# SI Sportsman of the Year 2014 - discuss **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 5, 2014, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/si-sportsman-of-the-year-2014-discuss/703808 "2014-11-05T22:21:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Fleetwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fleetwood/32/271_2.png) [@Fleetwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fleetwood)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/si-sportsman-of-the-year-2014-discuss/703808/41 "2014-11-09T12:53:47Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Oh my god people, have you already forgotten that **Derek Jeter** played baseball in 2014?!?!?! I remember. He sucked though, .256/4/50 and the range of my grandmother at SS. Yanks probably make Wild Card with an average shortstop. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/si-sportsman-of-the-year-2014-discuss/703808/42 "2014-11-09T15:56:12Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > How can a 12-year-old be the Sportsman of the Year in a nation that pays thousands of adults over a million dollars each to perform athletically? Is the criteria list headed by being cute? Aw-w-w-w! By what criteria do you feel she comes up short? Or were you just looking for a new thread to continue [your current streak](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=730342)? ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/si-sportsman-of-the-year-2014-discuss/703808/43 "2014-11-09T17:32:55Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > By what criteria do you feel she comes up short? > [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > There have been other girls in the LLWS - in fact, at least one has been in the championship game - but none of them were seriously considered. Maybe if her team would have won the championship, she would have a shot. “Sports Illustrated Kids” magazine (yes, it’s a thing) has its own Sportskid of the Year award, and she has to be the frontrunner for that. This is why. She pitched really well I’ll give her that, but other than that she didn’t really DO anything. They didn’t win the championship, she didn’t face any prejudice that she had to “fight to overcome” she just played baseball really well. I want the sportsman of the year to do something other than play their sport really really well. Drew-Brees-after-the-hurricane type stuff ya know? ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2014, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/si-sportsman-of-the-year-2014-discuss/703808/44 "2014-11-12T14:55:05Z")
Landon Donovan. He’s retiring at the end of the season as the greatest American soccer player of his age. He’s the all-time leader in MLS for both goals and assists, and he’s the all-time leader on the national team in goals and assists. And he’s going out with a hell of a bang – a hat trick and an assist in the conference semifinals against a good Real Salt Lake team. The fact that he got irrationally snubbed for Brazil this summer is only one more reason to choose him. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2014, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/si-sportsman-of-the-year-2014-discuss/703808/45 "2014-11-12T15:50:30Z")
> [@Sal\_Ammoniac](#): > > Landon Donovan. He’s retiring at the end of the season as the greatest American soccer player of his age. He’s the all-time leader in MLS for both goals and assists, and he’s the all-time leader on the national team in goals and assists. And he’s going out with a hell of a bang – a hat trick and an assist in the conference semifinals against a good Real Salt Lake team. > > The fact that he got irrationally snubbed for Brazil this summer is only one more reason to choose him. +1 to this. Great points ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2014, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/si-sportsman-of-the-year-2014-discuss/703808/46 "2014-11-13T05:20:45Z")
I’d go with the entire German men’s soccer team, but I’m biased. Winners of probably the world’s biggest sporting tournament and there’s no real way, IMO, to single out one contributor over another (though I’d pick Manuel Neuer with a gun to my head). The 7-1 drubbing in the semifinal was one of the most astonishing displays the sport has ever seen. But SI is an American magazine, so it won’t be them. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2014, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/si-sportsman-of-the-year-2014-discuss/703808/47 "2014-11-13T06:24:45Z")
It should go to Mike Trout for winning his third consecutive MVP. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/si-sportsman-of-the-year-2014-discuss/703808/48 "2014-12-08T16:50:14Z")
And the nod goes to…Madison Bumgarner. Makes sense - probably as much, if not more, for the Giants 3 Series wins in 5 years than for his individual achievement. There’s also a SI Kids Sportskid of the Year, and (if it’s possible) this was a more obvious choice; Li’l Miss Shutout - Mo’Ne Davis. On top of that, SI announced that Magic Johnson will receive the second-ever SI Sportsman of the Year Legacy Award (the first was Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver in 2008). ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/si-sportsman-of-the-year-2014-discuss/703808/49 "2014-12-08T17:00:09Z")
So, I was right for a change? Cool. RickJay’s objections were all perfectly valid. There HAVE been many World Series heroes who haven’t been given this honor- as he notes Bob Gibson didn’t get it (not did Orel Hershiser or Mickey Lolich or Lew Burdette…), but sometimes it DOES happen. In the absence of a slam dunk winner, Bumgarner looked like a pretty likely (and solid) choice to me. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/si-sportsman-of-the-year-2014-discuss/703808/50 "2014-12-08T18:20:47Z")
I was thinking it was going to be the Jackie Robinson little league team. But , that feel good story is months old and they’re not likely to sell magazines. Plus, they’ve been a bit overexposed in Chicago since the LLWS. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/si-sportsman-of-the-year-2014-discuss/703808/51 "2014-12-08T19:52:17Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > I was thinking it was going to be the Jackie Robinson little league team. But , that feel good story is months old and they’re not likely to sell magazines. Plus, they’ve been a bit overexposed in Chicago since the LLWS. That story never caught on outside of Chicago. It was all about Mo’Ne Davis. ---
**Author:** ![markdash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@markdash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markdash)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/si-sportsman-of-the-year-2014-discuss/703808/52 "2014-12-09T01:23:56Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > So, I was right for a change? Cool. > > RickJay’s objections were all perfectly valid. There HAVE been many World Series heroes who haven’t been given this honor- as he notes Bob Gibson didn’t get it (not did Orel Hershiser or Mickey Lolich or Lew Burdette…), but sometimes it DOES happen. > > In the absence of a slam dunk winner, Bumgarner looked like a pretty likely (and solid) choice to me. [http://www.sikids.com/sites/default/files/multimedia/photo\_gallery/0912/si.sportsman.of.the.year.covers/images/88\_006273781.jpg](http://www.sikids.com/sites/default/files/multimedia/photo_gallery/0912/si.sportsman.of.the.year.covers/images/88_006273781.jpg) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/si-sportsman-of-the-year-2014-discuss/703808.md?page=2)