Did Madison Bumgarner Deserve SI's 2014 Sportsman of the Year Award?

 By Andy Dougherty (@AndyDougherty10)

Since 1954, Sports Illustrated has presented the “Sportsman of the Year” award to “the athlete or team whose performance that year most embodies the spirit of sportsmanship and achievement.”

Earlier this week, Sports Illustrated chose Madison Bumgarner as 2014’s winner. Bumgarner won the honor because of his historic playoff run, in which he led the San Francisco Giants to a championship and won the World Series MVP award.

However, Bumgarner was not among the 26 players who received votes for the National League MVP award. He did not finish in the Top-10 in the National League in ERA or Wins Above Replacement (WAR). His year as a whole was far from perfect, leaving the door open for another athlete to take this award. Here are the other eight nominees Sports Illustrated named for its fan poll.

Soccer Shows America It Isn't Special… And That's Ok

Even Tim Howard's record-setting performance couldn't save the US against Belgium.

By Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

The US Men's National Team fought with everything they had. Superhuman goalie Tim Howard made a World Cup-record 16 saves, and young lightning Julian Green scored on his first touch of the tournament, late in extra time, to keep the boys alive…

But America still lost.

That's soccer, or football as the rest of the world calls it, and if this World Cup has shown me anything it's that, while I still believe my country is great, we aren't special.