Envious of other countries that have Sunday (even Saturday evening) papers filled with player ratings to let you know how everyone performed at a glance, even subjectively? Nostalgic for the days that USA TODAY had ratings for MLS? Tired of poring through 15 different game reports on 15 different sites and blogs that don’t tell you whether your fantasy left back performed semi-capably?

In this day of DIY media, why can’t we do this ourselves?

Here’s the plan: Each week, we need one or two people to volunteer to rate a game. I’m reserving the right to turn people down if I don’t think they’re going to be objective about it, and anyone who comes in and rates every home team player a 10 won’t be considered for ratings down the road. We’re not looking for Fanzone here — we want actual information from people who watched the game in detail.

We also want a little bit more than a number. It could be something like “Donovan: 7 – missed one early chance but sprang Buddle for equalizer with deft touch.” Or “Dure: 2 – repeatedly beaten for pace, most attempted clearances intercepted, at fault on all six goals. Gets a 2 rather than a 1 just for sheer effort and avoidance of yellow card.”

The ratings also should help us track tactical changes each team is making. Lead off the report with any changes in the side since the last game and give us at least a solid guess at the formation. That usually means taking what you see on the broadcast and then giving it a reality check once the game is underway. (Also, this is easier if you’re in the stadium and can see the whole field, so anyone who’s at a game gets priority if we have several volunteers.)

I’ll try one tonight for Metapan-Seattle, though I may be at the mercy of the broadcast feed for CONCACAF games. Hopefully, I’ll at least give us a template to go by.

For now, send in your ratings as comments — I’ll set up a post to collect them. We might change that system down the road.

So, can I have volunteers for the following (times ET; updated with volunteers):

Thursday
8 p.m. – Philadelphia-Columbus (ESPN2) – John “The Soccerist” Greely

Saturday
4 p.m. – Toronto-Chivas USA (Telefutura)
7:30 p.m. – New England-D.C. United
8:30 p.m. – Kansas City-Salt Lake – Alexander Abnos
9 p.m. – Colorado-San Jose

Sunday
7 p.m. – Dallas-Philadelphia (FSC) – Michael Roadarmel
9 p.m. – Chicago-New York (ESPN2) – me
11 p.m. – Seattle-Houston- Alexander Abnos