This year the AP named Nascar driver Jimmie Johnson as athlete of the year. Runner-up was Roger Federer, and third place went to Usain Bolt. Others receiving mutiple votes were:

Lance Armstrong, Tiger, Kobe Bryant & Michael Phelps.

It raises the question again are race car drivers, golfers and the like real athletes? To be completely accurate the word athlete according to Merriam Webster means ‘one who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports or games requiring physical strength, agility or stamina.’ So it’s a pretty loose, open-ended category. By that definition a jockey is an athlete or a bowler, a fantasy football player, ok maybe not.

My issue is that we are comparing apples and oranges.  To compare a race car driver to a basketball player or sprinter is ridiculous. Just because you do athletic things doesn’t make you an elite athlete. I’m not denying that guys like Jimnie Johnson or Tiger Woods are athletes, I’m just saying they aren’t in the same league as Usain Bolt. If you include everyone who does something athletic you would have to include the World Twister Champ or the World Logrolling Champ.

To be quite honest I’m not a fan of any of these cross-sports lists, its impossible to quantify greatness let alone compare it.  I guess that’s the appeal to many, the debate that follows. The thing is, if you are going to do a list like that, at least break it into tiers.

For instance:

1st tier- Sports that require elite athleticism. ie. Football, Basketball, Hockey, Swimming, Cycling, Tennis, Track etc

2nd tier-Sports that require great skill but don’t require a person to be athletically gifted. In fact these guys rely far more on mental toughness and superior focus than they do on athleticism. This in no way diminishes their skill or prowess, it’s just different. ie. Golf, Bowling, Snooker, Darts.

3rd tier – Sports where the athlete is only a portion of the equation or accomplishment.  ie. horse racing, race car driver. Again, I’m not taking anything away from these guys but any sport that requires almost complete reliance on a vehicle, makes it impossible to judge athleticism. There is no way of knowing how another driver or racer would do with the same horse or car/crew. How many championships would Johnson have if he raced for another team? There is no way to know and thus to name someone like that as athlete of the year is ridiculous.

Too, the fact that a driver won the award is either a testament to the mainstream popularity of Nascar or indicative of how boring the year in sports was.

Finally, if we insist on combining all sports and judging the whole, then give that to the ‘Sportsman of the Year’ and leave the Athlete of the Year’ to the real athletes.

Necessary Roughness