Meara, Backe Mentioned in Rather Meaningless Mid-Season Awards

Since the season is roughly half over, we can all kick off our mid-season retrospectives. We have ours here, and SI.com's Avi Creditor (also of Soccer By Ives fame) hands out his mid-season awards here.

Ryan Meara wins Rookie of the Year in his award show.

Mr. Creditor's rationale?

Following in a long line of unreliable goalkeepers before him, Meara waded through some early slip-ups to become a rock behind a defensive unit that has constantly been changing because of injuries. His command of the box and confidence to come off his line when necessary are two of his most impressive attributes, and his ability to bounce back from an occasional blunder is uncharacteristic of such an inexperienced goalkeeper of his age. The Red Bulls have searched far and wide for an answer in goal for years, even going the Designated Player route last season with Frank Rost. As it turns out, they just needed to head to the Bronx.

Hans Backe was also mentioned as a Coach of the Year runner-up to the San Jose Earthquakes Frank Yallop.

Like it says in the headline, meaningless, but it's nice to see the Red Bulls get credit where credit is due.