This year's Sportsperson of the Year: Deion Sanders.

Because nothing says "sporstperson" like going 4-8. Okay, to be fair, this is one of those years where nobody really stood out - well, at least, nobody who meets the "unwritten rules" for the award (either (a) an athlete in one of the four major pro leagues, (b) someone representing USA in some sport, (c) an American golfer/tennis player, (d) a college football or basketball coach, or (e) someone who gets it for reasons that have nothing to do with sports).
My "short list" was Mahomes, somebody from the baseball Rangers, and a "city award" for Las Vegas (Golden Knights, Aces, and throw in the Raiders and A's and a Grand Prix plus an upcoming Super Bowl as well).

On Thursday, November 30, 2023 at 11:37:35 AM UTC-8, The NOTBCS Guy wrote:
> This year's Sportsperson of the Year: Deion Sanders.
>
> Because nothing says "sporstperson" like going 4-8. Okay, to be fair, this is one of those years where nobody really stood out - well, at least, nobody who meets the "unwritten rules" for the award (either (a) an athlete in one of the four major pro leagues, (b) someone representing USA in some sport, (c) an American golfer/tennis player, (d) a college football or basketball coach, or (e) someone who gets it for reasons that have nothing to do with sports).
> My "short list" was Mahomes, somebody from the baseball Rangers, and a "city award" for Las Vegas (Golden Knights, Aces, and throw in the Raiders and A's and a Grand Prix plus an upcoming Super Bowl as well).

There are so many problems with this, it's not funny.

But my short list is Max Verstappen. 19 of the 22 F1 races this year, he wins.

One of the ramifications of this award is that no one (not even Mahomes or the Rangers) sufficiently had achievement to merit this award, nor even a Lifetime Achievement Award like the year Favre won it.

The second is that you do have to wonder whether there is some real admission of corporate tampering in American sports, to the end stated just above.

And the big one: One, this guy accomplished NOTHING. He went 4-8 in another irrelevant year for a football program which does not have a future in the reality of American college football (to be fair, even a good number of the programs going to a bowl game have no such future, but that's another argument).

Two, if this guy is to be that lauded, it basically is another step toward the open-facing of what Keith Olbermann calls "college-pro" football, and in more than just the "pay the players, any way you can"... This guy fired a significant number of the former Colorado players and told them, straight out, they were unfit for FBS.

(The real question should be how many of these players found other FBS programs which enjoyed some level of success, but no one has actually done that study.)

This was a horrific decision. If you MUST, either find some story of bravery to win it or declare "No Winner" and actually start calling out American sport for the ills it has and actually state that genuine competition and achievement are things of the past.

Mike

> But my short list is Max Verstappen. 19 of the 22 F1 races this year, he wins.

Like I said, Verstappen didn't meet the "unwritten rules" for the award - and if they didn't exist, I am convinced it would have gone to Lionel Messi, especially now that he is in MLS. Then again, since Verstappen won the F1 race in Vegas, he could have gotten it as part of that Vegas "team award" I mentioned.

A more recent example: when Affirmed won the Triple Crown, Steve Cauthen was SOTY. When American Pharoah did, not only was his jockey not even considered, even though he had won two of the tree Triple Crown races the previous year, but SI's "short list" included the horse.

> One of the ramifications of this award is that no one (not even Mahomes or the Rangers) sufficiently had achievement to merit this award, nor even a Lifetime Achievement Award like the year Favre won it.

They don't like giving it to one-offs. Sanders has the advantage of already being a "name" - I'm pretty sure he has at least one Super Bowl ring (didn't he win one with the 49ers?).
It took three World Series in a five-year span for someone from the San Francisco Giants to win it.
It took four Tour de France "wins" for Lance Armstrong.

> The second is that you do have to wonder whether there is some real admission of corporate tampering in American sports, to the end stated just above.

Not so much "corporate tampering," but I wouldn't be surprised if the "real" rule for choosing the winner is, "Whoever we think will sell the most issues of the magazine, that has something to do with sports, as otherwise the only multi-time winner would be someone like Kathy Ireland."

> Two, if this guy is to be that lauded, it basically is another step toward the open-facing of what Keith Olbermann calls "college-pro" football, and in more than just the "pay the players, any way you can"... This guy fired a significant number of the former Colorado players and told them, straight out, they were unfit for FBS.
>
> (The real question should be how many of these players found other FBS programs which enjoyed some level of success, but no one has actually done that study.)

I am waiting to see if the players whose scholarships were cut and then left the school will count against the school's APR. It is not clear if football players who leave after the spring semester starts do. If enough players do count against it, it could drop the APR below the 930 needed for bowl eligibility next season - assuming the NCAA doesn't realize this and suddenly announce, "Er, because of 'reasons', we are switching to Graduation Success Rate, where someone who transfers counts toward their new school."

