Dwyane Wade wins SI Sportsman of the Year: Amazingly, this award continues to be relevant; it's probably the most sports-culturally relevant thing SI does all year (aside from the occasional cover-story scoop).
Anyway, I can't disagree with the choice. Wade emerged from the shadow of LeBron AND Shaq to not only lead the Heat to its first NBA title, but to become perhaps the most respected player of his generation.
Comments Question: Who would you pick as your "Sportsperson of the Year?" Why? And who would round out the Top 5 on your ballot? That's an awesome question that should keep the comments section hopping.
(Personally, I would have given it to Vince Young. I know it's hard to credit something that happened in early January, but VY had the best individual performance in the biggest and best game of the sports year -- and perhaps college football history.)
Quick notes on today's biggest storylines:
Jeff Garcia: 315 yards and 3 TDs! Who saw that coming? Kudos to anyone who started him in their fantasy league, particularly if you're in playoff contention.
Schiano staying at
Laurinaitis wins "Heisman for defense": Because a defensive player will never win the Heisman, the Nagurski award is the de facto Heisman for defensive players. And Ohio State LB James Laurinaitis became the first sophomore to win it, beating out rival Michigan CB Leon Hall and Florida S Reggie Nelson (my choice), along with Gaines Adams and Patrick Willis. Hmm: Laurinaitis on the '07 Heisman watch list?
Thankfully, the Florida-Michigan-BCS hysteria appears to be waning after a fierce 24 hours after the announcement. But USA Today released the coaches' ballots, and there's one notable choice: The only Big Ten coach to rank
MLB Winter Meetings: "Where's Manny Going?" is the hot storyline from the first day, but the Cardinals quietly locked up their anchor SP Chris Carpenter for 5 more years (at $65 million).
NBA: (1) Big night for my favorite NBA player, Gilbert Arenas, who had 38 points helping the Wiz snap the Mavs' 12-game winning streak. (2) Meanwhile, if you want to see why the Jazz are doing so well, check out the box score of their win over the Bucks. Start with Boozer's 30 and 13. (3) The Magic win again. In Sacto no less at the tail end of a road trip. Amazing. They're for real.
I'm on the road traveling this morning so posts might be light until the afternoon...
-- D.S.
Posts
74 comments:
Nice early post Dan, the kid have you up early?
Anyway, I think Schiano staying at Rutgers is a great thing for college football because there isn't a great program in the northeast right now.
At times Boston College or Syracuse have been great, but now that BC is in the ACC, they aren't really a northeast player. Syracuse has been down since Donovan McNabb left.
Schiano staying at RU plants the roots of a potential solid program in the northeast.
If Schiano and Rutgers can keep up this level of play over a period of time, and UConn's program progresses like it should (espically with this new facility). People say this is the nicest on campus training football facility in the country, that's sure to bring in a couple of recruits.
Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part, but if college football in the northeast could even come close to rivaling the intensity of college football in the midwest or south, then I think this country would be a better place. People in the most populated area of the country deserve a place to go Saturday mornings to watch football, hopefully Schiano staying at Rutgers will help push that along.
Do I sound like Bob Costas or Bryant Gumble or something? Sorry
SI does have the culturally relevant Swimsuit Issue every year. I cant think of any issue of any magazine that generates as much buzz and it's been doing it for decades.
I guess Charles Woodson wasn't a Defensive Player when he won the Heisman.
Good guess, awebb.
Chuck Woodson was a fucking playmaker.
You're talking about a man who could - and did - catch, throw, intercept, and return touchdowns.
That's more than the whole Chicago Bears team!
(I may have forgotten some methods, too - I just got out of a computer lab for the first time since Noon ET yesterday.)
Woodson wasn't singularly a defensive player. He did play offense and special teams and if I remember correctly, that year had a pretty weak Heisman class. I can check on that, but Woodson ran away with it (I was pretty young at the time, so I could be wrong)
I don't think a lineman or linebacker would ever win Heisman unless he scored like 6-7 touchdowns off Ints or Fumbles (which is pretty unrealistic)
The Heisman frontrunners from each BCS conferense for next year(?):
Ray Rice (Big East)
J.D. Booty (Pac-10)
Mario Manningham (Big-10)
JaMarcus Russell (SEC)
Colt McCoy (Big 12)
Branden Ore(ACC)
Darious Walker (Ind.)
