Michael Phelps Named 2008 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Michael-Phelps-Named-2008-Sports/story.aspx?guid=%7B4F2AF57C-5453-438D-8435-DAFC7B6BA0A5%7D

Sports Illustrated is a multimedia sports brand that takes the “consumer into the heart and soul of sports.” The franchise is anchored by Sports Illustrated, the most respected voice in sports journalism which reaches a weekly audience of nearly 21 million adults. Their website, http://www.si.com/, is the magazine's 24/7 sports news website that delivers more than 150 original stories to its users each week. The SI franchise also includes Sports Illustrated Kids ( http://www.sikids.com/), a monthly magazine targeted to kids age 8 and up; Golf Magazine and http://www.golf.com;/ http://www.fannation.com/, a social networking and sports-news aggregation platform; http://www.sioncampus.com/, a website dedicated to college sports and the college sports lifestyle; SI Presents, the magazine's specialty publishing division; as well as SI Books, SI Pictures, SI Productions, SI Digital and SI Events. Founded in 1954, SI is a division of Time Inc., the world's leading magazine publishing company and a subsidiary of Time Warner.
Every year, Sports Illustrated Group Editor Terry McDonell announces the Sportsman of the Year. This person or team must transcend through the year in both athletic performance and character. The descriptor, “It is not for the victory alone that he is honored. Rather, it is for the quality of his effort and the manner of striving;” a statement lifted from the pages of SI in 1957 that defines the principle of the award. Baltimore native, Michael Phelps is SI’s 55th Sportsman of the Year and joins Lance Armstrong, Michael Jordan, and Tiger Woods, among other athletic greats who have received this award.
All I can say is WELL DESERVED! This summer I looked forward to race after race and felt so proud to be an American and Baltimorian specifically. His performance in Beijing provides two of the most iconic moments of the 2008 Summer Games, and everyone can agree that he is one helluva athlete. His high school, Towson, is located within the same district of my high school so I’ve been following him for years. In many local papers his name was continuously popping up for his college offers, record-breaking competitions, and million-dollar endorsements. He has definitely earned the nickname the "Baltimore Bullet" and is Baltimore's swimming superstar!