Phelps

No surprise here Michael Phelps is the S-I Sportsman of the Year. Phelps had the greatest Olympics of all time in Beijing this summer. He was a slam dunk for the honor. The interesting part of this is the Baltimore native says he is going to switch his focus for 2012 in London. He says he would like to swim some events he didn't swim this summer because the qualifying or the finals were on the same days when he had other events. You have to love the greatest swimmer of all time challenging himself. This is sort of like a high hurdler saying all of a sudden he wants to become a miler. Amazing.

I have others who might have been considered for the S-I kudos. How about the U-S Ryder Cup team. They were big underdogs but skunked a very strong Euro team...all this without the World #1. Speaking of Tiger his U-S Open win at Torrey Pines on basically 1 leg was amazing...but the drama of the victory would be meaningless without journeyman Rocco Mediate his playoff opponent. My final nominee is Rays Manager Joe Maddon. He led the very low budget Rays to the A-L East title over the Yankees and Red Sox and into the World Series. I guess if I give Mediate credit along with Tiger I have to put Phils Skipper Charlie Manuel in with Maddon.


Picks

Florida over Alabama in the SEC Title Game (Sat 7:35 on ESPN 1440)
Oklahoma crushes Missouri in the Big 12 Championship
Ravens make it 7 of 8 as they down the Redskins (Sun 7:45 onWSBA)
Steelers dump the Cowboys
Giants end the Eagles playoff hopes

Last Week 4-1 Overall 44-26