Obviously just guesses, but I figured I throw them out there since this seasons Heisman is basically decided.
All picks are contigent on players returning to college!
Someone correct me if I am wrong...but I think the reason Charles Woodson won was because he benefited from Peyton Manning, Ryan Leaf, and Randy Moss all stealing votes from each other. I think Woodson won the Heisman with the least amount of votes.
But alas...he won the award. Good for him. Troy Smith will break all sorts of Heisman records on Saturday.
Ok, so I checked.
The Woodson vote was close That Heisman class was stacked. Don't forget, we didn't know how crappy Ryan Leaf would turn out to be.
heisman.com is a great site by the way, lots of interesting stuff on there.
Leaf and Moss weren't really in it. That was the first year of the Peyton Manning Backlash. I remember Archie Manning pushing for his kid...the fact that Peyton couldn't win big names but only put up big stats didn't sit well with voters...Woodson was doing things rarely seen and enough voters gave him credit for it.
I do think it was a deserved Heisman for Woodson.
Impressive win for Laurinaitis as well. Ohio State might be bringing a lot of that individual hardware to Columbus. Don't they have a Thorpe, Lombardi, Outland finalist as well? (to go along with Smith's standings in all the QB or MVP awards)
Wow...I was wrong, my bad. Woodson got a lot of #1 votes. Props to you Gary for finding that.
I don't think OSU is up for any other awards except the defensive player (Lombardi?), linebacker (name?), QB (Davey O'Brien?), MVP (name escapes me), and of course, the Hesiman. Thorpe is for DB's right? They def. don't have any up for that.
I thought they did have one up for thorpe...Smith, their 5th year walkon? Maybe it was just semifinals then.
Schiano should be Sportman of the Year. It's refreshing to see a guy stay at a place that he's building up. CFB is cyclical. PRograms rise and fall. Miami? There's NO guarantee they'd rise again. Florida players -- of that mythical team speed -- don't always stay home. And with USF and even UCF, there are even more options in Florida.
To me no one athlete really stood out this year. I do not think Wade would of been in my top 5 for sportsmen of the year. For me I think the sportsmen of the year should of been all the Pro, College, High School and other athletes from New Orlenas who had to try and compete over the last year in a half without really having homes. I think SI really missed out this year. My top 3 this year would of been:
1. Athletes from New Orleans
2. Tiger
3. Federer
Wade sells more copies, thus more ads, thus SI doesn't care about who deserves it.
I can get behind the Federer thing, even Tiger Woods except he's won a couple times already (I think)
The NBA is the least popular major sport in the US (I don't count hockey) and like Chris mentiones, he's not even decisevly the best in that sport.
His impact outside of his sports is relatively small in that I can't think of anything he does outside of playing for the Heat or Team USA.
Does he build houses for poor people? I don't know.
Does he donate toys to kids at Christmas? Probably, but I don't hear about it.
Shouldn't sportsman of the year have more to do with sportsmanship combined with competition instead of just one or the other.
Look at Tiger Woods (who I would vote for if I had a vote). He dominated his sport and he started the Tiger Woods Learning center which is an amazing facility for kids to go after school and learn and make friendships and most importantly stay off the streets.
Tiger has won me over in the last few years. I used to strongly dislike him and thought he was a jerk, but now he seems human.
Crying at the British Open because of his fathers recent passing.
Talking more candidely than I can ever remember about his fathers legacy and his role in the world not just golf.
Plus, he's the highest paid athlete in the world and in 10 years will be a BILLIONARE.
It doesn't hurt that his wife is a hottie either!
My Sportsman of the Year?
Barbaro.
My ballot:
1. Barbaro
2. Zinedane Zidane
3. Cat Osterman
4. Johan Santana
5. LaDanlian Tomlinson
(Yeah, I'm not a big basketball fan.)
As they pointed out on deadspin, shouldn't sportsman of the year have something to do with sportsmanship? Flopping in the Finals is smart, but it's not exactly sporting.
I think Dan is right, Vince Young should have won for that game. I mean, immediately afterwards, my friend turned to me and said, "If USC was the best team going into the game, Vince Young was the best team going out."
