Athlete of the Year

Ok, I’m putting it out there. I’m a Chicago sports fan (Bulls, Cubs, Bears, Blackhawks), so it wounds me that there aren’t any Windy City reps here, but their horrible records also wounds me, so I guess I’m a masochist. I also live in the Twin Cities, which could explain why Adrian Peterson is nominated… or it could be because he’s totally awesome! But were his pure skills enough to get him the victory?

• Kobe Bryant
I’m not a big Kobe fan, but I’ve got to give him his props. He finally won a ring without the help of Shaq. He also showed why he’s one of the most dominant players with the rock. The Lakers would be absolutely nothing without him and he has caused me a lot of heartache every time he absolutely mauls and destroys my Bulls.

• Adrian Peterson
He was my golden 5th round pick in last year’s fantasy draft and no surprise he was the first player picked in the this year’s draft (I got the second pick and took Matt Forte… yep, Bears screwed me again). He’s been putting up monster numbers and with Brett Favre at quarterback, he’s been getting a lot more room to run. Is he the most dominant runner ever? Well, I’d say Walter Payton, but I’ve got bias there as well.

• Usain Bolt
Usain who? Somehow Olympians are becoming more and more dominant in the past couple of years. Michael Phelps wins 8 gold medals. The Jamaican Usain Bolt breaks the World Records for the 100m and 200m sprints while celebrating in the last 50m because the other sprinters were slowing down from choking on the dust they were force to eat. Then, this year, he breaks his own records in the world championships. Are we on the first pages of a seeing the most dominant sprinter of our generation?

• Manny Pacquiao
Let’s face it. Boxing has had almost as many steroid/cheating scandals in baseball and this has caused the sweet science to fall in favor with the viewing public. This is probably why Pacquiao isn’t in the headlines like George Foreman, Mike Tyson, or Muhammad Ali. But with the large number of belts around his waist (I think 6 from different weight classes, the last time I counted), it’s becoming hard to ignore him.

• Peyton Manning
He’s become Mr. Stat in NFL. Even though his Indianapolis Colts didn’t make the Super Bowl last year, his team is on track to go all the way this year and like all of the years he’s played, Manning has put up ridiculous numbers and is on track to break them a couple years before he’s even going to start thinking about retiring.

And the Winner is…

Kobe Bryant!

What?! Yeah, it’s Kobe Bryant. Usain Bolt and Manny Pacquiao may be the most dominant in the sports they play, but the sports they play just aren’t popular today. Will I eat my words? Probably. If Manny Pacquiao is reading this, I’m more than likely going to eat a knuckle sandwich and then get run over by Usain Bolt. But let’s get back to the winner. When it came to stats, it felt even, but Kobe has one thing over the other contenders. He got a championship this year. That was the tie-breaker… I feel sick.