It’s all part of the same deal.
The SI Sportsperson of the Year is often or even usually about the stuff that extends beyond sport.
And everything around Clark is part of the conversation. It should be obvious that anybody who can generate this much discussion about the non-athletic component of her life or career is a viable candidate.
Thinking the award is purely about sports and not what extends beyond ignores pretty much the whole history of the thing since its inception.
I didn’t say she shouldn’t be a viable candidate. Maybe you’re arguing with someone else?
Not arguing. Just stating things as I see them.
This is nonsense. I could ask 100 people in the street to name 3 WNBA players, and I’d be surprised if 98 of them could do it. I doubt the participants of this thread could do so at a 20% success rate.
I’d also wager that the only way that most of the people in an average sports bar would recognize Mike Trout walking in is if he was wearing his uniform.
True, but I’d wager that if any of them were to put anything even remotely controversial on social media, it’d go viral pretty quick and they’d have to go into career preservation mode.
If I did that, I’d just be one of the millions of normal idiots posting something dumb.
Not being recognizable is not quite the same as being low profile. I couldn’t recognize the vast majority of US Senators on sight but they are all certainly high profile public figures.
We’re (sorta) talking about this again? Oh, cool.
Here’s the funny thing. Had they not given it to Deion Sanders last year, I could see them giving it to him this year and it’d be totally justifiable. I don’t think he’d be the BEST choice, but he’d be a plausible one, and certainly far fewer people would have a problem with it. All the heat he took, all the criticism, all the genuine concerns, and in two years he turns a flyover country doormat into a powerhouse and nearly a conference champion. Whatever you think of the man or the state of college football in general, that’s an achievement.
As it is, I’m going to have to call it a toss-up between Caitlin Clark and some combination of Chiefs superstars, with our Olympic heroines being a longshot. Shohei Ohtani is a nice sentimental pick but just didn’t do enough this year.
I have to disagree with this, a tiny bit. Ohtani led the National League in:
He was the first player in MLB history to hit 50+ home runs and steal 50+ bases in the same season. He won the NL MVP, and his team won the World Series. He had an absolutely fabulous season.
If, in any way, he “didn’t do enough,” it’s that he didn’t pitch this year.
Ohtani is the greatest talent seen in God only knows how long in the second most popular sports league that ever existed, and had a historically amazing season for the champion team. If he was American, he’d be the no brainer choice. As he’s not, and Clark is, she is the favourite.
If he hadn’t gotten hurt, and put up the same heroics that Freddie Freeman did, I think he may have had a real shot at it.
I really don’t understand SI’s reluctant to name a non-American. Seems tapping into Japanese sales would be a no-brainer.
I think Simone Biles is also a legitimate candidate, but the summer Olympics seem like ages ago.
Mainly because it is very difficult to subscribe to SI if you are not in the USA. There certainly is no Japanese-language version.
That’s why I think it might be a cop out like “Woman athletes.” That way they can put Clarke on the cover and still name Biles and some of the other gold medal athletes.
It’s Simone Biles.
Ooh boy people are going to be pissed.
There would be, no matter who SI picked.
At least this year it makes sense.
Let them. She earned this fair and square. For anyone with a brain, what happened in Tokyo has been completely explained and the matter is settled. If anyone’s tired of hearing about her, they can find five women who can outdo her at Trials. The tally currently stands at zero. Good luck.
I mean, she is the greatest gymnast who ever lived.