SI Sportsman of the Year

This does heighten the anticipation for the Serena-McEnroe duel.

I don't think he could outrun Pharoah, not by a long shot.

 

I'm fully engrossed in tennis.

I also know that Serena's "tennis age" is nowhere near 34.

She has played 860 matches.

Martina Navratilova played 1,661. Chris Evert played 1,445. Steffi Graf played 1,017.

Serena has been on tour for 20 years . . . and is nowhere near the top 10 in matches played. Think about the incongruity of that statistic. She's been on tour for two decades, typically makes the semifinals or finals of every tournament she plays, yet has played as many career matches at 34 as Steffi Graf had at age 27. Of course her "rivals" have retired. They played far more than the 43 matches per year that Serena has averaged.

 

So Djokovic had a better year and is in his prime years while Serena had a great year with all her rivals retired? And thats an argument for Serena? She dominated against mostly shitty competition?

 

The primary argument for Serena is that if Djokovic or Spieth or Curry had been selected, this thread would've been half as long. She was the only candidate besides the horse capable of getting the audience stirred up -- newsworthy in other words.

 

http://deadspin.com/columnist-deeply-concerned-serena-williams-si-cover-is-1748244269

 

It was not "prime years" that disqualified Djokovic nearly as much as "boring foreigner less likely to grab eyes and sell magazines."

 

Now Deadspin thinks publications should, in fact, defer to their sources.

Serena Williams has no obligation to anybody other than herself; she likes the cover, and that’s one of two things that matters here. The other is that she’s not just projecting her idea of what a powerful black woman looks like, she in fact is one.

Pick a fucking lane.

I would also love for Deadspin to show their work on the following assertion, other than a link to a known provocateur:

The irony is that since her ascendance years ago Serena has been criticized by stupid sportswriters for being too muscular, for looking “manly,” and for having an “oozing pumpkin” butt.

 

So Serena picked the cover photo? All that means is that the text of the article should have contained the sentence. "She understands what we do with this award better than we do."

 

Like I said earlier in the thread: Serena wanted this cover? Great. The proper answer is: "Thanks for your input. We had a different idea in mind."

I understand working with sources on something like this, but you don't get to outsource the responsibility for your bad decisions to them.

 

Who's to say they didn't say "thanks for the input. That's a great idea"?

 

Maybe this has been mentioned, but I'm seeing that SI denies they did anything to digitally slim her legs.

Do experts believe this is true? If yes, whoever makes those tights is going to make a lot of money.

 

That's not the rationalization I keep hearing. I keep hearing that it was "her idea."

She wanted it, you know.

She was asking for it.