And the winner is...

I wasn't sure if I wanted to do this or not, but ultimately I figured it'd do more good than harm. Sooo... here's an objectively calculated Player of the Month for March. I know we're two weeks into April. Forgive me, please, I'm just lazy, that's all :(

Anyway, first the methodology. I've basically tried to take the MLS Fantasy Soccer game and modify it slightly so player performance is a bit better defined than just a simple point value. This is how I came up with my lazy player ratings as well. It doesn't involve much work from me, which I like, and it also spits out a 1-10 value based on how far the players performance fell from the midway value when compared to the rest of the players ratings.

Like I said before, it's really more a measure of the player's performance than anything else. As a sub, it's hard not only to rack up 'points', but also get enough minutes in to make those 'points' significant. I weight players points by the amount of time they play as well, as I think making significant contributions over the course of 90 minutes is every bit as important as coming in in the last 10 and notching a goal or an assist.

Since I assume not everyone is involved in the game, here's the scoring system.

For playing in a game	1
For playing at least 60 minutes in a game (includes playing points mentioned above)	2
For each goal scored by your goalkeeper or defenders	6
For each goal scored by your midfielders or forwards	5
For each assist *	3
For your goalkeeper conceding 0 goals (must also play at least 60 minutes)	4
For your defenders conceding 0 goals (must also play at least 60 minutes)	4
For your midfielders conceding 0 goals (must also play at least 60 minutes)	1
For every penalty miss	-2
For every penalty save	5
For every 2 goals conceded by your goalkeeper or defenders	-1
For every yellow card	-1
For every red card (includes any yellow card points)	-3
For every 3 saves	1

I mean, yeah, it's arbitrary, but it's not that bad, and I'm trying to improve on it. So, you know, let slack be cut.

Anyway, I'm sure you're not reading any more, so let's just cut to it.

For the month of March, SKC's Player of the Month is... (well... was...)

Drumroll, etc. etc...

Kei Kamara. And it's not that much of a surprise. 2 goals and an assist in 3 games plus a monsterous amount of shots gave him a monthly rating of 6.4. Here's how the rest of the squad fared.

Player	Rating
Kei Kamara	6.4
Graham Zusi	6.1
Aurélien Collin	6.0
Seth Sinovic	6.0
Matt Besler	5.9
Jimmy Nielsen	5.8
Chance Myers	5.8
C.J. Sapong	5.4
Roger Espinoza	5.0
Julio César	4.9
Bobby Convey	4.8
Lawrence Olum	4.0
Luke Sassano	3.8
Jacob Peterson	3.8
Paulo Nagamura	3.8
Joseph Peterson	3.8
Teal Bunbury	3.8



Which actually feels about right to me. Once again, remember, these aren't true "ratings", more representative of how much each player contributed to a positive result relative to the rest of the team. Some people might seem a little unsung, but when the team wins 3 matches out of 3, some one has to be in the middle.

If you've got any thoughts or feedback, please let me know. I'm honestly just sort of making this up as I go...