would solve this problem.
Given that he no longer lives in NYC, is he still a "native New Yorker"? If so, then what you are saying is that anyone who has ever lived 7 years in NYC, at any point in their lives, is a "native New Yorker"? And you wonder why everyone did a spit-take at your use of the word "native"?
Rookie of the Year Canidates In Order, if the season ended today: 1) Ricardo Clark - the sure winner if the season ended today, one of the best holding midfielders in MLS thus far 2) Mike Magee- all he's done is score goals. You can't ask much more of an 18 year old striker in his first season than that. 3) Todd Dunviant- solid play all year 4) Shalarie Joseph- I only rate him here because of his age (which some might not think is fair). However, he would still be behind Magee and Clark. 5) Logan Pause- tough player, good ball winner, decent with ball at feet.
OK, it's "non-native" instead of "native". It wouldn't be right to drop the topic of "non-native New Yorker" soccer players without a mention of the greatest one of all, who may finally get a slice of fame when the movie "The Game of Their Lives" gets to the movie theatres: Broadway Joe Gaetjens Or must you be a native New Yorker to be called "Broadway Joe"? http://www.soccerhall.org/famers/joe_gaetjens.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/16/s...00&en=4fda9fba7390b2db&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE do ny times writers read bs?
He is a good player, and needs no help to become the rookie of the year. Other then some help from team mates by playing better. He can also help himself by scoring a few goals as he moves up into the flow of play. That is what he needs to do to help himself get best Rookie.