SI Sportsman of the Year

Can I be the first person on the thread to say how stupid it is that a horse is not only a candidate, but potentially a favorite?

Sports story of the year? Absolutely. Sportsman of the Year (whatever that means)? Ridiculous. How many of the other candidates had to have a small person on their back telling them to go be good at their sport?

My pick is Curry with Rousey a close second.

 

I know she fell short of the Grand Slam, but I would still pick Serena, for having a dominating year and as a career-type honor.

Props to Pharaoh, but I just can't see a "Sportshorse of the Year" on the cover.

Rousey would be a daring choice, but I don't see it.

I wouldn't be shocked if they picked Curry (and if that happens, I'm betting the daughter is on the cover with him).

 

When he's not feeding him Beefarino ...

 

Curry was the second best player in the finals. Lebron went 36/13/9 and a third guy won series MVP. As amazing of a player as Curry is, it seems silly giving him the award when there was an all-time performance across the court.

It should be Serena -- I can see a copout of a Serena/Spieth combo.

 

Rusty!

 

And while I doubt he would get it in a non-World Cup year, Messi has been transcendent. Led his team to a treble, scored two of the all time great goals and has simply been the best player in the world's most popular sport for most of the past decade.

 

But the start of this season, Curry has been out of his mind. He was also pretty insane to end the regular season last year.

I have no problem with him getting it over a horse.

 

James did not make more than half of his shots in any of those Finals games and only hit more than 1/3rd of his threes once.

Sure, he had the weight of the world on his back, but if you need 30 something shots to score 40 points, are you really that effective? James was great, but Curry in the best in the NBA right now.

 

No problem with that either, just that the greatness of the Warriors is a bit over the top. They took six games to beat a team that was without 2 of its best 3 players.

 

Alabama's football team?

 

Yes, he was that effective. And my guess is that, given a choice, every single GM in the league would rather have Lebron over Curry