It isn't bad that SI give the award to a sport that isn't big.
But I wouldn't give it to Dwyane Wade either. I'd give it to Zinedine Zidane, just to stick it to the Italians and their crappy diving.
But, seriously, I think Vince Young would have been a good choice. So would Peyton Manning.
What a crappy year for individual sports performances. If Tiger had broken the consecutive wins record, he'd be a no-brainer, but while it's nice he's good again, it's not like he was setting the world on fire.
Actually, Greg Schiano would be a decent choice, too. Too bad he's not actually a player.
Gary...
Sports Illustrated is not interested in "selling copies." 93% of their sales are through subscriptions. Meaning only 7% of all issues are actually bought else, ie: magazine shops.
I'm not a big basketball guy either, but I do know that D-Wade does a lot of community work in southern Florida. I don't have a list of what he has done or anything, but I've heard more than one sportscaster or analyst speak to his charity work and community service.
Dwayne Wade is getting a lot of credit for the ref's work.
rev...I realize that they aren't selling copies each issue, but they use subscription numbers to sell ads and establish rates.
The readership is what matters, not individual issues sales.
If they put a random tennis, soccer, or olympic athlete on the cover, it doesn't have flip through appeal. People won't bother to pick up the magazine and won't see the ads.
Ad agencies know this, they aren't stupid, they want Dwayne Wade on there so they can advertise their new sneakers on the inside cover.
I know a little about advertising and I know that despite not selling extra copies, the cover picture does affect how much money you can get for ads.
Think about Time magazine making George W. Bush man of the year (not this year I know)
Time realizes that his supporters will read it and see the ads, his haters will be so disgusted they will open it up so they can fuel their hatred and remind themselves why they hate him.
I'm a Red Sox fan. If A-Rod is on the cover, I'll read it to see what is going on, like that article earlier this year where he said he's so good looking and whatnot. I hate him so much, I want to know all about him so I have ammo for hating him (does that make sense?)
I know Wade isn't hated, but he's relevant, moreso thatn Roger Federer IMO
(yes, you can call me Longy McLongcomment)
Barbaro. Gawd..that story is a good indicator of what's wrong with people's priorities these days.
lol
He should be GLUE!
Anyways, someone wanted to know about OSU award finalists..here it is:
Doug Datish , senior center : Dave Rimington Trophy (outstanding center), Thursday
• James Laurinaitis , sopho more linebacker : Bronko Nagurski Award (top defensive player), last night; Dick Butkus Award (top linebacker), Thursday.
• Joel Penton , senior defen sive tackle : Danny Wuerffel Award (exemplary on/off field), TBA
• Quinn Pitcock , senior defen sive tackle : Lombardi Award (top interior player), Wednesday; Ronnie Lott Award (impact defensive player), Sunday
• Troy Smith , senior quarter back : Maxwell Award (player of the year), Thursday; Davey O’Brien Award (top quarterback), Thursday; Johnny Unitas Award (top quarterback), Friday; Heisman Trophy (nation’s top player), Saturday
• Jim Tressel , coach : George Munger Award (top coach), Thursday
• Joe Daniels , quarterbacks coach : Frank Broyles Award (top assistant), Jan. 16
Why are there two top quarterback awards? Can I make one up too?
Also, I would think that Datish's two fumbles off of bad snaps in the Michigan game would sink his Rimington award shot. heh
Rimington shot? (ba dum bum pum)
(I think it's cool that I get my SI on Wednesdays now. When I was a kid, I was lucky if it came by Friday or Saturday, by which the news was pretty old, even back by 80s standards.)
Have the Panthers played themselves out of a playoff spot yet? Egads on that interception at the end. I could tell ESPN kept showing it, trying to see if Shepard's second foot hit just before his butt did, the foot was in while the rear was out of bounds, so it was a matter of which hit first. That was the first time I kinda wished for Paul Maguire in the booth. (but not for long)
Here's a question some might be able to comment on....are there disproportionately more schools in the northeast? I mention this thinking, are more Tennesseans, as an example, alumni of UT, as a percentage of the overall total, compared to northeast states? My point being, is it less likely for the State U.'s football team to naturally attract a large percentage of the population because the population went to a larger spectrum of schools? This is all theoretical, but if 30% of Michigan people have ties to Ann Arbor, football would play bigger there than in Massachusetts, if only 5% of residents have ties to Amherst. Does this make sense? A particular school doesn't rally the population as well in the northeast. I don't know if this argument is baloney, so if anyone has any thoughts....
if i were picking, it would be Federer. top of his game, great for his sport, and a class act. i understand that tennis doesn't sell issues, but in my perfect world, Federer would be on the cover.
