Why her?
Novak Djokovic would be a better candidate. Lots of tournament wins and a better season than Serena.
He won’t get it for the same reason Andy Murray, Roger Federer, and Steffi Graf (who did win the Grand Slam and added an Olympic gold medal to boot in 1988) never won it; tennis is almost certainly a “we’ll only consider Americans” (e.g. Chris Evert; Billie Jean King) sport as far as this award is concerned.
Joe Maddon would be my dark horse candidate. Leading a team that wasn’t really predicted to do much this year (including several rookies) to the NLCS, and a 24-win improvement from last year is quite an achievement.
I don’t think he’ll win, but bringing respectability back to the North Side of Chicago certainly deserves consideration.
If he spearheads them to a World Series title, then the only way he doesn’t get it is if SI decides to give it to the Cub Fans, the way “Red Sox Nation” won when the Red Sox finally won a Series, or if a golfer wins all four majors (and even then, they have to make a case for not splitting the award; it has happened - John Wooden and Billie Jean King shared it in the 1970s).
Meh. No one expected the Royals to repeat in the AL, everyone predicted the Rangers to finish last in the West, neither playoff team from the AL East was supposed to do anything, and the Mets were supposed to be mediocre. The Cubs’ resurgence didn’t have that much to do with Maddon. I love him, but apparent from being terrible (i.e. Matt Williams), there’s not much upside for a manager to break away in the standings.
The SI finalists have been announced:
Simone Biles, gymnast
Usain Bolt, sprinter
Steph Curry, Warriors
Thomas Davis, Panthers (won Walter Payton award this year)
Novak Djokovic, tennis
Carli Lloyd, soccer
Lionel Messi, soccer
American Pharoah, horse
Ronda Rousey, UFC fighter
Kansas City Royals
Jordan Spieth, golf
Serena Williams, tennis
You can vote here, at least for the reader’s choice: http://www.si.com/sportsmanofyear/2015/11/10/vote-si-sportsman-poll
Remember, this is perhaps your only chance to ever vote for a Pharoah.
Thomas Davis is unexpected as the only NFL player, to say the least.
American Pharoah, horse
Love that. Not horse racing, or race horse, or even thoroughbred. Just horse.
A horse is a horse, of course, of course.
My vote would go to Stephen Curry or the Royals. Probably Curry for grammatical correctness, unless they change it to “Sports-Related Entity of the Year”.
I’m going with the Royals.
Sorry. I don’t do horses.
The Royals didn’t really do anything to deserve it - the Giants had a much longer World Series drought before winning in 2010, and it took two more titles before somebody on the team got it.
Djokovic may have won three majors, but he did in 2011 as well, as did Nadal in 2010, and Federer in 2004, 2006, and 2007, and none of those were considered good enough.
American Pharoah would be a good choice, but I don’t see SI giving it to the horse rather than Bob Baffert (more of a “career” award) or Victor Espinoza (five of the last six Triple Crown races won); when Affirmed won, SI gave it to Steve Cauthen.
I think it’s going to be one of three:
(a) Jordan Spieth - like I said before, SI likes its golf readers
(b) Lloyd, Rousey, and Williams - none would get it individually, but a “year of the women” thing is possible
© Williams and Djokovic - again, alone, I don’t think either gets it, but SI also likes to give it to pairs (like when Mike Krzyzewski and Pat Summitt won together a few years ago)
What difference does it make how many years passed between the last KC championship and this one? I don’t see why that would come into play at all. Should Williams have to wait till she’s been shut out of Grand Slam events for 25 years? Could be a long wait…
I am not a Royals fan. But I enjoyed this team more than I have enjoyed any team (other than the team I follow) in a very long time. I think a lot of people found them to be a compelling team. They’re exciting, they play with abandon, and they break the mold of what “great” teams are supposed to look like. I certainly found myself getting more caught up in their championship than I did with last year’s Giants, or the year before’s Red Sox, or, I don’t know, the Phillies of '08 or the Yankees of '09. Maybe that’s not enough to be honored by SI, I don’t know. But they’d be my first choice, in the Ulfiverse.
I’m pretty sure that you’re not Kenneth Pinyan, then.
Plus, he’s dead. Another fact your way.
I think they’re going to do a Year of the Women thing with Lloyd, Rousey, and Williams. They want to sell
magazines and generate website clicks. Why not pander to women and make up for the negative Greg Hardy news that has been prominently featured on their website lately?
If we’re picking the actual sportsman of the year without needing use the USA criteria or sell magazines, I’d go with Messi.
I think it’s American Pharoah or Ronda Rousey. Someone wins the World Series every year. And there is an NBA MVP every year. It’s not like the Royals came completely out of nowhere, they were just in the WS last year.
But a horse racing Triple Crown is a real rarity and AP brought more attention to the sport than it’s had in a long time. And Rousey has single-handedly taken the UFC to heights I don’t think any man ever has.
Everyone else on the list is really, really good at what they do.
Frankly, that would be an awesome idea - therefore, it’ll never happen. But I will give you all the credit ever if it happens. I think that makes for a very compelling main article that I would actually read.
So much for (b) - Ronda Rousey is yesterday’s news now, and Carli and Serena just don’t have enough between them this year to win it on their own.
Looks like their action probably happened too late to make the official list of finalists, and I’m not sure if that could be overruled, but since SI does love the “connections between sports and broader social issues” angle, how about the Missouri football team?
While I strongly oppose the strike, I don’t think it would have been worthy of nomination. The strike lasted less than 48 hours, so there was no real risk of missing the game. Not even sure if the team missed an organized practice with their ‘strike’
The strike ended quickly because their demands were met quickly! Not that I want to overemphasize the role of the football team in particular over all the other segments of the university community which were protesting, but it is noteworthy that AFAIK this is the first time a big time college team has participated in this sort of action.
Now that would be something. Getting consideration for sportsmen of the year for NOT playing your sport.