What do you think should be the Outsports story of the year?

Read more about the nominees here

To come later this week:

Wednesday: Athlete of the year
Thursday: Jerk of the year

I would label the biggest story in sports for 2007 "The Cheater"-

Whether it be steroids, fixing games, betting on tennis, Marion Jones, etc, etc, etc...

We have gotten to a point in sporting where the natural best isnt good enough anymore... and cheating is becoming the sad norm.

Well since it's Outsports story of the year...you kinda have to go with John boy. Y'know...cuz he's gay n stuff.

Coaches changing contracts and sometimes in mid season to coach other teams.

That seems to have become a major issue in college football.

who are you talking about?


I voted for Bonds, primarily because I'm in the SF Bay Area and I can't wait to see the headline "BONDS CONVICTED AND WILL SERVE TIME"

The other stories were much bigger in terms of media coverage but I've got to dittto Maddog's comment. I wonder just how much bigger the coming out story would have been had it been Lebron James or Kobe Bryant or a bigger star in MLB or the NFL?

I voted for Amaechi although there were several headlines/stories I considered as well...just this morning in my local sports section of the paper here they ran a HUGE story about the steroid problem in sports for this year and how it went from bad to worse....incidentally, I still recommend Amaechis book. It was a fascinating read. Tough to put down.

It would be bigger as long as it's any active player, I think. But if it's a major star it'll be huge whether he's active or retired.

That was my thinking.

That was my thinking Joe, so I felt that the Mike Vick story was #1, hence my vote...Had John been a Kobe, Lebron James, or Michael Jordan type of player then I would have voted differently.

From the list of choices- and because of how they are presented, it felt like choosing the biggest "Sports Story" of the year versus the "Outsports Story of the Year"- because honestly- half the stuff listed as options I don't even consider as registering as an "Outsports Story".

To me, the AARP choosing a lesbian tennis player as a spokesperson and David Kopay donating a huge sum to the University of Washington matters more to Outsports than any of the other stories listed except for John Amaechi.

None of these "Outsports stories" {the ones I listed} will register a blip on the main sports stories.... I dunno, I just felt the dynamic of the selection choices as strange or imbalanced.

Other comment- having the picture of John Amaechi in the article heading the front page is, ummm- sorta of saying- guys- choose John Amaechi. It would be like the Oscars listing the Best Picture nominess but only using the poster of one of the movies over the category.

Sorry- Cyd- I am not much of a critic of Outsports- but in this sense- I wanted to just express my thoughts.

I think Vick is more suited for "Jerk of the Year" although I would use other,more descriptive words besides "jerk"

All good thoughts! We've always lumped in gay sports story and sports stories together in this vote, but maybe next year we'll two categories for that. I think that would fix that critique.

Well, let's classify it as forward thinking.

One day, hopefully coming out is a non-story and we would only have the other issues to vote on.

I voted for Michael Vick. It was just fascinating to see such a star athlete go from sports hero to jailbird so quickly. His fall from the top which set in motion the demise of the Atlanta Falcons organization, is by far the story of the year in my opinion.