Jimmie Johnson is no Manny Pacquiao
by SC on Dec 21, 2009 5:52 PM EST
in Features and Commentary
22 comments
Today, it was announced that NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson was voted the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year. It is the first time in the history of the award that a race car driver has walked away with the honor.
Johnson received 42 first place votes, followed in line by Roger Federer and Usain Bolt.
No offense to any of them. Federer is maybe the greatest men's tennis player of all time, and Bolt is unbelievable. Jimmie Johnson drives a car. I'm not saying there's no athletic prowess required. You have to be in shape (and in Johnson's case, he stays in great shape), have to do a lot of things I can't imagine doing with that much horsepower and that much speed. I don't have anything in the world against NASCAR.
But friends, from where I sit, Jimmie Johnson is no Manny Pacquiao, and for the Filipino boxing phenom to not even get any real recognition in this race is a bit of a travesty.
This is not about downplaying Johnson's stunning dominance in his field. He's already an all-time great, and he's so good at what he does that he, like Pacquiao, has crossed over into the mainstream.
But Manny Pacquiao has done so in a sport that the rubes, know-nothings, dolts and sportswriters insisted was dead. Insisted. It's not what it was because their paper doesn't cover it and ESPN couldn't care less.
Pacquiao sold about two million PPVs in two fights this year. He blew out the undisputed junior welterweight champion of the world in two rounds, and he later dominated a terrific welterweight in Miguel Cotto. He became a celebrity. HBO's "24/7" cameras caught the likes of Mickey Rourke and Mark Wahlberg going to the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles just to watch the diminutive destroyer work out.
If boxing was really dead or dying, Manny Pacquiao started taking it off of life support last December. (Of course, if you've been here, you know how I feel about the moronic notion that the sport was ever in any danger of "dying.") When Pacquiao dismantled Oscar de la Hoya, a lot of people who didn't know anything about boxing past Oscar took notice.
Who the hell was this guy? So he fought Ricky Hatton, who had gained a lot of international fame in recent years, particularly for a 2007 fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr., his only loss. Pacquiao took Hatton apart in scintillating, thrilling, jaw-dropping fashion.
And then came Cotto. And there went Cotto.
Now, Pacquiao has people who a year ago probably couldn't have named four active boxers salivating over the idea of a fight with Mayweather, boxing's other drawing card, who returned in September with a win over Juan Manuel Marquez. Manny and Floyd will fight on March 13 in Las Vegas, and the fight is being discussed as a potential blockbuster the likes of which the sport has never seen.
Who else has done something like that? Manny Pacquiao has changed the course of his entire sport. I'm not saying he did it single-handed, because there are a lot of other great fighters in the world. But he's clearly the new flag bearer for the sweet science, which is in the middle of a long-deserved renaissance.
Federer, Bolt, Johnson, and so many others are phenomenal at what they do. But if I could pick one guy in the world of sports that has transcended said world of sport in 2009, it's Manny Pacquiao. Nothing to do with being a massive boxing fan, even; Manny Pacquiao deserved the award.
But all congratulations to #48, too. He earned it and then some. All in all, with four guys out there like Pacquiao, Johnson, Bolt and Federer (among others), it's a pretty nice time to be a sports fan, isn't it?
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I would have thought Manny would make top 3
But this still isn’t nearly as big of a joke as Derek fricking Jeter being SI’s Sportsman of the Year.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
Agreed.
Derek Jeter wasn’t even the best baseball player on his own team this year. Pacquiao or Federer would have been a much better choice.
Sometimes the impossible can become possible if you're AWESOME!
by ZeroIndulgence on Dec 22, 2009 12:06 AM EST up reply actions
FEAR NOT!
Tony Kornheiser has the same opinion… and Brian Kenny, stunningly, agrees.
KORNHEISER?
I’ll be damned. Good for him jumping on the bandwagon.
Bad Left Hook
"If bulls**t was poetry, Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini's name would be Shakespeare." -- Dennis Rappaport
by SC on Dec 21, 2009 6:37 PM EST up reply actions
Eh...
You make a good case for Pacquiao to be mentioned with the others, but I have no qualms about Johnson getting the award and I’m not even a NASCAR fan. Hell, I don’t even know anything about car racing in general. But when you accomplish something that has NEVER been accomplished in the sport before (4 championships in a row) , that’s a big deal. Bigger then anything Pacquiao has done.
