AP female athlete of the year

Correct me if I'm wrong, but technically the award is "2011 Female Athlete of the Year in the United States" and it's only voted on by American members of the AP, right? Not to say that a foreign athlete couldn't/shouldn't win the award, but I think their accomplishments would need to resonate pretty strongly with American fans to be considered.

With the place the US WNT held with the public for a period of time and it being a non-Olympic year, the winner had to come from that team. And Wambach was the better player than Solo.

 

I don't think Wambach is a bad choice at all...

 

Annika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa combined to win five in a row at one point. Tseng just had a better year than Ochoa ever did. She won two majors in addition to 10 other tournaments. She won the LPGA Championship by 10 strokes and the British Open by four. She's also 22. But American golf fans seem to be suffering Asian woman fatigue.

Wambach's World Professional Soccer team, magicJack, wasn't even that good and was shuttered after the season. She did serve as player-coach briefly, which is impressive, I suppose.

Maya Moore probably would have won the award had Connecticut not choked. But the way things played out, Tseng deserved it on merit, but Wambach was a decent choice on some combination of notoriety and merit. It all comes down to how you define the award. I'm not sure it's fair to say "more Americans know about Wambach" because it's the media's job to inform our readers and viewers, not to pander to them.

 

And if it was "AP World Athlete of the Year," I think Tseng would have been the clear winner. But we're talking about the athlete of the year "in the United States" as voted by American writers for an American audience.

I don't think it's "pandering" to the readers to consider the impact an athlete had on the American sports public as a factor in the award. I'm not suggesting to make it a popularity contest - otherwise, Danica Patrick/Serena Williams would split the vote every year. But you have to consider it. Otherwise, why not select Vivian Cheruiyot, who won the 5K and 10K at the World Track & Field Championships.

 

Hold on, there's an LPGA?

And before I get accused of the regular SportsJournalists.com snark, let's be realistic: The LPGA has all but disappeared off most radar screens since Sorenstam and Ochoa retired.

 

The USWNT barely qualified for the tournament and there was a real fear they would not clear the group stage. The turnaround they managed was impressive.

Wambach also played much of the later stages of the tournament with an Achilles injury. I must say that Megan Rapinoe was probably one good match away from stealing that thunder.

 

The idea that Abby Wambach had some kind of resonant and lasting impact on the American sports scene is pretty far-fetched too. You wouldn't get more than 5 percent name recognition of her and what she did.

 

About a dozen years ago I went home to visit my parents. My dad asked that I go to a high school basketball game with him. I asked him what game he wanted to see and he said, "We're going to a girl's game." I was in my mid-20s and really didn't want to go watch a girl's high school basketball game as that was just a bit awkward. He said, "This is the best high school female athlete I've ever seen and you'll want to say you saw her play." As I'm sure you can tell it was Abby Wambach and, yes, I'm glad to say I saw her play. She was an absolute beast.

 

The LPGA could run much more successfully out of North Korea. Less travel for the masses.

 

And now you know..... the rest of the story. Good day!

 

I find it incredible that the AP women's athlete of the year thread is crushing the men's athlete of the year thread 21-2 in replies at the moment.

Oops, make that 22-2.

 

But who can possibly argue against Rodgers? The guy hasn't lost a game all year.

Tebow just ran out of time, is all.