Peyton Manning SI Sportsman (Moneymaker) of The Year

Shoulda been Federer, then. Anytime. Guy made 91 percent of his $71 million last year from endorsements.

 

Compare sponsorships inside the U.S. Sports Illustrated has no interest in most of the companies who have endorsement deals with Federer, except Nike, for whom tennis is kind of an afterthought. As far as I can remember, the only two tennis players who've won the award are Billie Jean King and Arthur Ashe, and that was for social significance more than anything else.

 

I mentions this every Sportsman of the Year thread, but my favorite is Mary Decker from 1983, just because of the backstory explained by Michael MacCambridge in The Franchise (and another plug for that superb book). Martina Navratilova lost one singles match in '83. Moses Malone led the Sixers to the title. Carl Lewis and Edwin Moses dominated. But, MacCambridge wrote, Gil Rogin had an "infatuation (some called it an obsession) with Decker and was entranced watching her run, watching her move." So Mary Decker got the award.

Hard to believe Bird and Magic never won it. Joe Pa got it in '86, Bird's greatest year, and "Athletes Who Care" got it in '87 in Magic's best season.

And Maris not getting it in '61...Fargo weeps.

 

Outing alert: Small Town Guy is Popeye.

 

Damn you.

 

I've always been tickeled by the Gerald Ford SOY. Imagine
a politician getting SOY in this climate.
It might generate more cancellations than the swim suit issue.

 

If Jan Wenner ran SI, Obama would have won Sportsman of the Year at least three times by now...

 

He would not have beaten out Dzokhar Tsarnaev this year.

 

True, because it's impossible to make Obama look like he's a member of One Direction.

 

Chris Evert in '76

 

You're right, Dan. I forgot. Maybe Rogin had a crush on her, too.

 

I bet Bonnie Blair and Johan Olav Koss made SI a ton of revenue the
year that they won