Juan Pablo Angel - MVP hopeful AND Sexiest Man (im straight folks)

By: Dave Martinez | September 27th, 2007

. . . . WHO WOULDA GUESSED?!?! . . . .

First off, People Magazine (in espanol) has A RED BULL as one of the 10 SEXIEST MEN in AMERICAN in its newest magazine. CHECK IT OUT.

Simultaneously, they are breaking down the possible end of year award winners on MLSNET (MVP, rookie of the year, etc.).

And of course, the only RBNY representative in BOTH catagories and currently trailing Luciano Emilio for league MVP? . . . . . . .

What a surprise right?

Well, remember . . . its MVP, not Golden Boot. Lets take a look at his most valuables shall we ? . . . . .

#1 - Clutch goal scoring. The dog days of the MLS summer are over. And when the time to heat up for the cool fall months approached, our Red Bull with Wings gave us a lift.

8 games, in a pivotal part of our schedule, and here is what Mr. Clutch has done :

7 Goals, 2 Assists, 1 Yellow Card.

In this crucial span, JP has been able to score EVERY OTHER GOAL FOR RBNY. That is 7 GOALS out of the teams 15!

And take it a step further! If you add the assists, then 9 out of the past 15 goals have been DIRECTLY involving the play of our Colombian Superstar. Thats 60 percent folks. Do the math.

#2 - Mentoring.

This year has been an awakening of youthful, exciting play from our Red Bull Babies. Jozy Altidore has become a man under the wings of JPA (I will stop making ridiculously bad puns soon enough). His progress has been heavily notable, especially when you look at his stats this season, let alone the U-20 World Cup.

Jozy has been able to play in 11 games with heavy minutes. 8 goals, 3 assists.
His grand total is 18 games on the season.

And Dane Richards. Every game you watch, you will see Angel giving on the field direction to our young and speedy right wing. And Danes progress, in my opinion, is a direct result of playing with a professional of Angels caliber.

Ill credit Joe Vides surge of great play with Cap’tn America.

#3 - Presence. Even in the days of Amado and Youri, never have we had a player garner the attention of the opposition like Mr. Angel. His ability to draw 2 - 3 people each and every offensive opportunity has enabled other players to have more room, and ability to maneuver.

Look at Clint. Clint has been in the toilet the last two weeks, getting ready for a flushing. But look now. Mathis is able to blend into a system, and have the proper room to create and score because he has a person of JPA’s presence (and Altidore as well) to open up room.

His on the field presence is what this team feeds off of. And he is a major reason this team has been able to achieve league wide respect this season.

#4 - Leadership. Hey. Read the above.

#5 - Passion. Whats better than a Dema Kovalenko attitude? A Dema Kovalenko attitude with a divine goal scorers touch. How many scraps have we seen Angel get into recently? Larentowicz last week is a prime example. He SNUFFS people in the face, he goes nose to nose, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, he sticks up for his teammates. This guys passion is on that Dema level. And I love it.

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JPA is our LEAGUES MVP. Take out JPA from the equation, and you have an RBNY team sleeping in the cellar. Take out Luciano Emilio from DC, not so much.

JPA is the reason this team is where it is. And that merits true MVP consideration.

Hey . . . if you take A-Rod out of the Yankees this year, you would have NO PLAYOFFS. Same theory with JPA. And he will be our leagues MVP.