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If you missed MLS's Save of the Week nominations this time around, don't worry - you missed nothing. The league's crack squad of highlight-reel enthusiasts parsed the Week 11 work of its teams and came up with five candidates for your clicks that are not bad...
...but that are missing what was surely the supreme goal-saving highlight of the last round of matches.
Like Mr. Petke said:
Xciting game. Back and forth. Both had run of play at times. Great point on the road. BTW, Lawrence IS FAST!!!
— @petkemike (@petkemike) May 16, 2015
Amazing. Should have been nominated.
What's that? Oh...good point. I suppose that was technically a block rather than a save, since Kemar Lawrence got in front of the shot before we knew for sure whether the ball was goal-bound, and Luis Robles was positioned to at least try to save it anyway. Fine, hide behind a dull technicality and deprive fans of another look at something delightful.
As it happens, there was another fabulous stop in the New York Red Bulls' tussle with FC Dallas this week.
Outstanding.
Sure, Felipe was a little fortunate that the ball was within his reach - but a a save only gets made if the ball is within reach, and few are made with heel-kicks.
David Ousted effectively collided with a shot that was struck at the same space he was occupying last week, and no one should seek to use that fact to suggest his reflex, mid-air stop was anything less than exceptional.
Say what? Felipe isn't a goalkeeper so he doesn't technically make saves? Poppycock.
Brek Shea ran away with the Save of the Week vote when he was nominated for a goal-line block.
Is Shea getting credit for the sort of reflex stop that might not considered so remarkable if made by a goalkeeper? Perhaps. It's not a save because Shea is not a goalkeeper? Balderdash.
But it was a save made exceptional precisely because Shea is not a employed to make saves. If it had been a heel-kick save, as deployed by Felipe, it would be a contender alongside Ousted's effort for Save of the Year (and it probably will be a contender anyway).
A save is stopping an otherwise goal-bound shot from getting into the net. 'Keepers tend to make the most saves because that's why they are on the field. This simply makes those occasions when an outfield player is the last line of defense more entertaining, because such moments are rare and even less often successful for the defending team.
Surely the whole idea of these online votes is to wrangle a bundle of exceptional highlights into one place, let the fans enjoy and figure out which one they prefer.
Both Felipe and Kemar Lawrence did exceptional things in the service of keeping FCD from scoring this week. Both could have been nominated, and at least one of them should. But they were not.
Save your clicks.
NOT VOTING FOR #MLS #SOTW. Where is @FeliMartins23?! #RBNY http://t.co/Vae8PulbAI
— Ainslie Binder (@ainslieann) May 19, 2015
Don't vote in MLS's Save of the Week this time around because it has forgotten to include MLS's save of the week. Or at least forgotten that the unexpected or the unusual is the domain of the exceptional and the principal highlight of sports. And "X of the Week" competitions are nothing if not celebrations of highlights.
You had a shot at having some fun with SotW this week and you blew it, MLS.