The Most Important Sports Figures of 2008
The athletes and power brokers who are changing all the rules on and off the field.
The Speed Demon
Steve Nash
Thanks to point guard Steve Nash and his high-octane Phoenix Suns, the days of plodding, D-first basketball may finally be behind us. âHeâs very unselfish, all about the team,â says Mavericks guard Jason Kidd. âHeâs the best.â And with Shaq diesel adding fuel to the Sunsâ fire, the scrappy Canadian may finally get his ring.
The Showboat
Floyd Mayweather
His estranged father contended for the welterÂweight belt and now trains Oscar De La Hoya. One uncle was an IBO super featherweight champ, while another is his current trainer and a former two-division world champion. So itâs no wonder watching Juniorâ38-0, 24 KOs, holder of four titles in four weight classesâmakes boxing aficionados daydream of an era when it truly was a sweet science. Unfortunately, thatâs not enough to help the sport recover from its current standing eight countâbut Mayweatherâs mojo outside the ring just may be. From an HBO reality show to a stint on Dancing With the Stars, his brash grin and in-your-face charm are so infectious he makes some fans forget that he will knock you the hell out.
The Wild One
Bode Miller
The hard-partying bad boy of skiing has bounced back from his 2006 Olympic flame-out in a major way. After quitting the U.S. ski team to form the one-man âTeam America,â heâs won the super-combined crown and leads the World Cup championship. Party, crash,
win: Itâs just Bode being Bode.
The Master
Tiger Woods
In June 2007, when Tiger made the U.S. Open final pairing, NBC enjoyed a 36 percent increase in viewership over â05, when Woods uncharacteristically missed the cut. In other words, for all but a few checker-panted white dudes who keep putters in their corner offices, Tiger is golf.
The Negotiator
Alex Rodriguez
Game plan: It was a simple strategy. Insert an escape clause in the richest contract in sports history. Watch the player have the season of his career. Let the offers pour in. Well, all except that last part.
Gamble: The planâs mastermind, agent Scott Boras, misjudged the market, then refused to negotiate with the Yankees.The player who should eventually rip Barry Bondsâ home run crown from his outsize cranium was vilified as the second-least-liked player in the game.
Payoff: Faced with the prospect of being the richest Chicago Cub, Rodriguez made one of the boldest moves in baseball history: He sucked it up, bypassed Boras, and went to Hank Steinbrenner with hat in hand. In negotiating the biggest baseball deal ever, A-Rod changed the way the game is played off the field and, in the process, may have won back the Bronx faithfulâŠat least until next fall.
The Groundbreaker
Danica Patrick
Faster pussycat: Sports that are truly coed are few and far between. And with a few exceptions, racing had been a manâs worldâŠuntil Danica Patrick showed up. She came tantalizingly close to taking Indy as a rookie, and after a rough sophomore season, finished seventh last year, snagging her first three podiums. âI never thought of myself as a girl,â Patrick says. âI always thought of myself as a driver.â
Boysâ club: Still, sheâs not just one of the guys. As she enters her fourth season, Patrick still faces the question that has dogged her since the beginning: Is she a celebrity or a racecar driver? Either way, sheâs fast changing perceptions in a sport that could use it. And she looks pretty damn fine doing it.
The Martyr
Floyd Landis
Busted: Chalk one up for the Drug Police. Sure, there was Barry Bonds and Marion Jones, but when the Phonak rider was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title after testing positive for synthetic testosterone, the drugs-in-sports issue was thrust into stunning relief, and the world of cycling was forced to confront once and for all the dirty secret thatâs plagued the sport for years.
Strange legacy: Landisâ impassioned public defense was ultimately unsuccessful. As three-time Tour champ Greg LeMond allegedly told the cyclist during his trial, if he did indeed cheat and came clean about it, he âcould be the one who will salvage the sport.â In the end, while his yellow jersey may be gone, Landisâ legacy is secure. Someone wins the Tour de France every year, but Floyd Landis provided an unforgettable glimpse into the seamy underbelly of sports.
Coach Hollywood
Pete Carroll
Why does the USC head coach, who since 2001 has led his team to two national titles, a 63-7 record, and five straight BCS bowl appearances, repeatedly spurn the attention of NFL teams? Because heâs the only game in town in the nationâs second-biggest media market. In other words, King Carroll stays put because he has the best job in all of football.
The Whistleblower
Jose Canseco
We can all agree that the former slugger is a world-class douchebag, but three years after publishing Juiced, Jose Canseco is looking to have the last laugh. In lifting the veil on bad behavior in the big leagues, heâs done more than anyone to bring reform to the game. Yet all the while heâs continued to preach the wonders of performance-enhancing drugs. Douchebag indeed.
