Coach Prime Named SI Sportsperson of the Year (for Going 4-8)

[ixcuincle]

if it's not deion obligatory vote for Ohtani 

 

sadly deion being a footballer and the hype meant he was always gon get it. football is king 

[PleaseBlitz]

2 hours ago, Dan T. said:

It's a shame how far Sports Illustrated has fallen.

 

I honestly believe that this is an attempt by SI to cash in on the Coach Prime hype and sell some magazines and page views.  They could have picked someone more deserving, but that would not have generated the same revenue. 

[Spaceman Spiff]

43 minutes ago, PleaseBlitz said:

 

I honestly believe that this is an attempt by SI to cash in on the Coach Prime hype and sell some magazines and page views.  They could have picked someone more deserving, but that would not have generated the same revenue. 

Agreed.  

 

SI has fallen a good bit, but then again I feel like the entire magazine industry has.  I can't remember the last time I bought an SI issue, even at the airport which used to be something I'd always do when traveling.  

 

But I do believe you're right, it's a good opportunity for them to piggyback on Sanders and get clicks/purchases.  I don't think the other athletes you mentioned would do the same.  

 

That said, gotta give Deion some credit.  He's done more than I think anyone ever thought he would as a coach, he should be commended for that.  But in a game where recruiting is the #1 part of the equation, it certainly helps to be able to recruit when you're arguably the best cornerback ever.  No other coach in college football has a resume like that.

[PleaseBlitz]

SI cover story next issue.  How TAYLOR SWIFT Saved the NFL.  

[TradeTheBeal!]

Live look at Spiff and PB using their monster intellects to discern that Sports Illustrated may be trying to increase traffic to their website.

 

 

Edited November 30, 2023 by TradeTheBeal!

[PleaseBlitz]

34 minutes ago, TradeTheBeal! said:

Love look at Spiff and PB using their monster intellects to discern that Sports Illustrated may be trying to increase traffic to their website.

 

This is fair, but I do think it's somewhat surprising that SI would so transparently jettison their credibility on one of the two things that still makes it somewhat relevant.  

[Spaceman Spiff]

Love it when TTB takes a swipe at our monster intellects with grammar issues!

[Spaceman Spiff]

@PleaseBlitzJoe Posnanski picked Novak Djokovic for his Sportsperson of the year.

 

Quote

— He won the Australian Open one year after being cleared to come and then being deported for refusing to be vaccinated. He crushed Stefanos Tsitsipas in a three-set final. After that match, he admitted that he played the tournament through a painful hamstring tear; he had to adjust his game and become more offensive than normal in order to pull off the victory. That was his 22nd grand slam title, tying Rafael Nadal for the most in men’s tennis history.

— He won the French Open for the third time, becoming the only player to have won all the Grand Slam tournaments three times. He was already the only player of the Open Era to have won them all twice. He outlasted brilliant young star Carlos Alcaraz in a grueling semifinal (Alcaraz finally succumbed after cramping up) and then took out Casper Ruud in a three-set final. This gave him 23 grand slams, the most ever in men’s tennis.

— He reached the Finals of Wimbledon for the ninth time and, in a match for the ages, lost to Alcaraz in five thrilling sets. Djokovic, for the many controversies he has stirred up through the years, is as gracious a loser as anyone in tennis history, and he heaped enormous praise on the young Alcaraz.

— In Cincinnati, Djokovic and Alcaraz played an incredible and all-consuming match in the Ohio heat; at different points, each player seemed out on his feet. Alcaraz won the first set and Djokovic seemed physically destroyed, and it would have been no surprise for him to simply take the loss and rest up for the U.S. Open. Instead, he came back and won the final two sets, both in tiebreakers, and called it one of the proudest and gutsiest victories of his career.

— He won the U.S. Open, outclassing Daniil Medvedev (who had just taken out Alcaraz in an inspired effort) in three sets. That was his 24th grand slam victory, putting him two clear of Nadal and anyone else.

— At the year-end Nitto ATP Masters, Djokovic actually lost an exciting knockout round match to the brilliant young Italian Jannik Sinner, and was in danger of being knocked out of the tournament. But the breaks broke his way, and he ended up utterly destroying Alcaraz in the semifinal and utterly destroying Sinner in the final.

 

 

Quote

I understand that this will sound hyperbolic, but I do mean it: It’s possible that nobody has ever played better tennis than Djokovic did in those two matches. I’m not alone in thinking that, either: After one electrifying point, Nick Kyrgios — who is not prone to overpraising anybody — shouted out something to the effect of “Novak Djokovic is the greatest human being to ever touch a tennis racket!”

