I had it all planned out to unveil my prediction for who would end up on the cover of the annual Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year issue, which comes out this week. But they beat me to the punch. They announced this afternoon that the honor would be shared by the two winningest coaches in college basketball history: Mike Krzyzewski and Pat Summit. I've got to say I'm a little surprised, but that's not a rare thing when SI names its Sportsman of the Year. But I can't argue with either selection. All the news about college coaches that we've heard this year has been negative. Other than Coach Summit's unfortunate health situation (which we also found out about this year), there's not a bad thing that you can say about either of these coaches. They both exude class and run respected, reputable, clean programs. Both Coach K and Coach Summit deserve all of the success they've had over the years.
Since I didn't think it would be either coach, I don't really see the reason to change the basic theme of today's post. There were plenty of candidates that stood out for all the right reasons this year, and I think one stood above the rest. So, with all due respect to Sports Illustrated, I'm going to award the inaugural "Joe Brackets" Sportsman of the Year.
Our first finalist was reason enough to watch the Women's World Cup, and not just because of her play in the tournament. How do you become a national sex symbol in a matter of a week? I don't know. Ask Hope Solo. Before she posed nude in ESPN The Magazine or went on Dancing with the Stars, she was busy winning the MVP at this little soccer tournament that took place in Germany this summer. Even though the U.S. has the top-ranked women's soccer team in the world, nobody in this country cared about the World Cup for the first three weeks of the tournament. Then came the Brazil game. It was truly one of the most amazing sporting events I've ever seen, and one of the primary reasons the Americans won was because of their goalie. Yes, Japan won the shootout in the final. But that wasn't Solo's fault. She stood on her head to keep in close. Hope Solo was easily the face of the Women's World Cup, a fact made even more blatantly obvious after we started seeing her face on EVERYTHING. Once again, a summer World Cup run brought soccer into the mainstream and made it cool.
Our next finalist is a tall German guy who plays basketball. It might surprise some of you that I've included an NBA player on this list, but I don't have to like the NBA to appreciate what Dirk Nowitzki did this season. Long regarded as the best player in the NBA never to have won a title, that changed in 2011. The Mavericks swept the Lakers, then beat the Heat's over-hyped "Big Three" to win their first NBA championship. And Dirk was named MVP. A just reward for a class act. But where I gained even more respect for Nowitzki was over the summer. Despite the lockout, he played in the European Championships, the qualifier for next summer's Olympics. Germany didn't qualify, but it says something that he made it a point to play for his country even with all of the uncertainty of the labor situation.
Finalist No. 3? Justin Verlander. His 2011 season was off-the-charts good. Verlander won the AL Cy Young and MVP, becoming the first starting pitcher to win the latter since 1986. Say what you want about whether you think pitchers should be eligible for MVP. There's no denying Justin Verlander's value to the Detroit Tigers. Never was that more evident than in 2011. I've broken down his stats enough in this blog this season that there isn't really any need for me to do it again. It's not a coincidence that the Tigers first became relevant again when Verlander arrived in Detroit. That was six years ago. In 2011, he put it all together and truly had a season for the ages.
But Verlander's season for the ages was nothing compared to Novak Djokovic's. For so long, men's tennis was a two-man show. Then Djokovic came and crashed the Roger-Rafa party. Last November, he led Serbia to its first Davis Cup. That simply set the stage for a remarkable 2011 campaign that might've been the best season any tennis player has ever had. Djokovic cruised to his second Australian Open title and won his first 41! matches of the year. He didn't lose until Roger beat him in the semis of the French Open, then Novak beat both Roger and Rafa to win Wimbledon and become No. 1. Then at the US Open he came back from two match points down to beat Roger in an epic semi, then knocked off Nadal in a rematch of the 2010 final. It should also be noted that he was one of the more outspoken players arguing that, despite way too many rain delays, whoever made the final from the bottom half of the draw (the other side) deserved to have a day off, leading to the fourth straight Monday US Open men's final. Overall, Djokovic went 70-6 and won 10 titles (including three Majors) in 2011. He's an incredible sportsman in more than one aspect, too. Djokovic is a UNICEF Ambassador and has invested millions back into his hometown in Serbia, as well as being a tremendous businessman.
Lastly, there's the guy who's made Packers fans forget all about a certain future Hall of Famer. Aaron Rodgers started his 2011 by winning three playoff road games to lead Green Bay to the Super Bowl. Then he went 24-for-39 for 304 yards and three TD's to earn MVP honors as the Packers beat the Steelers 31-25 to bring the Vince Lombardi Trophy back to Titletown for the first time in 14 years. But that was nothing compared to what he's done this season. I'm not sure if you've heard, but Green Bay is still undefeated. Rodgers has had a passer rating of at least 110 in every game and was the NFC Offensive Player of the Week in both September and October. His numbers through 11 weeks: 3,475 yards, 33 touchdowns, four interceptions. The NFL MVP vote is probably going to take about as long as it took to give Verlander the Cy Young Award.
So who does the inaugural "Joe Brackets" Sportsman of the Year Award go to? Aaron Rodgers won the Super Bowl, then followed that up with the best season of his career. Most importantly, he took over for a legend in a controversial manner, and the Packers haven't missed a beat. And he's done all this with a team that's such a part of its city's identity that the people of Green Bay literally OWN the Packers. Oh yeah, and that Super Bowl trophy his team won last year? Named after his team's legendary coach. Needless to say, doing everything he's done is tough enough. Doing it for the Green Bay Packers should be nearly impossible. But that doesn't really seem to phase Aaron Rodgers, the 2011 "Joe Brackets" Sportsman of the Year.
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