Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong and top-ranked tennis player were named the Male and Female athletes of the year by the Associated Press. An amazing 21 different men received first place votes. Among them are a couple of head scratchers like John Stockton, Adam Vinatieri, Jimmy Shea, Apolo Ohno, Roy Williams, Lennox Lewis and Emmitt Smith. Wonderful athletes all, but THE athlete of the year? Whoever voted these guys first should have their voting priveledges taken away. No qualms with the top 3.
The top 10:
Lance Armstrong
Barry Bonds
Tiger Woods
Tom Brady (A nice year, a great story, but way too high)
Shaquille O'Neal (Should be above Brady)
Cael Sanderson (Ditto)
Randy Johnson (Ditto again!)
Tony Stewart (I guess if you buy NASCAR drivers are athletes)
Emmitt Smith (Sorry, but its not a lifetime achievement award)
Alex Rodriguez (The guy gets no respect at all)
On the women's side, Annika Sorenstam was a distant second to Serena, with skater Sarah Hughes finishing third.