Brennan: The better choices for 'Sportsman of the Year'
Let's take a little trip into the future. It's 2064, and an old Sports Illustrated is pulled out of a box in an attic. It comes from 2014, which was quite a year in sports, as everyone in 2064 knows well.
On the cover is a baseball player. His name is interesting, and probably memorable to the knowledgeable baseball fans across the nation. Otherwise, he's a bit of a mystery, all these years later.
"Madison Bumgarner. Sportsman of the Year."
He must have been very important, to be singled out in that year. Perhaps he was one of the people who led the sports-fueled national effort against domestic violence. Maybe he was the person who threw the racist owner out of professional sports.
Perhaps he was one of the athletes, gay and straight, who spoke out against Vladimir Putin during the controversial Sochi Olympic Games. Maybe he supported athletes such as Jason Collins and Michael Sam, the trailblazers who opened the men's locker room doors that hundreds of gay athletes have walked through in the 50 years since 2014.
Did Bumgarner try to get a hit off Mo'ne Davis? Did he hang out at the U.S. Open with Serena Williams, the greatest female athlete of her era, and arguably any other era? Did he lead the conversation about concussions in youth and pro sports? Or go on a sports talk show and promote peaceful conversation about race relations?
Did he make the decision to hold a College Football Playoff? Was he the one who finally convinced Dan Snyder to change the name of his NFL team?
When our grandchildren realize that Bumgarner was a really fine pitcher who had an amazing playoff run that culminated in the least-watched seven-game World Series in history, they might be a little disappointed in us, or at least in SI.
And they should be.
Madison Bumgarner? Really? Yes, he was dominant in the postseason. But he finished fourth in the National League Cy Young voting and wasn't even the best pitcher in his division, the NL West. (That would be Clayton Kershaw.) And, far more important, in a sports year rippling with social change, he had nothing to do with any of it.
Who should SI have picked? In a year like this, the possibilities are numerous. I'll offer a couple of individuals, one group of people, a league and one inanimate object.
This was the year when Americans realized a video camera had more power than a human being to change sports policy – and public opinion. When Ray Rice's knockout of his future wife was caught on camera, we knew from the get-go that nothing was ever going to be quite the same again for pro sports leagues and their athletes.
Actual people?
– New NBA commissioner Adam Silver, because he introduced himself to the vast majority of Americans by throwing the bum out. (That would be Donald Sterling.)
– Little League World Series star Mo'ne Davis, because she took the nastiest and most out-of-date putdown of girls and women in sports – "You throw like a girl" – and turned it into a compliment. That said, because millions of girls and women have learned to throw a ball properly for a generation or two, thanks to Title IX, it's well past time to retire the term.
– The NFL. Bad times, mistakes, apologies, new hires, new policies, the works: that's a year in the life of the most important and popular sports league in the country. In the end, the NFL is trying to do more to eradicate domestic violence than any other business in our culture. Enough said.
– Courageous gay athletes and those who have supported them, especially during this year's Winter Olympics. Billie Jean King, Brian Boitano and Caitlin Cahow, all openly gay, were joined by bronze-medal-winning U.S. figure skater Ashley Wagner in consistently denouncing Putin's anti-gay propaganda law, not only in the United States, but on Russian soil.
Any of these choices would have made more sense than picking a very good baseball player. So, in conclusion, people of 2064, I have a message for you:
Please don't judge this year by that cover.