Michael Phelps not nominated for ESPY’s Best Male Athlete

Yeah, it’s probably supposed to read “second-best male athlete, because there shouldn’t be too much of a debate here”

But it’s kinda hard to have that as a category.

aaaaaaaaand
swimming gets the Shaft again!
just like swimming getting 36th on ESPNs top 100 hardest sports, below badminton and diving, popular sport culture doesn’t equally weight the accomplishments in swimming against the accomplishments of the Big four sports…

Who are the finalists?

I can see how an argument could be made for Federer and another for Tiger. Beyond that, it’s a shame.

I believe the finalists are Payton Manning, LeBron James and Tiger Woods

Roger Federer, LeBron James, Peyton Manning, LaDanian Tomlinson, and Tiger Woods.

Of those choices, Federer should win hands down. But then, it is ESPN, so you know that the guy who can dunk has an inordinate chance of winning, despite his only really turning it on during a few games in the playoffs. Of course, he’s the reason that Cleveland made it to the finals, and they should really think about changing the name of the team to “the Cleveland LeBrons.” Tomlinson, well, he’s a great football player, but the lack of a win in the playoffs is kinda noticable. Peyton finally did what we’ve been waiting like 10 years for, so he’s got the sentimental vote, and Tiger is still dominating golf, winning two majors in 2006. In 2006, Federer, meanwhile, won the Australian Open last year, only won Wimbeldon by dropping one set, won the US Open, won the Australian Open this year without losing a set, and Wimbeldon shouldn’t be any threat to him again this year.

But then again, 7 gold medals and 5 world records, 4 of which were individual and went across all four strokes (both IMs, the 200 butterfly, and the 200 freestyle), including dropping multiple tenths and even multiple seconds off of the exisiting world records… apparently that’s not good enough to beat the savior of the NBA, the guy who couldn’t win a playoff game, the guy who (finally) won a big game, one of the greatest golfers ever, and one of the greatest tennis players ever. I can see the argument for the last two, but Tiger didn’t dominate (in the major events) nearly as much as Federer did, and nowhere near as much as Phelps did at Worlds. But again, this is ES “wow dunks are the greatest thing ever” PN. So there’s that to contend with.

For Michael Phelps to have been nominated, the all-knowing poobahs at ESPN would actually need to realize that swimming does happen in non-Olympic years. Besides, it’s just an ESPY. I think Amanda Beard won an ESPY once but it was for hottest female athlete or something like that.

I agree Phelps should walk away with athlete of the year for 2007. Remember the Espy’s deal with 2006. Did he have a great 2006 yes, and maybe he should be nominated for that year too, but all that great work he did at Worlds took place in 2007.

Yeah, my first reaction was similar, assuming that the awards are for sports in calendar year ’06. But the award that he is nominated for, “Best Record-Breaking Performance,” describes his qualification as something like “broke the record for most golds at a World Champs.” Proving A) that those who don’t follow the sport can’t distinguish between a normal win and a mind-boggling world record like that 4 IM and B) that the nomination period is from apx. June ’06 to May ’07. So his 5 for 5 at Worlds should have gotten him nominated. This also means that unless he goes nuts at nationals, he won’t get any kind of nominations next year b/c the Olympics won’t fall between now and May ’08. Furthermore, his Beijing performance will have been forgotten by May ’09, so he won’t get any nominations in two years, either. However, I believe he will be the SI Sportsman of the Year in 2008, because he is going to do something really special in Beijing, and they can’t ignore him again.

As far as the actual nominees go, it has to be Federer. He was so close to pulling off the Grand Slam, and if it weren’t for the fact that Nadal is re-writing the record books in terms of clay courts, he’d have 15 Grand Slam titles by now and would be, without question, the greatest ever. Tiger had a great 2nd half last year but hasn’t really been “on” so far this year. Peyton achieved his career goal but didn’t have as good a season as the year before. LeBron’s 48 pt. game should win some kind of award, but he hasn’t made the NBA his own personal playground…yet. And while I blame the Chargers playoff loss on Martyball, LD’s achievements still don’t quite measure up to Federer’s in my mind.

If he won it this year, he wouldn’t win it the Olympic Year (which won’t be until 2009 becuase the Olympics are after the ESPY’s). No biggie…

Well, it’s after the fact now, but I would have put my money on LT (since Phelps wasn’t in). Federer and Tiger are strong candidates, but we’re American; we like football. James being up there is just a joke: after all, the Espy’s were just a chance for ESPN to show off lebron. He isn’t even the best basketball player, much less the best athlete. And LT now winning a playoff game isn’t his fault; Schottenheimer can’t coach for the playoffs. I’m STILL pissed about his calls in the game; they have the lead, they have freakin LT, and they were still passing in the final two minutes. Mind Boggling