SI Sportsman of the Year

I don't get this logic .. why would Lance Armstrong or Greg LeMond win the award for winning one two-week race then? Same goes for any Olympic athlete that won the award ... their credentials are based on a much shorter time frame.

As far as "winning" goes ... Was Cal Ripken winning when he won in 1995? No, the Orioles were 71-73 that year. But he obviously got it because he broke Gehrig's streak and rightfully so.

 

Ugh, seems like a career achievement award ... How about Florida basketball team, specifcally the four that returned to try (and achieve) a defense of the NCAA title ...

 

It's not unprecidented ... Dean Smith (1997) and Don Shula (1993).

Or maybe it's a good combination of both .... after having two sub-par/horrible seasons, having everyone from Fort Myers to Fairbanks telling him to hang it up, etc., he comes back an plays at a level matching (or even besting) his three-time MVP years, breaking record after record in the process.

 

In no particular order, my choices:

Colorado Rockies (yes, I'm a fan, but aside from Holliday missing the plate against the Padres, this was the best baseball story not about steroids this past season IMO).
Barry Bonds
Roger Goodell
Roger Federer
Anaheim Ducks -- winning a Stanley Cup on the West Coast is another sign of a changing NHL
MMA -- it's a sport that has become a juggernaut
Chris Benoit -- WWE wrestler whose disgusting actions (killing wife, child then himself) got enough public and mainstream media attention that it would be great if something positive could emerge from something so sadistic and sad. Regulating pro wrestling with REAL drug testing to support those who come into this business or already are in it would be a huge step in the right direction. Benoit's reputation is forever stained (deservedly so), but to help others avoid a similar fate in the future would be great in the post-Benoit era. Perhaps there is no hope for a sports world rocked by so many admissions of drug use.

 

Team that got their asses handed to them in the WS.
Indicted.
New guy.
Tennis.
You're Kidding.
Murder-suicide. Again, you're kidding.

And, by process of elimination, Favre is still it.

 

WHAT THE HELL?

No mention of Tony Parker?

Dude was the NBA Finals MVP, the first European-born player to do so.

Then a month or so later, he married Eva Longoria.

That, my friends, is an GREAT YEAR!

 

Barry Bonds? Chris Benoit?

Those were important stories, but Sportsman of the Year—moreso than Time's Person of the Year—is an award that has a connotation of not just importance, but virtue. Which is why it's callen Sportsman of the Year, rather than, say, Athlete of the Year.

So those two would be out. Way out.

 

Favre is a reasonable, if too safe, choice.

 

This should have been Tony Dungy.

First African-American coach to win a Super Bowl, and doing it when everyone was doubting whether a 'nice guy' could win the big one. It was the reason he lost his previous job, with the team going to a SB title the following season, further extending that myth.

A coach to whom's coaching tree you can now add Mike Tomlin, who is having a fabulous first season in Pittsburgh. He on the way to becoming as influential as Parcells or Walsh as far as coaches who are coming from working underneath him.

A man who epitomizes sportsmanship, patience and grace. This should have been a no-brainer.

 

I wouldn't go so far as to say no-brainer, but Dungy is the first name that comes to mind for this award. There may be a few others equally deserving, but no one more so.

 

In no particular order, my choices:

Colorado Rockies (yes, I'm a fan, but aside from Holliday missing the plate against the Padres, this was the best baseball story not about steroids this past season IMO).
Barry Bonds
Roger Goodell
Roger Federer
Anaheim Ducks -- winning a Stanley Cup on the West Coast is another sign of a changing NHL
MMA -- it's a sport that has become a juggernaut
Chris Benoit -- WWE wrestler whose disgusting actions (killing wife, child then himself) got enough public and mainstream media attention that it would be great if something positive could emerge from something so sadistic and sad. Regulating pro wrestling with REAL drug testing to support those who come into this business or already are in it would be a huge step in the right direction. Benoit's reputation is forever stained (deservedly so), but to help others avoid a similar fate in the future would be great in the post-Benoit era. Perhaps there is no hope for a sports world rocked by so many admissions of drug use.

Zeke's response and my rebuttal ...

Team that got their asses handed to them in the WS (Red Sox fan?).
Indicted. (and set a home run record that by everyone hating see happen, still got enough attention to keep it a story all year long)
New guy. (and has tried to draw some kind of line in terms of the off-field behavior of his league's players -- unlike Selig, Stern and Bettman).
Tennis. (Best player in the world).
You're Kidding. (MMA taking over Boxing).
Murder-suicide. Again, you're kidding. (Talking about long-term impact from something so sadistic. Perhaps you didn't read that reasoning.)

And, by process of elimination, Favre is still it. (even if you hate all of my choices, Favre remains FAR down the list of choices. Do you work for Bowflex? Perhaps they should get some of the credit).

Truth be told, perhaps the fact that the Sports fan got cheated by baseball players (Bonds), football players (Vick), football teams (Patriots), track athletes (Ms. Jones), cycling (Tour de Doping), etc. that for fans to put up with it all deserves some kind of mention.

 

No question, this should have been Tony Dungy's award for reasons listed above. He also wrote a best seller, and let's not forget he won the Super Bowl a year after his son committed suicide. After that tragedy, a lot of people thought he shouldn't even return to coaching.

I thought the winner of this sport was supposed to transcend sport in some kind of way, or be the most dominant player in their sport. Brett Favre is having a good year, but he won't win a Super Bowl and I doubt he'll win the MVP. He's a guy having a good year. So what?

Two straight years SI whiffs. I still can't figure out the Dwyane Wade selection.

And I agree, the Rockies and the Florida men's basketball team would have been a nice choices, too. Not better than Dungy, though.