Why Sports Illustrated Messed Up
Posted by Dan Martin on 12.18.2006
I have nothing against Dwayne Wade, but sportsman of the year for 2006…you can't be serious!!! Or Roger Federer plays a mean game of Risk.
Sorry for taking last week off, but it was the first off week for tennis since January.
Sports Illustrated earned my ire with its selection of Dwayne Wade as Sportsman of the Year for 2006. I am not knocking the Marquette product. He had a fine regular season and helped lead the Miami Heat past Detroit and Dallas in order to win the first NBA title in Heat history. However, how in the world did Wade have the best year in sports? I am sure SI combines many factors such as good citizenship with in season performances, but Wade had the best year in 2006? The good citizenship stuff may have discounted scoring champion Kobe Bryant from having a better NBA season than Wade. The youth of Lebron James may have offset his incredibly balanced statistical excellence in 2006. However, both could be said to have had a better season than Wade. The NBA selected Steve Nash as its MVP for 2005-06. So within his own sport, Wade must contend with at least three other legitimate candidates for the honor of best NBA player of 2006.
However, Sportsman of the Year is an award that should go beyond the NBA. Perhaps Vince Young leading Texas past USC in early January of 2006 could have earned him the nod. Problem is that was one day in January so it is hard to make him Sportsman of the Year. Cycling's controversies eliminated Floyd Landis from contention. Perhaps, a Winter Olympic or World Cup star could have been given consideration. However, from my finite vantage point only two athletes really had a shot at this honor – Tiger Woods and Roger Federer.
Woods had a great year by winning two majors after his father's death. Woods also put up some nice winning streaks and continued to shape the PGA in his image.
Having said this, Federer had a better year that Woods or even the anointed Dwayne Wade. Federer won three Grand Slams and finished as runner-up at the fourth to post a 27-1 record in Grand Slam play. Federer was the first male tennis player since 1969 to reach the final of all four majors in one calendar year. Federer won the season ending Masters Cup and four Masters Series events. He also finished runner-up at two other Masters Series events. At the 12 biggest events Federer entered, he posted a 65-4 record. Not to mention he added minor titles at Qatar, Halle (Germany), Tokyo and Basel (Switzerland).
In short, Federer assembled a nice Risk board with titles in the Middle East: Qatar, East Asia: Shanghai and Tokyo, Australia: Melbourne – Australian Open title, Europe: Wimbledon in London, Halle, and Basel, North America: The U.S. Open in NY, The Canadian Open in Toronto, titles in Indian Wells, CA and Key Biscayne, FL.
Oh yeah, Federer set the all time surface winning streak marks on hard courts and grass courts in 2006. If Federer had the best year in tennis history since 1969 (or ever since Laver got to play most of those matches on grass), is it fair to ask if Wade had the best NBA season since 1969?
Now we get to the questions of good citizenship. Maybe Wade was a more positive influence off of the court than Federer. Maybe not… I do not want to make charity into a contest in which the loser is looked down upon. Both Federer and Wade are well behaved off of the court and give back to their sport and more importantly to humanity.
One should consider that Federer has a foundation that specifically deals with poverty and the spread of AIDS in South Africa. Federer also is an official United Nations good will ambassador for UNICEF. In 2005, Federer spearheaded tennis fund raising for Tsunami relief (I know this does not count for 2006, but it does give an idea of his trajectory). Beyond that Federer donates items for auction to raise money for the Tim and Tom Gullikson Foundation (this money goes to aid families who have had to face brain cancer). Federer also bought pizza for all of the ball boys and ball girls after winning his hometown tournament in Basel, Switzerland. Why did he do this? He did this because he used to be a ball boy at that event himself.
So we have established that Federer was more deserving than Dwayne Wade… What about Rafael Nadal and Andre Agassi? We will start with the elder statesman first.
Agassi did not accomplish as much in 2006 as did Wade. Andre was hobbled by a bad back and 20 years of wear as a professional tennis player. However, Agassi matured well and has given back to his sport and to humanity more than just about any athlete. Agassi gives 40% of his post tax income to charity. He runs a charter school that has raised the prospects for many underprivileged children in Las Vegas. He has set up penny slot machines throughout Las Vegas to raise money for charity. In short, Agassi is a role model for how athletes could be changing their home communities and the world. That might deserve a Sportsman of the Year award as recognition of a lifetime of high achievement.
Rafael Nadal is another guy who might have had a better 2006 than Dwayne Wade. Nadal won the French Open and was runner-up at Wimbledon. Nadal broke the all time record for consecutive wins on a clay court. The old record was set in 1977. Nadal accumulated five titles. He also was the first French Open winner to reach the Wimbledon final since Agassi in 1999. So did Wade match or surpass any key NBA records in 2006 that have stood since say 1999 or 1977? As far as I can tell, no he did not. In that sense, Nadal had a better sporting year than Wade, but what about his citizenship. Nadal is an energetic guy who has breathed life into tennis. He is introspective enough to visit ground zero in New York and think about his trip there in 2001 during the junior U.S. Open a mere 10 days before the 9-11 attacks. I am not certain what charities Nadal is passionate about, but I do know he has donated to the Gullikson Foundation. So if the good citizenship is a wash then maybe Nadal gets the edge over Wade due to his breaking of a key record that had stood for 30 years in men's tennis. While Nadal is clearly #2 in tennis, the NBA selected Steve Nash as its 2005-06 MVP. So why can't a guy who is not recognized as the best in his own sport win Sportsman of the Year? I see no reason based upon SI's selection of Wade.
Jingoism Illustrated?
Well maybe one reason, Nash is Canadian, Federer is Swiss and Nadal is Spanish. Sports Illustrated would hate to recognize that a person born outside of the United States might be the best athlete of a given year. The U.S. lost the World Baseball Classic, the Ryder Cup and the World Championships of Basketball in 2006.* MLB and NBA rosters are increasingly filled with foreign born players. I will not even bring up the 2006 World Cup. The NFL is the only safe "American" professional sport left. Naming Federer Sportsman of the Year would have only increased the United States' bad sporting year in 2006 even if it was clearly the right thing to do.**
Instead, SI chose to anoint the next "Next MJ" in naming Wade Sportsman of the Year (remember the other "Next MJ's" - Harold Minor, Penny, Grant Hill, Vince Carter and Kobe Bryant?). Business was good when Jordan was dominating the NBA. Problem is the man dominating sports is not playing basketball, and Sports Illustrated was too narrow minded to recognize greatness. You see the sublime transcends boundaries and Federer had a transcendent year in 2006. Wade had a great year no doubt, but no one can say it was transcendent.
* If I recall Dwayne Wade played for the Bronze Medal winning U.S. team this past summer. The best athlete of 2006 ought to have been able to lead the U.S. to victory over a Greek team with no current NBA players on its roster.
** I was born and raised in Kentucky and reside in Ohio. My critique of U.S. performances in 2006 international sporting events is not based on antipathy toward the U.S. If anything, Federer and tennis could use a Jimmy Connors or John McEnroe in the spotlight to help generate more interest in the great sport of tennis.