You're so wise Gary...you're like a miniature Buddha...with hair.
"Bongo McConaughy"...I will now wipe the morning Dr. Pepper from my screen.
Still trying to figure out why Wade getting the award for something earned in June is any more relevant than Vince Young getting snubbed for a January tour de force, too. Must be a Florida thing, right Dan? (wink)
As for Schiano, it might just be wishful methinking on my part, but methinks he may be holding out for the sooner rather than later retirement of JoePa. With no offense intended to Bradley's years of dedication (not to mention heading a defensive unit that has kept Penn State barely above water at times the last few years), please come back to Happy Valley, Greg.
TIM TEBOW for sportsman of the year!!
Like someone mentioned, it's really the American Sportsman of the Year.
Federer isn't a big deal? Only in America.
It's SI's award and they can give it to whomever they please. Wade is as good a choice as anyone else.
rev, thanks for the kind words.
I was listening to Rush Limbaugh yesterday afternoon and he said this (almost exact quote):
"The drive-by-media is pushing Barack Obama because they desparetly want to see a black president"
Does that sound familiar to anyone else? Ha. I guarantee he won't get in nearly as much trouble for that as he did for the McNabb comments.
It made me laugh when I heard it since you'd think he'd shy away from comments like that since the McNabb outlash, but I bet no one says anything!
(ok, let me have it for listening to Rush...he's entertaining, whatever)
Does Brady Quinn have any chance to win Heisman? Would he even be in New York if he didn't play for the Irish? Am I reaching for topics?
we were so close to getting through this thread without talking about notre dame.
My bad
I was asking not accusing. I think he deserves to be there, despite my hatred of all things Irish Football.
I feel I've posted too much today. I don't know what's gotten into me
Sportsman of the Year?
GEORGE MASON!
Hands down, no ifs ands or buts. Wade is a great player and a great guy, and deserves all the accolades. However, A team that nobody could tell you the location of goes out and beats Michigan State, UNC, UConn to get to the Final Four.
Hands down, sportsmen of the year.
Joe (Dayton)
(Obligatory pro-Notre Dame post)
Of course, they'd sell tons of copies if made Brady Quinn Sportsthing of the Year.
oh, tf, i like that idea!
How about this years in sports was not the greatest so let's give the award to the people the deserve it?
THE FANS - who show game after game to enjoy the sports even though a majority of the athletes are whiny, ego driven, millionaire POS's
no way dude, i don't want the cover curse. i have enough bad luck.
Meh..Rush Limbaugh is expected to say such things. It's the conservative thing to do. Of course, with the strides the Reps have made in gaining African-American voters...way to bash the idea of a black president... lol
Anyways, Quinn deserves recognition, but no more than Colt Brennan.
Rafael's Heisman list!
T. Smith
D. McFadden
M. Hart
C. Brennan
B. Quinn
Sadly, I don't have a ballot.
Vince Young should have won the SI Sportsman of the year. He almost single-handedly beat USC, and he is the sparkplug for the Titans resurgence.
I would say that some of the candidates should be:
Jim Larranaga
Tiger Woods
Roger Federer
Reggie Bush
Jim Leyland
Wade/Shaq (co-sportsmen)
Not sportsmen of the year:
Floyd Landis
A-rod
Joe Cullen
Denny Green
Chris Henry
Albert Haynesworth
HERE'S THE BIG QUESTION
We know that women can compete for this award making it SPORTSPERSON of the year. I Barbaro can compete I guess it's SPORTSORGANISM of the year. Does it expand past living beings? Can there be a SPORTSENTITY of the year award. Maybe the new NBA basketball should get a look.
rafael...
