The efeects may or may not have been always beneficial, but I believe that Soehn really stepped up and attempted to assert his own leadership style this year.

With a roster made up almost completely of over the hill, often injured veterans and a bunch of promising rookies, Soehn did his best to try to develop the youngsters and keep the veterans healthy.

Was he effective? The results aren't holding that up for this year, but I think that he may have done a decent job with the development of the rookies. Only time will tell in that regard.

Frankly, none of the players provided much leadership this year. Tino would be the top on the list, but I think Soehn deserves the vote for this award, even if he doesn't deserve to be the coach next year.

Jeremy:

Frankly, none of the players provided much leadership this year.

As the vast majority of voters seems to agree with me that Olsen is the obvious winner here, presumably because they also agree with Shatz that Olsen's led by example of the field, could you explain why you think that's not the case? (I'm genuinely curious, because your comments are usually thoughful, not trying to be an ass...)

At times Benny has been an on-field leader. At other times, he has just been an emotional distraction (like against Chivas).

Tino also has lead on the field from time to time.

Jaime, who I felt was the clear winner last year, appeared to take the whole year off and should have handed the armband off to someone else this year.

There were no consistent on-field leaders, and there was no evidence of any player leading in the locker room. I just never got the feel that anyone was blending the individuals into a team.

A large part of the blame for that has to fall on Soehn as well. However, there is only so much that a manager can do to blend players into a unit. At a certain point, players need to step up and bond amongst themselves.

I suppose that if, like most fans, I were to have an emotional hatred of everything Soehn, then Benny is a good second choice.

Like I said, if I had an option of None of the Above for this award, I would have selected that. I can't think of anyone else that I would have even put on the list.

This year was just disappointing to me. Even more disappointing than last year, since I can't lay all of the blame at the feet of a paycheck Argentinian (or can I?).