You know what? That’s one extraordinary year. I think when you’re looking at greatest years in the history of tennis, you have the Rod Laver grand slams, Steffi Graf’s golden slam, Serena Williams’ Serena Slam, Novak’s own Novak Slam, plus amazing seasons from countless others — Chris Evert (who actually did win SI’s Sportsperson of the Year) and John McEnroe and Martina Navratilova and Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi and, obviously, numerous impossibly great years from Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal. I’m very surprised Fed didn’t win a Sportsperson Award.

But this Novak year? At age 36? When great young players are finally emerging? I don’t think it has been topped.

I do get that there are plenty of people who, for various reasons, do not believe Djokovic is worthy of awards — heck, he was just left off the finalist list for tennis’ sportsmanship award, and he’s unlikely to win the fan favorite award. He has never won either of those awards.*

*Though, to be fair, almost nobody else has, either — Federer and Nadal have swept both those awards for the last 15 years.

Djokovic has been outspoken, defiant, temperamental and unapologetic. He also has been extraordinarily generous, thoughtful, hard-working and brilliant. In this amazing year, he more or less shut down the whole “Who’s the greatest tennis player ever?” argument. Yes, obviously, anyone can continue to fight for their favorite, continue to make cogent arguments for Federer or Nadal or Laver or Serena or anybody else, but it is Djokovic, whose unfathomable achievements and mind-numbing statistics and breathtaking ability to be whatever he needs to be on the court, that rules the day.

 

*bracing myself for TTB's inevitable snarky response*

[TradeTheBeal!]

53 minutes ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

But the breaks broke his way, and he ended up utterly destroying Alcaraz in the semifinal and utterly destroying Sinner in the final.

Man, this Poznancy guy must be sone kind of poet laureate.

[PleaseBlitz]

And there we have it. 

[Corcaigh]

1 hour ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

@PleaseBlitzJoe Posnanski picked Novak Djokovic for his Sportsperson of the year.

 

 

 

Based on the history SI is more focused on the person(ality) than the sports. Recent awardees include Laurent Duvernay-Tardif.

 

Djkovic is intelligible due to his personality.

 

 

 

[Fergasun]

Last coaches to get this were Coach K, Pat Summitt, and Dean Smith.  Saban hasn't even won this award.  A 4-8 coach seems like a pretty garbage pick. 

 

Ohtani, Messi, Djokovic are all better choices.  Max Verstappen too, as F1 is surging in America.  

 

If you need an American athlete - you could go with Maholmes or Kelce.  Kelce even hosted SNL and has a pretty famous girlfriend if you are going for mass appeal. But it does seem like they don't necessarily always go with an American. Maybe the guy who shortened up baseball games?  

[PleaseBlitz]

No more Kelce overexposure please. 

[Fergasun]

18 minutes ago, PleaseBlitz said:

No more Kelce overexposure please. 

Then if it should be an American, and I think the NBA has gotten a lot of exposure... how about all the black QBs in the NFL and how no one talks about how unremarkable successful black QBs are?  

 

But hey... the next step would be "what about black head coaches."  

 

So I guess if there are no American athletes worthy, why not the international gang?

 

 

[Ball Security]

I would have selected Jokic.

 

Or the chess master who put things in his butt to cheat.

Edited December 1, 2023 by Ball Security

[samy316]

2 hours ago, Ball Security said:

I would have selected Jokic.

 

Or the chess master who put things in his butt to cheat.

Jokic is “boring” to the general public.  He’s a superstar who’s foreign AND doesn’t really care about press or media presence.  Not to slam him or his accomplishments, but the NBA Finals had the lowest ratings in about 20 years (almost as bad as when the Nets & Pistons were making NBA Finals appearances in the early 2000s).  Jokic is great, but nobody really cares about the Nuggets on a National level. I would’ve gone with Kelce, Mahommes or Ohtani.  They’ve been the biggest and most intriguing stories in sports for 2023 by far.  

I can see why they went with Coach Prime, he was looking like a force to be reckoned with in September.  He had people who never watch college football tuning in to see Colorado games.  Colorado is responsible for 2 of the 5 highest rated college football games this year.  Sanders was a logical pick when you think about his impact and buzz earlier in the Fall.

Edited December 2, 2023 by samy316

[Corcaigh]

2 hours ago, Ball Security said:

I would have selected Jokic.

 

Genuinely don’t know who that is, but I don’t watch much NBA.

 

The Hans Niemann cheating controversy pushed a pretty obscure endeavor onto the front page of every newspaper in the world. Would have been an intriguing choice.

