Awarding the rest of the Bennies

In an incredibly close race, the dynamic dud duo of Zach Wells and Jose Carvallo wins the Donnety Award for biggest disappointment. These two heralded acquisitions were supposed to have a heated competition for the starting goalkeeper job, but instead they were only in competition with Rod Dyachenko for this unpopular award.

The Grosy Award for the bravest United player this year goes to Santino Quaranta, a guy who played through numerous injuries, which endeared him to the fans much more than several of our more renowned acquisitions who would rather sit on the sideline (or in their home country).

After some early competition, Santino Quaranta became the first United player to win multiple awards when he pulled away late to win the Freddy Award. Not only did Quaranta have to fight off his struggles with addiction, but he also had to fight off Olsen's media darling status and Gallardo's comparisons to Gomez in order to capture this award.

In perhaps the biggest surprise on the ballot, Ben Olsen emerged as the winner of the Harkesy Award, despite playing only 15 minutes all season. Even though his injuries kept him out the whole year, Olsen led by example in his training and work ethic, and edged Moreno by a slim margin in this contest.

With the team giving up a second to worst 51 goals this season, one defender still stood out and captured the Popie Award, and that was Bryan Namoff. DC's Ironman was about the only consistent part of our defense this year.

In another runaway affair, Jaime Moreno emerged victorious as the team MVP in voting for the Etchy Award. Moreno's 10 goals and 10 assists in the twilight of his career made him one of the few bright spots for the team.

And to close out the ceremonies, the 2008 Benny Award goes to Jaime Moreno. This hard working 34 year old is going strong, and the team and this blog will be happy to have him back next year.