My Sportsman of the Year

What do you consider to be an athlete? A guy that can hit a ball far? Throw a ball hard or far? The ability to kick a ball? Have the ability to showcase his athleticism? Or do they just have to be showcased on ESPN?

What about sitting?

Wait, what was that? Sitting?

Yes, as in sitting in a car and driving a car in an oval.

Could the “athlete” of the year be the reigning five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series winner, Jimmy Johnson?

Now maybe you don’t consider driver’s athletes, or NASCAR even a sport (personally I go back and forth myself on whether it’s a sport). That is fine if you believe that. Shoot even I had a hard time believing who I was picking.

I had full intentions of picking a player like New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees after he led the Saints to their first ever Super Bowl Championship. Maybe the Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant after his second straight title and fifth overall. There was the possibility of Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto, New York Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano or the St. Louis Cardinals 1B Albert Pujols in baseball.

And don’t forget the ladies. I considered Seattle Storm forward Lauren Jackson, Phoenix Mercury Diana Taurasi, University of Connecticut Maya Moore, fellow driver Danica Patrick and many more other female athletes.

No matter what I did, I just kept coming back to Jimmy Johnson.

The NASCAR season is by far the longest season in any sport, it is grueling and it is dangerous. Johnson continues to prove that he is the best, year in, year out.

If you want to call it a career award, I disagree.

Yes Johnson has won five in a row, but this one might be considered the best. The four other Johnson had the title wrapped up long before the last race. This year, Johnson went into the last race of the year, 14 points out of first. Shoot, Johnson’s pit crew chief, Chad Knaus, decided to switch pit crews with Jeff Gordon’s “team” with two races to go.

You had the feeling he would pull through, but with racing there are so many factors that you can’t completely rely on anything.

He came back and won. He accomplished the feat with a newborn baby. Parents only know how this can affect you.

I am not going to say I am a NASCAR fan, because I'm not. Or that I even know a lot about the sport, because I definitely don’t. But the guy is a machine. All he does is win. He

I would have been more comfortable talking about a guy that could zip a pass into a small window for a receiver; or a guy that could crush a ball out of the bark; even someone with the great athletic abilities of a basketball player. The typical sports are the easiest to talk about and most notable.

But this isn’t about what I am comfortable with. This is about who was the best in the sports world. Now if you can’t bring yourself to say a guy that came from behind to win it all again isn’t the best in sports, that’s up to you. But it sure is hard to argue that Jimmy Johnson doesn’t at least belong in the conversation.