[DCSaints_fan]

1 hour ago, samy316 said:

Jokic is “boring” to the general public.  He’s a superstar who’s foreign AND doesn’t really care about press or media presence.  Not to slam him or his accomplishments, but the NBA Finals had the lowest ratings in about 20 years (almost as bad as when the Nets & Pistons were making NBA Finals appearances in the early 2000s).  Jokic is great, but nobody really cares about the Nuggets on a National level. I would’ve gone with Kelce, Mahommes or Ohtani.  They’ve been the biggest and most intriguing stories in sports for 2023 by far.  

I can see why they went with Coach Prime, he was looking like a force to be reckoned with in September.  He had people who never watch college football tuning in to see Colorado games.  Colorado is responsible for 2 of the 5 highest rated college football games this year.  Sanders was a logical pick when you think about his impact and buzz earlier in the Fall.

 

Is Jokic married?   Maybe he can start dating Brittany or something

[Spaceman Spiff]

PB getting hair triggered by Swelce is what I need headed into 2024!

[PleaseBlitz]

3 hours ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

PB getting hair triggered by Swelce is what I need headed into 2024!

And his ****ing mom. 

[tshile]

I think NIL will be good. Evens the playing field, gives a shakeup to the (recent) historical powerhouses, will make it more interesting

 

Sanders was a bad pick. Way out of touch trying to capitalize on a fad that had already passed. The only legitimate excuse is if they’re required to make their selection end of September and just whiffed on how the season would play out. 

[TradeTheBeal!]

4 hours ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

PB getting hair triggered by Swelce is what I need headed into 2024!

 

44 minutes ago, PleaseBlitz said:

And his ****ing mom. 

 

 

[PleaseBlitz]

34 minutes ago, tshile said:

I think NIL will be good. Evens the playing field, gives a shakeup to the (recent) historical powerhouses, will make it more interesting

Wow. How does it even the playing field? It’s the exact opposite. When you can buy players, the programs with the largest budgets gain a gigantic advantage. 

[tshile]

1 hour ago, PleaseBlitz said:

Wow. How does it even the playing field? It’s the exact opposite. When you can buy players, the programs with the largest budgets gain a gigantic advantage. 

Because lots of programs have access to quite a bit of money. Seems before the primary recruiting focus was who’s the big name that gives you best shot at being drafted best - that’s your payday. 
 

But now for some players it’s getting paid now. Which means a good player that would go to (substitute whoever you want that’s big name the last 10 years) Alabama/georgia/michigan/Ohio state to be second string because in another year they’ll get to play for that team, may decide to go get paid now. Portal also helps talented players spread out cause you’re not locked into that decision. Additionally, teams willing to break the rules were doing it anyways, now teams that care about following the rules can engage in the same activities. 
 

yes - schools with more money can spend more on players but schools with less money are going to be disadvantaged regardless of the specific rules, they certainly were disadvantaged before the change and lol @ anyone pretending otherwise 

 

seems to me there’s a number of schools that weren’t considered powerhouses in recruiting the previous 15ish years are getting better recruits and have higher upside as a team in the immediate future. I seem to remember coaches of the big powerhouses ****ting all over the idea - as they watched their (traditionally lesser) competitors pick up players that in the past would rather spend a year or two on bench at a powerhouse waiting their turn. 
 

add playoff expansion and all the things the ncaa has fought under the guise of “protecting the integrity of the sport” look prime to make the sport blow up and be more exciting and encourage even more pumping of money into it. 
 

it seems hilarious people would prefer a system where a significantly smaller set of schools are significantly advantaged over everyone else year in and year out. Does anyone other than Alabama and Georgia, and to some extent other SEC fans, really enjoy watching the same schools in the championship every year?
 

I’m sure fans/alumni of those schools think it’s total bull**** others can compete better with them, I wouldn’t really expect them to feel any different. Same with SEC schools who have grown used to being the only conference that really matters.
 

but everyone else? I think it’s likely better for them. At least for schools that produce successful alumni bases capable of pumping money in. 

Edited December 2, 2023 by tshile

[tshile]

Also I’m not sure how anyone could pick anyone other than Ohtani

 

he’s doing something you just don’t see in a sport. You don’t see anyone do that in any sport anymore much less in a situation as extreme being a great pitcher and a great  hitter. And until his injury his free agency was likely to be the biggest since James originally left Cleveland and that one altered the entire sport for the foreseeable future (and I’m saying that 13 years after “the decision”.) and there’s a solid chance it still might be, despite the injury.  It could also change the sport depending on what it does for the Japanese market. 

 

I don’t get how it’s not hands down that. I’m not even a big baseball fan and it seems obvious to me 🤷‍♂️ 

Instead the picked Deon Sanders 😂 

Edited December 2, 2023 by tshile