Before we get to the award, an announcement...

Over the next two and a half weeks, we'll be running a contest here with some pretty cool prizes to give away. And to win them, all you have to do is vote for the Benny Awards! The team's hooked me up with the following prizes: a DC United/Volkswagen team scarf, the 2009 DC United media guide, and a Gatorade/MLS towel. To enter, you just need to post in the Comments section, and somehow identify yourself. You can identify yourself either by posting with a public Google account so I can see your email address when you comment, or sign your comment with your email address, or just send me an email at dcu.umd[at]gmail.com to let me know which comment is yours. Yeah its that easy. There are 6 awards left including this one, and you can vote once per award, so that's 6 chances to win!

I will be giving out the prizes after the last regular season match as follows:

The Gatorade/MLS towel will go to the funniest/most creative comment.
The 2009 media guide will go to the most convincing/intelligent comment.
The DCU/VW scarf will go to a comment chosen completely at random.


Now let's get down to business.

By definition, the Grosy Award goes to the DCU player who you think of as a warrior. To the guy who isn't afraid to lay his body on the line, play through injuries, and do whatever it takes to win. The award's namesake is Josh Gros, whose soccer career actually ended way too early because he was exactly the type of warrior that I just described.

Last year's winner was Santino Quaranta, who was frequently seen playing with a cast on his arm, and played through multiple injuries throughout the year.

1. Luciano Emilio is nominated mainly for his performance at Marathon in the opening CCL match, in which he literally split his head open while scoring. He returned to the field moments later and played the remainder of the match with a bandage.

2. Clyde Simms and Dejan Jakovic each took just about 3 weeks to recover from hernia surgery, an operation that cost Marcelo Gallardo half his season in 2008.

3. Ben Olsen has issues with both of his ankles, his knees, his chest hair, and probably more. Yet after sitting out all but 15 minutes last season, he is back with a vengeance and fighting for the team with every minute that he spends on the field.

4. Greg Janicki got back spasms from sitting on the bench too long and was placed on injured reserve.




Please enter your votes now through the end of the season, and remember to post in the comments section to be eligible for prizes.

Up next: The Freddy. What has been DC United's biggest story this year?