Wade Named Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year NBA Finals MVP’s Selection Marks Fifth Pro Basketball Honoree in 52-Year History of Award; HBO’s Costas Now to Celebrate Selection Tuesday Night at 10 p.m. ET/PT NEW YORK, Dec. 4, 2006 – Dwyane Wade, whose NBA Finals MVP performance led the Miami Heat to the franchise's first championship, has been chosen as the 2006 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year for symbolizing in character and performance the ideals of sportsmanship, it was announced by SI Group Editor Terry McDonell. The Sportsman of the Year issue, which is dated December 11, will hit newsstands this Wednesday, December 6. SI.com/sportsman includes the tribute to Wade as well as exclusive video segments, galleries of past Sportsman covers and My Sportsman nominations from dozens of SI writers. Wade will receive the new Sportsman of the Year award, a sterling silver trophy crafted by Tiffany & Co., at a party in his honor in New York on Thursday night, December 14. Tomorrow night, Tuesday, December 5, at 10 p.m. ET/PT, HBO's Costas Now will celebrate Wade's selection and profile the year's top performers and newsmakers. "This award has always stood for more than the victory alone. It recognizes the manner of an athlete's striving and the quality of his or her efforts," said McDonell. "Dwyane embodies that winning spirit by playing for his team, not himself, and by working in the community to ensure young people have the chance to realize their own dreams." SI senior writer S.L. Price profiles Wade in the magazine and chronicles both his difficult childhood and his disciplined rise to stardom. Price writes, "But here's the factor, more than any other, that may decide if Dwyane Wade can survive even success: he likes difficulty. Ease makes him anxious. Perfect makes him squirm. But set him up with an early childhood from hell? Put him in a two-game hole in the Finals? He dares you to doubt him." In only his fourth season in the league, Wade has established himself as one of the sport's premier players and as the standard bearer for a new generation of NBA superstar. Elevating his game when the stakes are highest, Wade has scored more postseason points in his first three seasons than any other player in NBA history. His Finals MVP honor adds to a deep résumé of two All-Star Game appearances and a career-scoring average of 22.9 points per game. His credentials off the court are as impressive as the leadership he displays among his teammates. The Dwyane Wade Foundation, a nonprofit promoting social enrichment, education and physical fitness among youth, assists young people in reaching their educational and athletic goals through mentoring. Wade is the fifth NBA player to be named Sportsman: Bill Russell (1968), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1985), Michael Jordan (1991) and Tim Duncan & David Robinson (2003). He is also the youngest player on the NBA/SI Sportsman list. (In addition, NBA player Rory Sparrow was named as one of eight Athletes Who Care in 1987.) The last Miami-area recipient was former Dolphins' coach Don Shula (1993). http://www.nba.com/news/wade_sportsman06.html ------- Referees can get you to the top of the sports world these days...
I can't think of a more "blah" pick than D Wade. He's a fantastic player, but I don't think he's did anything last season that's so inspirational he should be given the Sportsman of the Year award...Then again, Eminem almost won Time's man of the year award once...
I really don't know if Wade deserves to be elevated to the class of those other NBA players that got the award...
Wade is an awesome player and i love his play, but he really did not deserve it. MY picks: Roger Federer This man is amazing at tennis. Seriously, everytime i see him play(In any of the ESPN broadcasted games), he just owns the opponent and doesn't even try half as hard. He is the defination of "DOMINATION" 10 times more than Wade is. Tennis might not be the most popular sport in the world, but to have done what he has is rediculous. He is believed to be the best tennis player ever.Check this out World Rank: 1 (Since 2004 never lower) 2006 Single Match Record: 90-5 Wimboldon (To finals without losing a single set, 3rd straight title) U.S Open Australian Open Masters Cup Tiger Woods PGA Championship British Open Championship Buick Open I don't follow golf much, but he is pretty much more dominating in golf than wade does in basketball.
To be fair, basketball is a team sport. Tennis and golf aren't. The definition of "domination" can't be translated between these sports. That said, Wade still needs to accomplish more in order to be special enough to get the award, imo.
Isn't Sportsman of the Year more about being a good citizen and philanthropist than it is about being a great player?
Well .. I think Federer suffers from two things 1. he plays tennis. . MENS TENNIS at that 2. Who the h*ll is his competition . . .If Federer is obscure to someone his competition is ridiculously off the map He is like Lennox Lewis. . . Yea Lennox was Heavyweight Champ but folx talk about how their are no GREAT HEAVY WEIGHTS so his championship was kind of Blah to everyone Tiger .. well . .he is tiger and he is not as dominant as he once was Rocket River
Yeah, that's what I understand, too. I believe the autistic basketball player was on the list, for example. Not a dominant athlete...but a great story...who transcended the game to mean something beyond the game, itself. I don't know much about Wade's off the court stuff...but I know he was heralded as a prince at Marquette. Just a really good guy...so in that sense, this doesn't surprise me.
Federer is simply too good for everybody else. History is judged by the slams, if he wins only two per year and players like Roddick, Nalbandian and Nadal take away the other slams year after year, then his competition looks alot better all of a sudden because they have something to their name. As it is, he's just too good. And anybody who watches him play, will agree that there has never been anybody better.
again..here's the criteria for this award: 2006 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year for symbolizing in character and performance the ideals of sportsmanship i think you guys think this award is something very different than what it actually is.
I don't think so, it seems like that would be it, but I think its just an award for the seemingly most influential person in sports the past year.
There's some great talent right now and even more coming up, the personalities may not be there, but the quality is. I think tennis, which is so dependant on the character's and rivalries is lacking in those departments. Being the competitor Federer is he would give anything to face the greats in their prime, he even says now he plays against history, no matter who his opponent is...the fact that he stays so competitive and doesn't get bored is a testament to his fire. Anyways, this thread is about the 2006 Sportsman of the year, and nobody deserved more than him.
