Here are the ‘real’ SI awards

It's that time of the year. Time to select the prestigious SI Sportsman of the Year.

No, not the national magazine, that's the minor award. This is the biggie, Socier's Illustrious Sportsman of the Year.

If you haven't been doing the math, only 48 days remain in 2004. Since there are no championships to be won in the four major sports - ice fishing, air hockey, curling and celebrity luge - I decided to make my pick at this time.

The prickly part most often is singling out the winner from five or six deserving candidates.

Not in 2004.

Not from the Olympics. The best bet there was the USA's six-time gold medal winner Michael Phelps. He has admitted to driving drunk in Maryland on Nov. 4. The young man is contrite, but drunk driving is one of the world's biggest no-no's.

From Olympic softball. Nope. They were undefeated darlings, but it's not slowpitch, so who cares.

Horse racing. Not Smarty Jones, who couldn't cut it in the Belmont Stakes Triple Crown, bye-bye.

Trash sport. Not anybody who has anything to do with poker on TV. Especially 2004 winner Greg Raymer and his goofy eye glasses.

Not Lance Armstrong. It's a wonderful, heartwarming story about the lad overcoming cancer, but he rides a bike with the Euros, not exactly as athletic as, say, Randy Moss. Or Jim Edmonds. Or any player in the NBA.

Not NASCAR. The good ol' boys have morphed into plastic-vanilla.

Not women's tennis. I don't speak Russian.

Or men's tennis. Primarily because I cannot spell Federererer.

Men's golf. Granted, Vijay Singh won enough money to buy Spain, but he didn't win a grand slam.

The NFL didn't register. However, give Peyton Manning a decent defense and he will be a super-serious 2005 SI candidate.

Teenager LeBron James would have been a refreshing selection. Someday the Cleveland Cavalier rookie will be the Socier's Illustrious Sportsman, but not this year. I admire the wonder kid, living up to unreal hype as he jumped from St. Vincent's-St. Nike-St. Mary's high school exceeding all expectations.

Even if all those athletes had spectacular years, the 2004 Socier's Illustrious Sportsman Award would have still gone to-the Boston Red Sox.

The award is ordinarily given to a single person, but this was an exception that doesn't seem like an exception at all. There is no argument that the 25-man Red Sox squad, their coaches and fans are ONE.

The SI Sportsman decision was made Oct. 27, around midnight. It seemed to me a slam dunk at the time. After 14 minutes of high-tech research my premise held up.

The BoSox, the American League wild card, toppled AL West pennant winner Anaheim in the opening round. They achieved the unheard of, overcoming an 0-3 deficit vs. the New York Yankees. Still the underdog, Boston took the hard-hitting St. Louis Cardinals to the woodshed, sweeping the World Series.

They were colorful, called themselves "Idiots" and ran with it.

There were a million sidebars.

Like ace Curt Schilling, pitching on an ankle that looked like hamburger, "defeet-ing" New York and St. Louis, allowing one earned run and eight hits in 13 innings.

Like Schill's sidekick, hurler Pedro Martinez. He called the Yankees "his daddy" then stunned the Bronx Bombers, beating them in 14 innings in Game 6 of the ALCS.

Like how the Sox could not deal away superstar slugger Manny Ramirez, so he stayed and terrorized enemy pitchers? Like slugger David Ortiz, a Twins discard who recovered from being a nobody, came on with back-to-back, game-winning hits vs. New York.

Like Boston committing four errors each in Game 1 and Game 2 vs. St. Louis and won both, one in a slugfest, the other a pitchers duel.

Like Winning Game 7 of the ALCS and World Series on the right arm of Derek Lowe, who wasn't in postseason rotation plans when the Red Sox-Angels series began.

We're talking about burying an 86-year World Series jinx. Breaking "The Curse of The Babe." It was the juiciest, zaniest sports story since 1969 when the Jets beat the Dolphins in Super Bowl III.

Too bad it can only win one SI award.

Chieftain sportswriter Dave Socier may be reached at (719) 544-0006, ext. 451; or by e-mailing [email protected] .

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