Charlie Davies, MLS Player of the Week and something amiss

Charlie Davies has never done a thing to me. I promise.  I have absolutely nothing against the man, although I have said several times that he needs to grow up a bit and make more “adult” choices about some things. And, of course, I hope he’s learned his lessons about diving. Naughty, naughty.  

The man just has this odd knack for becoming an example of something that makes me cringe.

A perfect “for instance” was all the hollow howls of “bias” earlier this year when Bob Bradley didn’t call Davies into the national team for Gold Cup duty. Personally, I didn’t get it.  Davies had hit some penalty kicks and benefitted from two or three “right time, right place” goals, but he wasn’t truly distinguishing himself on the soccer field as a few others were at the time. And yet, some Davies devotees were apoplectic that D.C. United’s comeback kid striker wasn’t bequeathed a U.S. spot. Oh, the indignity!

So, I wrote a few times that Davies didn’t deserve the spot – and I was summarily tossed into the proverbial dungeon along with Bradley, convicted in the court of public opinion by that vocal minority of internet hardasses, the ones who believe you don’t know your thumb from your ass if you don’t agree with their opinions.

Well, here we are again, I suppose. Davies was just named MLS Player of the Week. That hardly bothers me in itself.  There’s no cash prize involved, so it’s all good by me.  What does get my shorts in a twist, however, is this general tendency for the goal scorer to reap official acclaim from a set who should know better.

Read on for the explanation …

The weekly award is a vote from the North American Soccer Reporters. Clearly, every voting member has the right to select as they darn well please here. And I understand that some people would argue that any hat trick scorer deserves Player of the Week treatment – even if all three goals bounced off the back of his noggin while he waved unknowingly to leggy beauties in the stands.

I just don’t happen to agree.  (About this mindset, that is; I certainly endorse leggy beauties gracing the grandstands of MLS.) And I wish we could move a bit beyond our “goal scorers get the awards” simplicity. In all areas of our beautiful game, including media treatment, I always advocate progress. Where we still play checkers, I always hope for chess.

So I have to wonder: did the voters really see the game? Did they at least look at the goals? Because I did. Chris Pontius was The Man in this one! (A 3-0 win on the road over Chivas USA.) He assisted on all three of Davies’ strikes, two of which were more tap-ins than “strikes.” And Dwayne De Rosario was the engine that could, driving United’s killer counter attack with precision and extreme prejudice.  

Davies certainly deserves some praise. He did finish the chances, and one of them wasn’t all that easy (although you couldn’t really call it “difficult” either). On the other hand, even Ben Olsen was trying to educate people after the match. “A lot of his goals — let’s face it — people were putting it on his foot,” Olsen told the Washington Post.

Would it take courage to cast a vote for Pontius, risking the wrath of Davies’ fans and followers? Probably. But who cares?