Sadly I don't have a vote either. But if I did, it'd be
1.) Leonardo
2.) Donatelo
3.) Michaelangelo
4.) Raphael/Rafael
Sorry...you had the worst weapon!
hey guy... jim larranga is good call.
i was trying to find a controversial enough refereeing (is that a word?) performance to make the first ever referree sportsman of the year...
sports entity? do steroids count?
but michaelangelo was a party dude!!
This might be kind of out there but how about that guy who ran 50 freaking marathons in 50 days. I think his name is Dean something. The human body should not be able to pull something like that off, simply amazing.
sheldiz-
how about that guy who blew the OREGON/OKLAHOMA game?
Gordon Reise was the instant replay official... but i think we could just get the whole Pac-10 officiating team on the cover, for good measure. :)
No other sportsperson has had the threat of being turned into a commercial product like Barbaro.
Glue, or dog food. Either way, anyone else gets hurt and the doctors will keep them alive even if they're paraplegic and comatose. Barbaro is right now triumphing over the longest odds and will soon be siring new champions, although he never will compete again.
I forgot about Landis. I was so freaking pumped when he made the comeback. I hope it turns out he was framed. Then we can give him this award retroactively. (I doubt it though.)
j.mark, that was so.... polite.
I won't bog this place down any further with schooling you politically, but anytime you want the facts as to how many strides the GOP has made in terms of gaining minority votes in the last few years -- be it Hispanic, black or Jewish -- please feel free to contact me.
You might want to check your facts. See the results of the last election.
What!?!? The Sai rocks! Srsly, the nunchucks were the worst..if Napoleon Dynamite wants them..how cool can they be?
(Despite my name, Donatello was my favorite, though my sarcastic, cynical personality goes with Raphael...hm..that's actually quite the coincidence)
School me politically? Ugh. No need. I'm pretty out of politics. But as the average Joe, I just told you what the perception is of conservatives. I hear far more from teh Limbaughs and Coulters and Hannitys than from any rational GOPer. (Same goes for democrats..though..well, one hardly hears anything from them, period)
btw
I'm a minority voter. GOP hasn't made strides with me yet. ;) lol
wait. Donatello over Raphael? You're going to take an overglorified pool cue over two metal sai that you can throw, stab, and stop a sword with?
I'm sick of this brady quinn crap. He's been sacked 2x as much as Troy, has 5 more TD's on 100 more attempts, and should finish behind brennan if the heisman has any intelligent voters.
I think that the NBA MVP is the most meaningful of the 3 MVPs (a la the Sports Guy).
In football, there are 10 other guys out there and even if you are the QB you only get the ball for less than half of the game (defense, special teams) and about half of that time you are handing the ball off and someone else is doing the work.
In Baseball, there are 8 other guys in the field with you for half the game and it isn't even your decision if you get the ball, unless you are a pitcher in which case you only pitch every 5 days or out of the bullpen 7 out of 10 games tops for about an inning, and the other half of the game you are sitting down for 8/9 of the time.
But in basketball there are 5 guys who go both ways. You can choose to use one guy as a key defender and key scorer (Kobe, Jordan).
I think that therefore the Sportsman is more likely to be a basketball player or a guy who plays is not on a team at all (tennis, golf).
I also object to the term SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR for two reasons.
1. If there have been teams and women who have won, how is it still SportsMAN?
2. Tiger Woods (and I'm assuming other golfers) have won and by the deffinition of a sport (direct competition (read: defense), physical ability) Golf isn't a sport. It is a competition. However this doesn't mean that golfers are not athletes. Maybe it should be ATHLETE OF THE YEAR. This would also include women. But not include coaches. How many coaches have won?
Answers?
coaches:
John Wooden 1972
Joe Paterno 1986
Don Shula 1993
Dean Smith 1997
and pete rozelle won in 1963, for i guess the NFL expansion.
I can't wait to hear if Pujols has a problem with Wade winning.
Did we even address the issue of Poo-Holes saying he didn't mean to discredit Howard and that it was lost in translation when from the statement it was obvious that that wasn't the case unless "I don't think you should win the MVP if you don't make the playoffs" and "I like Ryan Howard" somehow are pronounced the same in spanish.
Don't get me started on the fact that the Cards won 83 games and the Phils won 85. So basically he was saying he should be rewarded for his team playing in a bad division.
And Tom Glavine sucks. At least that's what he says.
