2009 Sportsman Of The Year

Derek Jeter has just been named as the SI 2009 Sportsman of the Year. I will submit that he is a worth candidate and is the captain of the team that won the World Series, he is the ultimate team player, his numbers are either holding steady or are better now at an advanced age then when he was in his prime which is remarkable PLUS he is a very likeable figure. All that said I do not think that he should have been given this award. Perhaps it is more of a "lifetime achievement award" but even still I think there were some more deserving people.

Tim Tebow is one that comes to mind. He has the Heisman, he has the National Championships he has the looks the leadership and that is just what he does on the football field. When you add onto all that with his humanitarian work and everything he does and has done off the field it is hard to saw that he is not deserving of the award. The fact that there are questions about how he will be as a pro should have been a factor as well. This may be the only time where he will be in a position to win the award and that is now gone.

My vote would have gone to Jimmie Johnson. He has done what no one has ever done in the history of NASCAR winning 4 consecutive Championships. He is doing something that in any other sport would be deemed as super-human and the coverage is weak and the fact that he was overlooked as SI’s Sportsman of the Year is just another bit of proof that there is a double standard. Maybe it is because he is only part of the equation and technology is a big part of it. I find that a weak explanation or excuse, it is a team sport where he uses what he is given, the car is only a small part of what makes him so great. I am guessing that the voters have held his sport against him. When you are at the top of the mountain and not getting the respect that should come with it must be at least a little frustrating. Guess the millions of dollars and the trophies and the super attractive wife make up for that.

Other people that were in consideration were Manny Pacquiao, Kobe Bryant, Usain Bolt and Roger Federer. All these guys deserve to be in the conversation but just didn’t have enough to take the title.

With all that Tiger Woods did over this past year he very well could have been in this list. Imagine if he had won and was going to be honored at the awards night and on the cover after what has gone down regarding himself his wife and his very secretive car accident. That could have made for a very awkward situation for all involved.

Aftershock - Bolt destroys 200-metre record

For the second time in less then a week Usain Bolt crushed his own world record by a blistering .11 seconds after running a 19.19s 200m race at the World Championships in Berlin. Bolt set the record in China at last years Olympics with a time of 19.30s.

Bolt got a killer start and blew away a fast but over matched field with his nearest competitor finishing 0.62s behind.This is just even more proof that the guy is a freak and a once in a generation athlete.

It is almost unbelievable what he is able to do.
Ben Johnson raced that horse and a car that one time, I bet Bolt could maybe even be able to win a race like that without any head start...sick!

The Lightning Bolt Strikes Berlin

(Standard disclaimer for anything related to Track and Field - At the time of this, there are no indications of any performance enhancing substances)

Sure it is sad to have to say but in this era where just about every league or sport has either a problem or at best a few instances of usage one just never knows for sure. With all that being said Usain Bolt is possibly the biggest freak in all of sports. It is one thing with him setting the Olympic and then World Record at 9.69 despite kicking it into cruise control at like the 80M mark.

What he managed to do at the World Championships on Sunday left little doubt that he is the premier athlete not only in track but maybe the world. In a much anticipated match up between himself and American Tyson Gay it was like Gay and the rest of the field were jogging. Bolt shattered the World Record by an astounding .11 seconds leaving everyone in his wake. That is the biggest margin of change since electronic timing in 1968. Most of these records are beaten by 100th of a second not a 10th of a second. The magnitude of that is just ridiculous. There probably won't be another sprinter that will run a sub-9.60 in at least the next 20 years that isn't named Bolt (I will leave the window open for a Bolt offspring). I still think there is room for him to break his own record. He has said in the past that he does not run for records but he thinks that maybe he can get in the 9.4 range.

This just in from The Canadian Press: The IAAF has announced that there were no positive doping cases in the men's 100 metres, the marquee event of the world track and field championships. Steeplechaser Jamal Chatbi of Morocco is the only positive athlete of the championships so far after more than 600 tests were analyzed. -- I am sure that there were a lot of very happy people in the track world that this is the case...just remember you can only test for what you know about. I'm not saying, I'm just saying.

Around the Horn

Firstly, Congratulations to Phil Dalhauser and Todd Rogers on their 3 Set Gold Medal win last night 23-21, 17-21, 15-4. in the men’s beach final. It was a great match and I was glad I was able to stay up for the duration. The 3rd set was taken over by the best player in the world, Dalhauser who made the Great Wall of China pale in comparison to his giant wing span . He was blocking everything in sight as the US team dominated the Brazilians to claim gold. It was hot, humid and sunny for the match, a far cry from what Kerri Walsh and Misty May had to play through the day before.
Now the Beach is closed in Beijing.

Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian threw his bronze medal to the mat, and walked off the podium.
What a child, everyone knows that a bronze is the second best medal. If it was a silver I would understand.
Gold= Win
Bronze= At least you get something
Silver= FIRST LOSER.
Maybe he just had to put his medal down because his soup was ready (Huh Mr. Sundin??)

So they are canceling Woman's Softball from the Olympics because the US is too good?
Interesting, if that were true would Japan not just upset them, Explain to me that logic.

U.S. 400m relay teams drop their batons and will miss the finals
Someone must have said " is that a syringe coming behind you?" and they panicked and it dropped (allegedly)

Water Polo is impressive in the fact that they never touch the bottom of the pool during a match.
What is even more impressive is that it is the closest thing to a death sport in the Olympics... it would probably be the closest thing to MMA at the games. Water Cube or cage...Think I’ll take the cage...what happens under the water stays under the water

I just saw BMX as a sport being demonstrated in the Olympics
The is the Olympics not the X games, get out of Beijing and go back to Cleveland.

Jose Calderon has a ‘strained adductor’ not good news for the Raptors and their point guard
We here in Ottawa know all too well that a strained adductor can prove to be more troublesome then the actual injury itself...Dominic Hasek, I am looking in your direction.

IOC president Jacques Rogge made some comments regarding Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt for showing a lack of respect to other competitors
This guy is head of the IOC - not the most credible organization in the world, clean up your judging (actual event judging and not your judgemental high and mighty judging first) Just remember about people living in glass houses.