El Floppo
Footballguy
very fair point- and I definitely overstated the vitriol coming out against her. BnB's post, when re-read, is po'ed, but not hateful or angry at all, as I first read it. apologies.
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Simone Biles Withdraws From Competition - Thoughts? (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter Joe Bryant
- Start date
bigbottom
Footballguy
There is only one Time Magazine Athlete of the Year, so it’s precisely the opposite of a participation award.
jb1020
Footballguy
I really don't think getting the yips and dropping out of a competition you've trained years for and opting out of your profession to fight for your country are remotely comparable.
Cjw_55106
Footballguy
bigbottom
Footballguy
But that wasn't my question. What do you think the reaction would have been? Put another way, if supportive, it would establish that the award isn't about awarding the best athlete per se, but rather recognizing impact in ways other than athletic accomplishment and excellence.
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jb1020
Footballguy
My guess? Most would have probably been okay with Tillman getting the award. Would have been viewed as an act of selflessness and bravery. I see where you can draw some comparisons, but its not like Tilman left at halftime of the Super Bowl.
bigbottom
Footballguy
I would argue that he was an athlete in 2004 - just one that had stepped away from athletic competition. But, yeah, I get your point. The issue I was trying to tackle is the thought that she wasn't the best athlete of the year, so the award is inappropriate. I only raised Tillman to make that point.
bigbottom
Footballguy
Right. My post was in response to the argument that "Im not on board with awarding an athlete a "Athlete of the Year Award" when she wasn't the best athlete of the year. Its as simple as that." If you take that off the table, we can discuss whether her actions and impact this year were impactful enough that the award is deserving. I can definitely see a case for it, but understand counterarguments. For one, I think Osaka was similarly important in raising the issues for which Time Magazine is recognizing Simone. And of course, there are lots of reasons why other athletes are deserving.
p.s. looking back I can see how it could be interpreted that I was comparing them in terms of him leaving the sport and her backing out of the competition. That was not my intent.
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Cjw_55106
Footballguy
You could probably the Shohei argument over him but Vlad was much better than Harper.
Vlad tied for the MLB HR lead while hitting .311. He was a BEAST.
2021 Stats
AVG R HR RBI SB OPS
.311 123 48 111 4 1.002
themeanmachine
Footballguy
Time says that the award isn't about being the most accomplished athlete, and as stated above, it's their award and they can use whatever criteria they want. And, cynically, the award is about generating discussion and clicks, and picking the most accomplished athlete would be boring and not achieve that goal.
ghostguy123
Footballguy
She basically won it by default because of how much the media ate it up and somehow turned a very specific and unfortunate short lived negative for Simone into some world wide mental health issue cause where athletes should be viewed as human. I mean, exactly what did Biles do besides just talk about it with an interviewer a couple times?
I dont mean to take anything away from Biles and her situation, but it seems like a huge media driven idea that latched on to Biles just because of her fame. Biles didnt really do a lot here for this. But, oh well, based on the criteria for the award I guess you cant argue.
But hey, if Kaitlyn Jenner can win woman of the year......
I dont mean to take anything away from Biles and her situation, but it seems like a huge media driven idea that latched on to Biles just because of her fame. Biles didnt really do a lot here for this. But, oh well, based on the criteria for the award I guess you cant argue.
But hey, if Kaitlyn Jenner can win woman of the year......
The bold has been my point all along. I don't see this is a mental health issue. it's an issue that all athletes (not just elite athletes) face from time to time in their sport. The twisties, yips or whatever you call it is a real issue but it's something that all athletes go through as part of their sport. This isn't a serious mental health issue.
Chemical X
Footballguy
time wins. all they want is someone to care about them for more than 1 minute. they should’ve just named osama bin laden athlete of the year.
El Floppo
Footballguy
I'd argue that being the Goat and stepping away from the most important and visible competition in the world and publicly stating why...when mental health is not seen or understood as being a valid reason to do so...that is doing a lot. She could very easily have said she was physically hurt and called it a day.
Zegras11
Footballguy
ghostguy123
Footballguy
Well, first of all, she walked away because of this issue. She didnt walk away in order to promote this issue. I would argue that had she just been some average olympic gymnast nobody would have ever heard about it. However, since she is Simone Biles and she and everyone she knows was hounded by media coverage, the truth was bound to come out no matter what she said.
Also, she is a female who participates in an event.
Let's see what happens if Lebron or Rodgers or one of those type guys stepped away right before the finals or Super Bowl citing the yips. Any chance they get nominated or win athlete of the year??
It's weird the Biles thing was some sort of promotion for mental health awareness when she hardly has any sort of mental health issues. Competing your whole life both physically and mentally in one of the more grueling physical/mental activities and being affected by stress is hardly a mental health issue.
That's like cutting yourself with a knife every day and saying you have a skin issue.
Fun fact, Kim Jong Un was runner up for Person of the Year in 2017. So that tells you a little about the POY isn't necessarily the one who was best for humanity, just like AOY isn't necessarily best athlete.
I can certainly understand why people disagree with Biles as AOY. But while the Times criteria for these awards is not what you and I might use, I understand how they selected Biles given that criteria.
STEADYMOBBIN 22
Footballguy
Chemical X
Footballguy
El Floppo
Footballguy
fwiw- I was responding to "Biles didn't really do a lot here".
my point was- as the most visible athlete at this once every four years global spectacle- she chose to step down. with the world watching, with every other commercial featuring her, every media outlet screaming her name... she opted out. that IS doing more than you're giving her credit for.
that she may or may not suffer from mental issues... dunno. but this action raised the conversation about the mental state of athletes to the forefront.... and that's something more than not really doing a lot too.
ghostguy123
Footballguy
El Floppo
Footballguy
agree that we disagree about what it took for her to step down. you've made it clear you think it's insignificant- all she did was give an interview. I maintain it's more than that.
fin.
CletiusMaximus
Footballguy
SI gave its "Sportsperson of the Year" award to Tom Brady this year, the second time he's won it. If those are the options, Biles wins for me 10 times out of 10. Otherwise, obviously Jorginho is the prohibitive favorite for 2021. Biles completed a new vault in a competition in May - the “Yurchenko double pike” - which had never been done before and it is now considered the highest valued and most difficult vault in women's gymnastics. I'd like to see Tom Brady do a Yurchenko double pike.
KarmaPolice
Footballguy
I get what you are saying here.
The thought I had this morning was what would the response be if Lia Thomas or a similar athlete gets the award in the future.