I would vote Darius McFadden as the Heisman front-runner in the SEC.
As far as where Dwade is compared to the rest of the NBA.....
I see it like this.
Theres three groups of great players:
1. Kobe, Lebron
2. AI, Shaq, KG, Howard, CP3, Dirk, Arenas, Wade, Melo
3. Pierce, Vince, Bosh, JO', Redd, Joe Johnson, TMAC, Pau, Duncan, Ray Allen, AK47, J-Rich, Brand, Nash, Artest
Glad Schiano's staying. The talk about needing a bigger stadium however is a bit premature. Two sellouts does not mean they need to build an 80,000 seat stadium, they already have one of them at the Meadowlands. Just move the big games if needed.
This is the first time i think that ESPN is nuts:
Week 14 Rankings
Cowboys are no higher than 6. The Romo man-crush continues.
Although putting games in the Meadowlands would add 30,000 more seats....and it would also pull in more people from NYC...
Wouldn't it take some of the college atmosphere out of it? That's what all the Northeast schools are missing....large awesome on-campus facilities. I mean, is the Carrier Dome still the best 1-A spot in the Northeast? (I guess aside from Happy Valley, but the Big 10 pulls them toward the center of the country.)
I have no problem with Wade getting SOY. He's great. And, considering that Lebron has been hogging all his shine, Wade is overdue for some slurping.
Gary,
On your Heisman frontrunners for next year from each conference, you mentioned JaMarcus Russell (SEC).
Two things are flawed with that opinion: (1) McFadden obviously will be the favorite as he may make it to NYC this year and (2)you also forgot to notice Russell is a senior this year.
...but I agree w/ your other picks.
It is WAY too orange in the Garden right now.
As to Quiin sucking under Willingham...that could have something to do with him being a sophomore too though.
anyone else watching this louisville/arizona game?
"The only Big Ten coach to rank Florida ahead of Michigan was Illinois coach (and ex-Florida coach) Ron Zook. You can't blame him, of course, but you can bet that Michigan will take that out on Illinois next season."
-with the current state of Illinois football, how will we be able to tell?
Schiano may be a savvier businessman than you'd think. I mean, wouldn't that part of the country greet a successful college football team with open arms? And, Rutgers, as far as I know, lacks a big sports team, meaning they can focus their athletic money on football if it becomes a big thing. If he pulls out two more seasons like this, he'll get anything he wants. Popularity == $$$.
Did I just miss a TMNT debate?
damn it all!
Donatello was the best because he built all of their machines, doofuses.
Fun, meaningless sports-equivalency game:
Leonardo=Peyton Manning
golden boy; has/is the best weapon on the field; at various times seems overrated and underrated
Donatello=Doug Flutie
total overachiever given what he had (a freakin' stick?! five foot-what?!); well-versed in the ways of his sport (drop-kick extra point); kind of a geek but in all the right ways
Raphael=TO (almost chose Bill Romanowski)
always pissed off, often for no reason, yet no one on the team ever tells him to just STFU; unfortunately, he is just good enough to get away with it
Michaelangelo=Jim McMahon in "Super Bowl Shuffle"
his behavior and speech are already super-dated; he also smacks of some middle-aged white guy's attempt to profit from a mishmash of things that are supposed to be "cool"
ok, I'm about a day late, but Nash wasn't a bad choice for MVP. I know the media fawns over defense, but that doesn't actually work in the NBA. Kobe scored 81 basically going 1 on 5, so I don't think there's any sense that defense trumps offense the way it can in other sports. Point guards haven't been recognized enough in the NBA. And Nash definitely creates more on O than he gives up on D.
Spurs? Duncan gave them reliable offense in crunch time.
What about Detroit? They had great shooters. They transitioned off of D, but still had to sink those shots.
What about Miami? Shaq and Wade were unstoppable on offense.
The idea that Wade's "defense" won the title is rather silly. We know 7 foot Dirk can shoot over the entire Heat team easily (Shaq isn't athletic enough to catch him on the perimeter). Once they got away with fouling Dirk on the perimeter, Dallas lost their offense. If you think Cuban's antics didn't have any negative influence on those refs, you're crazy.
And here's the thing: everyone looks like they have good defense when the calls are going their way.
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