Poll: Why Does Spieth's 2015 Get No Respect?
/Posted on what could be the poster-child webpage for pop-up blockers, SI’s Sportsman of the Year voting page shows the Kansas City Royals (34%) still leading American Pharaoh (28%) and Lionel Messi (14%) in third.
Down in the category that would have them relegated to the pre-Republican presidential debates, Steph Curry (3%), Jordan Spieth (3%) and Serena Williams (1%) aren’t getting much love from voters.
The SI Editors ultimately will decide the annual award, and while this is hardly a scientific poll, I find it fascinating that the readers are recognizing the magnitude of American Pharoah’s year despite the decline of horse racing as a popular American sport. Meanwhile, the Royals just won in impressive fashion and clearly have a strong social media following. But I sense Spieth's place in the polling is the best confirmation yet that the sports viewing public has very little grasp of Spieth’s Masters-U.S. Open win accomplishment, which was made only more remarkable by his near-wins in The Open and the PGA.
My sense is that this could be attributed to a few possible issues.
—Jordan Spieth is not seen as a transformative figure and to casual fans, his chatty on course style is either not appealing or still coming off as whiny to those who don’t watch him a lot.
—Tiger spoiled us. He was a frontrunner most of the time and dominated in his best years in majors, plus he had two seasons and a Tiger slam that all but set the history-grabbing bar too high
—Noise. There are a lot of golf tournaments on a sports calendar that is relentless in scheduling and compelling almost all year. Even though Spieth dominated in the majors, in the ADD world the majors seem like ages ago and only golf fans know that he ended the year with a Tour Championship/FedExCup win. Lost in the noise of oversaturation?
—Golf history is not valued. In an era of parity, a player going 1-1-4-2 in the majors should be seen as an incredible accomplishment but isn’t perhaps because people just don’t respect the sport? Even SI's Spieth-write-up mentioned his regaining of the world No. 1 ranking over his year in the majors, speaking to a level of remarkable ignorance.
—It was great year for Spieth, but it’s just hard to top the first Triple Crown in 37 years + a Breeders Cup Classic, the first horse to accomplish the fete and his name will now be mentioned alongside Secretariat when people talk about the greats.
—Golf fans wanted to vote, but SI’s pop-up ads and confusing page prevented them from voting.
Please vote and share your views based on feedback from talking to sports fans. We will discuss Monday on Morning Drive.
