SI Sportsman of the Year--Predictions?

Different criteria. The story is part of it.

I'd almost put the Chilean miner who ran the New York City Marathon in the mix. Great story. Perseverance. Etc.

 

If this is a sportsmanship award, there really shouldn't be too much debate. The example these two guys set is the very definition of sportsmanship IMO.

 

I agree. There wasn't a better example of sportsmanship this year. It was, by far, my favorite story.

 

I was wondering how long it would be before either was mentioned, and you mentioned them early in the same breath. Well done, sir.

 

I love the Jim Joyce and Armando Galarraga idea.

But I also think Landon Donovan would be a great choice. For a few weeks this summer, soccer did capture America. Just watch the youtube clip of people around the country experiencing Donovan's goal:

 

In the year when there is not really a clear-cut human winner, why not go with a horse? As somebody mentioned it's as much about the story as it is the winner.

The fact SI already did a pretty big feature on her probably rules her out though.

Not sure how I feel about Joyce and Galarraga. It's a neat story but it's a neat story only because Joyce royally fucked up a pretty simple call.

 

Most uplifting World Cup performance was that of New Zealand, but nobody cares about them. The Donovan goal was a thing of wonder, but I just think the US needed at least one more win to really cement that as a defining moment.

How about Joannie Rochette from the winter Olympics?

 

But that's exactly why it would be a good choice. Nowadays, when there's a fuckup like that it's followed with endless, over-the-top screaming and yelling on talk radio, call for firings or executions. Compare the aftermatch of that with the Calvin Johnson catch vs. no catch debate, which went on for several painstaking days. Who would have ever guessed, in 2010, that you'd have a player be so forgiving so quickly and an umpire -- an MLB umpire! -- in tears after admitting his mistake. This simply doesn't happen anymore -- but it did.

 

If SI wants to make a point about sports in 2010, it'd pick Donovan.
If it was as literary a mag as it was in the late 50s and early 60s, it'd pick Zenyatta.
If it wanted to strike a blow for sportsmanship and make a different point about sports, it'd go for Joyce and Galarraga.
What SI wants to do, first last and all the time, is sell more magazines. So it'll be Brees. He's not a bad choice, but he's also the most pedestrian and commercial choice.

 

What is the point with Donavan? I think Durant makes a different point. Brees is Wade + Katrina.

 

I had an earlier post on this, Guy. My thought is that 2010, looking back, was the year of the World Cup in the U.S. It proved that soccer is part of the mainstream sports universe here -- a smaller part than football, sure, but still a part. That, sociologically speaking, is a big change.