SI Sportsman of the Year

Jim Everett?

 

It might be nice if the sportsperson of the year actually showed some, you know, sportsmanship once in awhile.

 

The Jim/Chris confusion aside, no, you don't have to do anything. The Wimbledon champion used to be automatic for SI's cover too. Yaz won it in 1967, yet Miguel Cabrera didn't win it in 2012.

The award is about timing as much as anything, and really nobody even knows what it's about. The first SI I ever got was the Mary Decker one in 1983, and I think it was someone on here who said she won because some editor there had an insatiable crush and thought it was an avenue to nookie.

There's no precedent set in any of the awards.

 

That's why you could never give it to the damn horse. The thing shits all over his own playing field. No manners at all.

 

[coughcoughtriplecrown!cough]

 

Steve Cauthen won it for Affirmed, though, right?

 

No, he won it the year before Affirmed's Triple Crown.

 

And, for what its worth, what a crock of horseshit. Like SI has no control over how it has its cover subjects pose. And like SI wasn't enthralled by the idea of an attention-grabbing sex kitten cover pose.

 

Yep. Serena wasn't even the most deserving tennis player this year, nor was she was she the most deserving "lifetime achievement" tennis candidate out there either. But she was someone who allowed SI to boast about breaking some meaningless pseudo barrier--the first black female SOY!!--and someone who was a media lightning rod sure to stir up debate, discussion and attention ...especially if you pose her sex kitten style in an image far more eye-grabbing than what a Curry, Djokovic or horse cover could pull off.

Obviously this was decided quite some time ago. Really didn't matter that Serena choked badly in the US Open, or that American Pharoah continued to race and win for several races after the triple crown, or that Curry has had a historically great start to this season, or that Djokovic rolled again in the US Open--because SI had already decided from early summer onward that Serena best served its own interests ...so just find a way to ignore all that happened the last half of the year.

 

Serena shits all over everything too.
#equolivesmatter

 

Look at that, I guess it's time for my first post.

I've very much enjoyed watching the tears flow since this was announced and certain posts in this thread gave me that warm, fuzzy feeling. Particularly loved someone mentioning the most successful male player, who, by the way, is 4 slams behind Serena (and counting).

Regardless of what happened at the US Open, she still held all 4 slams at once this year: 12 freaking years after her first Serena Slam. Djokovic may have had a better year on paper, but he's in his prime years. She is 34 years old, her body breaking down in her 19th year on tour, every single rival (aside from her sister) retired for years, yet she still had the audacity to win as frequently as she did this year. What she has achieved this year is astonishing, but I doubt anyone but people fully engrossed in tennis will understand.

 

Thirty-four and getting better and better. I wonder if S.L. Price will have to write a Gary Smith apology piece a few years from now.