The 2014 SI Sportsman of the Year

Ray rice?

 

And still generated more excitement than the World Series.

 

Especially among the nation's citrus farmers, who enjoyed the windfall from their quadrennial sales spike.

 

Exactly.

 

Where did Jeter rank in voting for Sportsman of the Year?

 

A choice no reasonable person could argue against. The first real Mr. October since Reggie in the 70s.

 

Kind of what makes it such a good choice.

Everybody's so busy looking for the perfect out-of-the-box pick, they ignore the perfect candidate right in front of them.

 

Similar credentials in one of the sports recognized by the group who still run sports media would have made this a no-brainer.

Alas, for soccer does not exist in their world.

Indeed.



That all said, I stand corrected regarding Bumgarner. He had an excellent year overall. But it's not like the Giants won their first this year.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bumgama01.shtml

 

The whole "They won one game!" as an insult is flawed logic. They did enough to advance, which is no guarantee for the U.S. men;s national team. I wouldn't sell them as Sportsman based on that, obviously. They weren't deserving. The 2002 team would have been, but SI had to remedy the fact it hadn't honored Lance Armstrong yet at that point.

I didn't say SI doesn't cover soccer. I said it doesn't exist in the world of those who run the slow with legacy media. It is covered because the powers that be know readers want it. But it is not regarded among the sports those powers grew up with.

You might have missed Donovan's performance this season other than his missing the same World Cup team whose importance you dismissed repeatedly in this very thread.

10 goals and league-leading 19 assists. Both totals helped him break the career marks for a league that yes, has only been around two decades. Then they won the title. In the context of MLS, he had every bit the year Bumgarner had. In the context of U.S. Soccer, he had every bit the career a Brett Favre (2007 honoree) had. In the context of off the field noteworthiness and thus an interesting story, his late-career sabbatical was a different angle than we usually see from a top-class athlete.

If "Sportsman" also honors off the field behavior - and it has, in the past - the comeback from the World Cup snub was also noteworthy.

Even if Bumgarner was a worthy choice - and it wasn't a BAD choice - there is discussion to be had.

 

I've played a lot of soccer in my life and I really am a big fan of the game. But throughout my career in sports journalism I was always annoyed at what we referred to as the "Soccer Lobby." They just refuse to ever accept that America doesn't revere their game as though it was the most important thing ever.

Watching Meatie Pie lobby for a guy who didn't even make the national team this year, and lobbying for a team that won just one -- ONE! -- game in the World Cup takes me right back to those days.

You guys got it right, Moddy.