Keith Strudler: End Of Year Sports Roundup

As is the case every year, New Year’s Eve is a moment to look back and reflect on the year that was. That’s always true in sports, which operate on yearly cycles, even if those periodic markers don’t align with January 1. But sports fans are remarkably adept at taking each year as a singular unit to be consumed and analyzed unto itself.

Year-end sports polls and awards affirm as much. Our Marist Poll done with the Center for Sports Communication found Peyton Manning to be this year’s most decorated athlete, narrowly defeating LeBron James and Derek Jeter but far surpassing international soccer star Lionel Messi. Also from the poll, American sports fans named the San Francisco Giants third World Series title in five years the most impressive accomplishment over the men’s US soccer team making the elimination round of the World Cup, both ahead of UConn’s impressive double championship in men’s and women’s basketball. And, not surprisingly, fans chose domestic abuse in the NFL as the most important sports story of the year, ahead of the seemingly diminished Donald Sterling incident with the Los Angeles Clippers. Perhaps one of the most interesting parts of any year end retrospect is how quickly we forget moments that at the time feel eternal.

Other organizations have provided year-end sports accolades as well. The Associated Press named little league pitcher Mo’ne Davis its female athlete of the year and San Francisco Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner its male athlete of the year. And like our Marist Poll, the AP and its sports editors declared NFL domestic violence the sports story of the year followed by Donald Sterling. Perhaps it’s a case of issue salience or simple agenda setting by the press, but sports writers and the general public are singularly aligned on what’s most important.

Some have handed out year-end accolades with a targeted focus. Outsports named MLS soccer player Robbie Rogers its male athlete of the year award. Countless newspapers are awarding state and local award honors. And places like Sports Illustrated hand out college athlete of the year awards. This goes on top of the athlete of the month and week that are a part of every conference and league press operation. Sports is like the moon and the sun – it knows how to mark time.

So what is there to learn from this past year on the field, court, and, in this case, the courtroom? I suppose that depends on your perspective. From the perspective of our Marist Poll, we should note that football is as relevant as ever. It’s where we find our heroes and debate our social ills. This is now the third recent year Peyton Manning has won the top honor in our poll, even as NBA star LeBron James has proved himself one of the singular greatest athletes in American history. Second, it’s clear that women’s sports are simply not viewed in the same regard as their male counterparts. While Mo’ne Davis is a wonderful storyline, she is still simply a youth athlete that won a single game in the Little League World Series. The fact that not a single professional women’s athlete could capture the American fancy speaks to our collective view of women’s sports as more novelty than institution. So for all our collective progress, we still have a long way to go.

And lastly, it’s clear that issues that resonate in sports are the same that have imprint in our larger social world. Simplistically characterized, it’s no stretch that America is well engrossed in issues of authority, race, and violence. Cases in Ferguson and New York have made that obvious. And in sports, the most important issues focus on – wait for it – race, authority, and violence, in no particular order. So as much as sports is an escape from the real world, it’s far less so than we might think. That’s true whether we’re discussing Donald Sterling or salaries for college athletes. The sports world is the real world, and vice versa. And you don’t have to be sports fan to understand that.

The public has demanded the NFL clean up its domestic abuse problem, which it should, just as they’ve demanded the NBA to flush racism from its management. Both are necessary. But don’t let these polls fool you. These aren’t sports problems. These are American problems found in the very American institution of sports. This year end has given us yet another chance to reflect on that. Hopefully, it won’t only be those inside the game that take notice.

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