On Friday, December 1, 2023 at 10:39:49 AM UTC-5, The NOTBCS Guy wrote:
> > But my short list is Max Verstappen. 19 of the 22 F1 races this year, he wins.
> Like I said, Verstappen didn't meet the "unwritten rules" for the award - and if they didn't exist, I am convinced it would have gone to Lionel Messi, especially now that he is in MLS. Then again, since Verstappen won the F1 race in Vegas, he could have gotten it as part of that Vegas "team award" I mentioned.
>
> A more recent example: when Affirmed won the Triple Crown, Steve Cauthen was SOTY. When American Pharoah did, not only was his jockey not even considered, even though he had won two of the tree Triple Crown races the previous year, but SI's "short list" included the horse.
> > One of the ramifications of this award is that no one (not even Mahomes or the Rangers) sufficiently had achievement to merit this award, nor even a Lifetime Achievement Award like the year Favre won it.
> They don't like giving it to one-offs. Sanders has the advantage of already being a "name" - I'm pretty sure he has at least one Super Bowl ring (didn't he win one with the 49ers?).

One with the 49ers and one with the Cowboys. I suppose the one-offs is why Nikola Jokic wouldn't been a strong candidate? If they wanted to go college football coach, what about Kirby Smart?

On Friday, December 1, 2023 at 7:39:49 AM UTC-8, The NOTBCS Guy wrote:
> > But my short list is Max Verstappen. 19 of the 22 F1 races this year, he wins.

> Like I said, Verstappen didn't meet the "unwritten rules" for the award - and if they didn't exist, I am convinced it would have gone to Lionel Messi, especially now that he is in MLS. Then again, since Verstappen won the F1 race in Vegas, he could have gotten it as part of that Vegas "team award" I mentioned.

I think, even with your unwritten rules, then Messi should've won it instead.

But Verstappen, at that point, is the CLEAR winner.

> A more recent example: when Affirmed won the Triple Crown, Steve Cauthen was SOTY. When American Pharoah did, not only was his jockey not even considered, even though he had won two of the tree Triple Crown races the previous year, but SI's "short list" included the horse.

There could be issues with the inclusion of horse racing at all, especially with the increasing horse fatalities.

> > One of the ramifications of this award is that no one (not even Mahomes or the Rangers) sufficiently had achievement to merit this award, nor even a Lifetime Achievement Award like the year Favre won it.

> They don't like giving it to one-offs. Sanders has the advantage of already being a "name" - I'm pretty sure he has at least one Super Bowl ring (didn't he win one with the 49ers?).

It really doesn't matter if it's a one-off. The point is, even the one-offs didn't make the cut this year.

Deion won one with the Niners and one with the Cowboys.

> It took three World Series in a five-year span for someone from the San Francisco Giants to win it.
> It took four Tour de France "wins" for Lance Armstrong.

As I said, there's a real chance that there was no discernible winner, and I told you what they needed to do.

> > The second is that you do have to wonder whether there is some real admission of corporate tampering in American sports, to the end stated just above.
> Not so much "corporate tampering," but I wouldn't be surprised if the "real" rule for choosing the winner is, "Whoever we think will sell the most issues of the magazine, that has something to do with sports, as otherwise the only multi-time winner would be someone like Kathy Ireland."

Exactly. Or Martha Stewart. :)

But this is problematic, on so many levels -- and it's not Deion's mouth. It's his actions.

> > Two, if this guy is to be that lauded, it basically is another step toward the open-facing of what Keith Olbermann calls "college-pro" football, and in more than just the "pay the players, any way you can"... This guy fired a significant number of the former Colorado players and told them, straight out, they were unfit for FBS.
> >
> > (The real question should be how many of these players found other FBS programs which enjoyed some level of success, but no one has actually done that study.)
> I am waiting to see if the players whose scholarships were cut and then left the school will count against the school's APR. It is not clear if football players who leave after the spring semester starts do. If enough players do count against it, it could drop the APR below the 930 needed for bowl eligibility next season - assuming the NCAA doesn't realize this and suddenly announce, "Er, because of 'reasons', we are switching to Graduation Success Rate, where someone who transfers counts toward their new school."

Another possibility I didn't think of, but it's something you keep track of..

Mike

> I suppose the one-offs is why Nikola Jokic wouldn't been a strong candidate?

Not so much that, as SI doesn't like giving it to the same sport in two consecutive years, and Curry won it last year.

The NOTBCS Guy <don.p.del.grande@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I suppose the one-offs is why Nikola Jokic wouldn't been a strong candidate?
>
> Not so much that, as SI doesn't like giving it to the same sport in two
> consecutive years, and Curry won it last year.
>

No, this is all the evidence you need that SI is a shadow of its former
self.

https://futurism.com/sports-illustrated-ai-generated-writers

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