BASAs Primer

Starting this Sunday, the voting for the 2006 edition of the BASAs will begin. What are the BASAs? Blogosphere American Soccer Awards See here for last year's results. There were 12 blogs participating last year, and I'm hoping for double that this time. Should be interesting to see how our choices compare to the MLS awards. Rules 1) I am collecting email addresses from American soccer blogs, and I will email those bloggers right after the final regular season game ends (Chivas USA-Real Salt Lake, Sunday 10/15). They will name their top three choices for the following awards (last two, top five choices): Coach of the Year Rookie of the Year Goalkeeper of the Year Defender of the Year Midfielder of the Year Forward of the Year Young Player of the Year Old Player of the Year Favorite MLS Player (new for 2006) Most Annoying US Soccer Personality (new for 2006) MLS Player of the Year USMNT Player of the Year (new for 2006) Each blogger will also name a Best XI, with whatever formation they want (real ones only, please). The deadline for ballots will be the start of the first playoff game on Friday or Saturday of that week. Points will be tallied to determine the winners, using a 5-3-1 scoring system. Player of the year awards will use a 10-7-5-3-1 system. Awards will be announced one per day starting 10/23. 2) Some notes on the various awards. Young and Old player of the year are for players under 23 and 33 or over as of July 1st. That's the traditional cutoff day for determining a baseball player's age for a particular season, and it fits well in MLS too. Here's the list of MLS players sorted by age. So for Old Player, the eligible players are Onstad through Abundis. For young player, Jeff Curtin through Altidore. For the Most Annoying Personality award, it can include players, coaches, announcers, officials, whatever. With all the complaining on the message boards, it should be very interesting to see the results. I was planning on having a YA of the year award, but I think the timing is too awkward here in October. 3) Only one ballot per blog, no matter how many people write for it. Must be an active blog which deals with American soccer on a regular basis. I'll send out emails this week to make sure I have the right addresses before I send out the ballots on Sunday. Looking forward to it!