Jimmie Johnson - AP's male athlete of the year

[Lee Roy]

Now this is cool. First race driver to win this award.

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/cup/news/story?id=4761210&campaign=link&source=JAYSKI


CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- There was little recognition outside the racing world when Jimmie Johnson won his first NASCAR championship.

Same with his second, and again with his third.

But four straight championships? That's a different story.

Johnson, the first driver in NASCAR history to win four consecutive titles, earned mainstream recognition Monday when he was honored as the Male Athlete of the Year by members of The Associated Press.

. . . . .

[edv]

They should really call this award the AP American Male Athlete of the year....since 1931 only 5 recipients have been from some other country.

Michael Schumacher's racing achievements eclipse anything JJ has ever done, yet he has never won this award.
How about Usain Bolt smashing the record as Fastest Man on the Planet? Nary a mention....

Sorry, even though JJ is surely fit and even athletic, this award can be lumped into the same category as the Nobel Peace Prize this year.

[Lee Roy]

The Associated Press IS a US Based news agency (see below).

If a US based news agency nominates the male athlete of the year, they don't need to say anything about where he is "from" or anything else about him. If a Canadian news agency nominates a "male athlete of the year" they don't have to designate him as Canadian to suit the rest of the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Associated_press


The Associated Press (AP) is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists. Many newspapers and broadcasters outside the United States are AP subscribers, paying a fee to use AP material without being contributing members of the cooperative.


They should really call this award the AP American Male Athlete of the year....since 1931 only 5 recipients have been from some other country.

Michael Schumacher's racing achievements eclipse anything JJ has ever done, yet he has never won this award.
How about Usain Bolt smashing the record as Fastest Man on the Planet? Nary a mention....

Sorry, even though JJ is surely fit and even athletic, this award can be lumped into the same category as the Nobel Peace Prize this year.

[harvick#1]

Lance Armstrong didn't win it, what a joke.

wait the AP is a joke :laugh:

there were far better athletes this year than JJ, I always stick my head out and defend race car drivers being athletes as most people believe only "Stick and ball" players are athletes. but the AP normally only looks at stats instead of individuals.

much like the Heisman trophy winner this year, they gave it to one of the undeserving players all because he is on the #1 team in CF, while there were 10-12 better players than him.

but I never take these awards too serious because for us, whats the point :laugh:

[edv]

Umm, you're reading the wrong wiki entry, Lee Roy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Associated_Press_Athlete_of_the_Year
The award has strong American bias, which is understandable since all of the votes come from American journalists.
Which is why I contend that it should be called AP American Male Athlete of the year.

[edv]

Lance Armstrong didn't win it, what a joke.

wait the AP is a joke :laugh:



Armstrong won it 4 years in a row. No one has ever done that.
Or do you mean he didn't win it this year

[Lee Roy]

Umm, you're reading the wrong wiki entry, Lee Roy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Associated_Press_Athlete_of_the_Year
The award has strong American bias, which is understandable since all of the votes come from American journalists.
Which is why I contend that it should be called AP American Male Athlete of the year.

If some people around the world don't like what AP is doing, they can just go ahead and cry about it for all I care.

sniff, sniff . . . . .

{edit} Thanks for the link. 2 of the 4 non-US male athletes of the year (Johannsen & Gretzky) moved to the US. Gretzky acutally did most of his playing in the US and after he retired became a US citizen and resides in the US. {edit}

[harvick#1]

Armstrong won it 4 years in a row. No one has ever done that.
Or do you mean he didn't win it this year

for this year, yeah he didn't win the Tour, but coming back after not racing is quite an achievement

[edv]

No crying here, LOL.
Just pointing out the semantics. Sorta like the 'World Series' should really just be the 'American Series'.
And sure people move to the US....Lots of them...the US population is almost 100% made up of people who've moved there from someplace else over the past couple hundred years.

[Lee Roy]

No crying here, LOL.
Just pointing out the semantics. Sorta like the 'World Series' should really just be the 'American Series'.


Yep, no matter what we do here, there are people all around the world whining about it.

[Mark in Oshawa]

If some people around the world don't like what AP is doing, they can just go ahead and cry about it for all I care.

sniff, sniff . . . . .

{edit} Thanks for the link. 2 of the 4 non-US male athletes of the year (Johannsen & Gretzky) moved to the US. Gretzky acutally did most of his playing in the US and after he retired became a US citizen and resides in the US. {edit}

I take no offense. The Lou Marsh award ( top sports person in Canada) wouldn't go to an American ball player with the Blue Jays because it is an award for Canadian athletes only. The AP, being American will have that focus. I think they made an enlightened pick since it is about time race drivers got some recognition from the stick and ball sport media.

Oh yes..Gretzky has dual citizenship, he never has given up his Canadian passport. Most hockey players in the US from Canada get the dual only because it makes life easier for taxes, and allows one to at least vote on how which party will waste it!!!. He did play most of his career in the US, but that wasn't really by choice.

Anyhow, back to the topic at hand, I am with you on this one Lee Roy, people who fail to grasp why he won this award are not paying attention to what a big step it was for the American sports media to recognize a racing driver as an athlete over the athletes from the big 4 traditional sports.

[Mark in Oshawa]

No crying here, LOL.
Just pointing out the semantics. Sorta like the 'World Series' should really just be the 'American Series'.
And sure people move to the US....Lots of them...the US population is almost 100% made up of people who've moved there from someplace else over the past couple hundred years.

World Series was named after the "New York World" newspaper who created it. It isn't actually saying you are the world champion, although only a fool would think most years that winner of the World Series wouldn't also beat most club teams from Cuba or Japan.

[The instant classic]

Now this is cool. First race driver to win this award.

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/cup/news/story?id=4761210&campaign=link&source=JAYSKI

now thats a shock, first driver to win :eek: well its about time!