Manny has been important in the sport of boxing for sure, and him and Floyd are looking to break some records with their upcoming fight. Pacman definitely got overlooked here. Good post SC.
4 in a row bigger than what Pac's done.
Pacquiao won 7 division titles, which had never been done before, even though some of those divisions haven’t always been around for fighters. Here, in the US, Nascar is bigger than boxing but i didn’t know it was that much bigger.
my point is Pacquiao DID “accomplish something that has NEVER been accomplished in the sport before” It’s apparently not a big enough sport here to make as much impact.
Good point
Didn’t realize the 7 weight divisions accomplishment.
However, I can only speak as a boxing fan. I can’t say which accomplishment has more importance over the other. From what I’ve read Johnson has other accolades too. Just because we’re all boxing fans, lets not all be homers and start saying Pacman should have won just because it’s all we know.
Is there anybody who is both a racing fan and boxing fan that could give a more balanced point here?
Again, this is specifically about who won the award. I do think Pacquiao should have been a finalist at least.
Ill take this one
Interestingly enough, in both of these cases, there is more to be said about the teams behind each of these people than the people themselves. JJ’s team is simply incredible. During most races the racetrack changes significantly and the car needs to be changed to keep ahead of the racetrack. Many things influence these changes, rubber being laid down on the track from the tires, sometimes changes in temp because of a day to night race, light rain, etc. Anyways during the chase (essentially the playoffs of NASCAR) Chad Knaus (Crew Chief – The Freddie Roach to JJ) would always make the right calls and would always have one of the best cars by the end of the race, it was simply incredible. JJ’s patience and ability to effectively drive both a decent car and a good car are simply mesmerizing. Can I see why he got the award, yes. Does he deserve it more than Pacman? Thats really hard to say. Both men are doing once in a lifetime kind of things….
HBO’s “24/7” cameras caught the likes of Mickey Rourke and Mark Wahlberg going to the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles just to watch the diminutive destroyer work out.
I get that it’s a name check moment that deserves recognition and that Rourke was probably better than he’s ever been in The Wrestler, but I don’t think Rourke stopping by The Wild Card is indicative of Manny’s fame, or much of anything really. I mean, by that standard, Andrei Arlovski is mainstream because Rourke came by while he was training this year.
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Dec 21, 2009 7:05 PM EST reply actions
I know. Just dropping a name.
Bad Left Hook
"If bulls**t was poetry, Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini's name would be Shakespeare." -- Dennis Rappaport
by SC on Dec 21, 2009 7:10 PM EST up reply actions
They just mean in the U.S. If it were anything more than that, they’d be giving it to a soccer player two out of every three years.
Pacquiao did all his work in the States. Federer and Bolt certainly didn’t.
Bad Left Hook
"If bulls**t was poetry, Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini's name would be Shakespeare." -- Dennis Rappaport
by SC on Dec 21, 2009 7:17 PM EST up reply actions
Well, the States were the venue for his fights, but that doesn’t mean they had a greater impact on U.S. fans than events held outside the U.S. The Olympics are a bigger event in the U.S. than the Stanley Cup Finals. If the Super Bowl is held in London and the World Cup comes back to the U.S. in the next decade (both are possible), the Super Bowl will still be the more “American” event.
To be clear, I’m not defending the decision. I’m trying to explain it and, in so doing, to criticize it.
Yeah, sure. But Pacquiao’s fights made their most money in the U.S., too. Combined a bit over two million people in the U.S. bought the shows. They probably had at least as much impact on U.S. sports fans as, say, the French Open or whatever.
Bad Left Hook
"If bulls**t was poetry, Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini's name would be Shakespeare." -- Dennis Rappaport
by SC on Dec 21, 2009 7:35 PM EST up reply actions
I’m also not arguing with you. I know you’re not arguing. I’m just throwing in more for the same thing while clumsily phrasing it like I’m arguing with you. My bad.
Bad Left Hook
"If bulls**t was poetry, Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini's name would be Shakespeare." -- Dennis Rappaport
by SC on Dec 21, 2009 7:36 PM EST up reply actions
Athletes who also got more votes then Manny...
“Kobe Bryant 9, Albert Pujols 9, Tiger Woods 9, Michael Phelps 8, Peyton Manning 6, Joe Mauer 4”
Pacman got 4 votes.
Never heard of the guy.
Federer only dominated this year because of Nadal’s injury. These things happen, and it’s not Fed’s fault, but his year looked better because of it. Bolt is something else; but then again, so is Manny.
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