TBOR Athlete of the Month - January, 2011 + 2002 Athlete of the Year

My 2010 Athlete of the year post is here.

Nick Fairley

Runners-up: Aaron Rodgers, Rashard Mendenhall, Jimmer Fredette

I waited until Nadal got knocked out of the Australian Open to finalize that last spot; if Rodgers had a better NFC Championship he would have gotten the nod.

Fairley is now the first contender for 2011 Athlete of the Year.

Back in 2002, the Athlete of the Year was Barry Bonds.  AP took Lance Armstrong, starting a run of four consecutive wins for him; AP's been giving that award since 1931, no one else has ever won 4 in a row.

January - Vernon Forrest (Ken Dorsey, Jerry Rice, Donovan McNabb)
February - Adam Vinatieri (Kobe Bryant, Sarah Hughes, Joe Sakic)
March - Sue Bird (Drew Gooden, Luke Recker, Cael Sanderson)
April - Randy Johnson (Barry Bonds, Tiger Woods, Paul Pierce)
May - Jason Kidd (Mike Cameron, Patrick Roy, Shawn Green)
June - Shaquille O'Neal (Lennox Lewis, Luis Castillo, Ronaldo)
July - Lance Armstrong (Serena Williams, Jeff Kent, Ernie Els)
August - Alex Rodriguez (John Smoltz, Rich Beem, Barry Bonds)
September - Serena Williams (Miguel Tejada, Oscar de la Hoya, Charlie Rogers)
October - Barry Bonds (Russ Ortiz, Emmitt Smith, Troy Glaus)
November - Carson Palmer (Brett Favre, Larry Johnson, Michael Vick)
December - Rich Gannon (Priest Holmes, Marvin Harrison, Mario Lemieux)