Move over Roger Bannister, Muhammad Ali and Arthur Ashe, Dwyane Wade in da house

What is the chance that SI has a new web master today.

 

McDonell gave them waaaay too much rope in that M&MD interview.

The simple answer, when they started hammering him about making a marketing choice instead of an honest editorial choice, should have been:

'Look fellas, we're in the magazine business, we sell magazines, and we do that by offering our readers honest editorial decisions. In this case, we felt that Dwayne Wade's story is so remarkable and riveting that we wanted it to be THE story that best defined achievement and accomplishment and sportsmanship. Read the story, and then see if you disagree. Thanks for having me here, have a great day.'

To allow them to wander into the 'Your swimsuit issue proves you're all about sales' territory was just suicidal.

 

21 for editor of SI. I'll re-subscribe.

"YES is letting us know that the incorrect spelling came from your website".

It's still funny.

 

Couldn't agree more about the cover. Boring picture, boring headline. "Plays to win???" It looks like a generic cover they were using as a dummy until they could come up with something creative. If you're going to choose the Sportsman based on cover appeal, you might want to come up with a decent cover. Inexplicable.

 

This is one more example of how chasing dollars has ruined the sports world in many ways.

Nothing against Dwayne Wade but Terry McDonell took what has been a respected award and turned it into another marketing spectcle.

Over the years great care and thought always seemed to be given to selection. Many times the choice was someone you did not expect yet you would marvel at the expertise of SI for coming up with.

Not this year.

What next -- Brady Quinn winning the Heisman ?

 

Re: Move over Roger Bannister, Muhammad Ali and Arthur Ashe, Dwyane Wade in da h

I just got my copy out of the mailbox, and I have to concur. What an underwhelming cover. "Plays to Win"? If it had said, "Plays Basketball Well," it would have been almost as interesting. The picture looks like something from a high school or college team's picture day. "OK, we'll put you in your uniform, in front of a background that's the same color, with a ball on your hip. Don't worry about tucking in your jersey. We don't have time for that. Smile. Click." And it was taken by Walter Iooss, which makes it all the more strange. The shot inside at the beginning of the story, with Wade in a suit, was much nicer. I'm not sure why they didn't use something like that.

 

I've seen high school special sections with better cover pictures. LOTS of them. I wouldn't want to settle for a shot like that with a generic high school feature story, much less the cover of SI.

 

Nice opinion of copy editors. Guess your copy's always been perfect.

 

You know, after glimpsing through the archived covers on the other sportsmen/women of the year, I don't see why Dwyane Wade's selection is causing everyone to get their panties in a bunch.
Then again, maybe I'm wrong. Who could forget Bob Morrow's wonderful 1956? Or Johann Olav Koss ini 1994? There are some dubious choices on this list and this ain't Time's Man of the Year. It's fucking sports. Get over yourselves.

 

You had something of a point until the last few lines.

This is a site for sports journalists. That is one of the high-profile stories of the year every year. If you think it is unimportant because it is sports, I'm not sure why you are bothering with this board.

 

It's not that it's "unimportant," but I think people are mistaking SI's selection for the Nobel Prize. This board grows tiresome when all it seems to do is complain about SI, or ESPN or AP or any other sports media outlet. This is the just latest.

My point was that there have been plenty of duds through the years. And say what you want about Dwyane Wade, the kid is a gem.

Three years ago, during his rookie season, the Cavs came to play the Heat. It was like the 7th game of the year or something. Heat I think were 0-6 at the time. The place sold out because everyone came to see LeBron.

Wade is at his locker before the game, and we talked for 15 minutes or so, mostly about LeBron and what it was like being a rookie playing in LeBron's "shadow." Couldn't have been a nicer kid. I didn't know much about him other than the triple double he dropped on Kentucky in the NCAAs at the time. I walked away thinking "man, I think they've got something here." Had no idea he'd be as good as he is, and the thing about him is, he hasn't changed much since that night three years ago. He's still mostly accessible, still polite, still pretty honest about his feelings.

In a year bereft of any standouts, I don't think he's the worst choice in the world. That's all.