In the interest of building some modicum of suspense, the people at Sports Illustrated have assembled a large group of candidates for the magazine's Sportsman of the Year award, which will be announced Tuesday.
It is an eclectic group that includes Kobe Bryant (for his altruistic efforts to enhance the globalization of pro basketball), NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson (because he's not the Jimmy Johnson who used to coach the Cowboys), Alex Ovechkin (because he's a hockey player you've actually heard of) and a number of other athletes from a variety of sports - big and small - who deserve recognition for their accomplishments this year.
Of course, they could have narrowed the list to eight awhile ago if they were so inclined, and here are those candidates:
* The swimmer who won the gold medal and set a world record in the 400-meter individual medley at the Olympics in Beijing.
* One of members of the 400 freestyle relay team that won a gold medal and set a world record at those same Olympics.
* The guy who won gold in the 200 freestyle in world-record time.
* The athlete who won the gold medal in the 200 butterfly and broke his own world record in spite of a malfunctioning set of goggles.
* The fellow who came back less than an hour after another event to help his team win the 800 freestyle relay in world-record time.
* The phenom who broke his own world record by a half-second on the way to a gold medal in the 200 IM.
* * The comeback kid who rallied from seventh place to win the 100 butterfly in what might have been the most dramatic finish in Olympic history.
* The young man who won gold swimming the third leg of world-record 400 medley relay for the U.S.
OK, so I've made my point. They're all the same guy. Michael Phelps did something during those eight days in August no one had ever done before, which should put a little distance between him and the basketball player (Kobe) who didn't even win his league title or even the basketball player (Kevin Garnett) who did. Phelps also added to a career medal count that is unequaled by anyone who has stood on an Olympic medal stand, so the idea that there is some kind of actual competition for this year's SI Sportsman of the Year is about as silly as the notion that SI's Swimsuit Edition is about beach fashion.