The Savior
Sidney Crosby
Although hockey is technically still one of the âfour major sports,â that title has been vestigial for years. So NHL bigwigs are hopingâwell, more like feverishly prayingâthat Crosby can make the league relevant again. The 20-year-old Canadian (imagine that!) is a relentless skater with a nose for the goalâbut heâs also the youngest team captain in NHL history, the league scoring leader, an MVP, and a Lester B. Pearson award holder as hockeyâs most outstanding player. Despite his youth, Crosby not only understands but appears to relish the enormous responsibility resting on his substantial shoulders. If anyone can orchestrate the Miracle on Ice II, the kid they call the Next One is it.
The Future of Speed
Lewis Hamilton
To call Lewis Hamilton auto racingâs answer to Tiger Woods is to do him a disservice. In his debut season in Formula 1âdespite racial taunts on the track and tabloid obsessions off of itâthe 23-year-old Brit collected points and won races like no rookie in history. In 2008, look for Hamilton to win the first of many championships and earn more ink in Europe than Britney and Lindsay combined.
The Future of Offense
Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw
The Giants won zero Super Bowls with possible Hall of Famer Tiki Barber running the ball. With giant Giant Jacobs and human-size Giant Bradshaw in the backfield, theyâre one for oneâmeaning the pair may have cemented the two-back system as the new NFL standard. âEvery team would like to have what they have,â says ESPN analyst and former NFL back Merril Hoge. âWhen one ballcarrier doesnât have to play every down, it affects both individual games and the long term.â Translation: Defenses are screwed.
The Pinup
Maria Sharapova
Sharapovaâs leggy beauty may have made her the richest female athlete in the world, but sheâs also won three Grand Slams. So while sheâs yet to reach Roger Federer levels of dominance, when it comes to the business of sports, Maria is the one girl whoâs shown she can play with the boys.
The Visionary
Dana White
When the current UFC president rounded up partners to buy the league back in 1993, it looked like a sure bust. Today, it enjoys $5 million gates and $60 million pay-per-view events. We pinned him down to find out why.
Maxim: Howâd you know the UFC wouldnât do an XFL-esque nosedive?
White: The original owners threw mismatched fighters together to duke it out. They wanted a one-time payday, but we saw a broader future.
M: Have you gotten there yet?
W: Weâre the first new major sport to emerge in a long time, and weâve changed the fight game forever. I love boxing, but weâre 1,000 times better than boxing. Our guys fight for pride. Theyâre pure. We have that over other sports.
M: Do you have your sights set on overtaking the major team sports?
W: Well, the NFL is a fucking monster. Yet no matter how many millions they pour into Europe, people wonât watch and learn the game. But everyone understands a fight. So as our visibility grows, weâll start getting the kids who are going for basketball and football now.
The Franchise
David Beckham
The MLS paid Mr. Posh Spice a reported $250 million, hoping he could do what no one elseânot PelĂ©, not a shirtless Brandi Chastainâhas done: make soccer a viable pro sport in America. One tiny problem? The ex-England captain is no longer much of a soccer player. But heâs a heck of an underwear model.
The Outsider
Ricky Williams
He gave up an All-Pro career with the Dolphins to smoke weed, live in an ashram, and do yoga. Whether that made him a sensitive soul, a terriÂble teammate, or both, his well-aligned chakras couldnât save him from bankruptcy. So he strapped on NFL pads again last yearâonly to suffer a shoulder injury and see his season go up in smoke.
Water Boy
Michael Phelps
The 22-year-old, sure to be the American face of this yearâs Olympics in Beijing, is one of few athletes whose only real rival is himself. In 2001 a 15-year-old Phelps became the youngest American male ever to set a swimming world record (in the 200m butterfly). He exploded for a record eight medals (six gold, two bronze) at the 2004 Olympics, and recently unleashed a savage seven-gold-medal, five-world-record-setting ass-whipping at the 2007 FINA World Championships. In total Phelps has set world records 20 timesâand he hasnât just broken them; heâs annihilated them. Last year he bested his own 200m butterfly record by the greatest margin the sport had seen in 48 years. It was the fifth time heâd lowered the mark.
The Center of Attention
Yao Ming
The reason the Houston Rockets center is the most important player in the NBA (sorry, Scott Pollard) has less to do with his impressive performanceâ9.2 rebounds and 19 points per game while shooting more than 50 percent from the floorâthan it does with his birthplace. China, as you may know, is chockablock with peopleâand a whole lot of those people love to watch their hometown boy play. A recent regular-season game featuring Yaoâs Rockets vs. the Milwaukee Bucks and their seven-foot Chinese import, Yi Jianlian, was watched by an estimated 200 million Chinese viewers. By contrast, this yearâs Super Bowlâthe most-watched everâwas seen by a paltry 97.5 million Americans. The mind-boggling number of people who will spend money on all things Yao has even become known as the Yao Factor in marketing circles. Translation: He may single-handedly make the NBA the most popular sports league on Earth.
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