2011 is starting to come into focus; Bautista has had an unbelievable first 50 games of the baseball season; LeBron is a step away from an all-time "jam it in your face" to the entire sports world; Novak Djokovic hasn't lost a match all year, and Dirk - finally, is starting to get recognized for the gravity of his career, and he's a step away from taking that inner circle HOF leap that Garnett took when the Celtics won the chip.
Back in 2006, the Athlete of the Year was Roger Federer.
January -Vince Young (Kobe Bryant, Ben Roethlisberger, Roger Federer)
February - JJ Redick (Willie Parker, Shaun White, Adam Morrison)
March - Joakim Noah (Jaromir Jagr, Gerry McNamara, Tyrus Thomas)
April - Albert Pujols (Phil Mickelson, Chris Shelton, Lebron James)
May - Dirk Nowitzki (Oscar de la Hoya, Justin Gatlin, Dwyane Wade)
June - Dwyane Wade (Rafael Nadal, Bernard Hopkins, Zinedine Zidane)
July - Roger Federer (Fabio Cannavaro, Tiger Woods, Floyd Landis)
August - Tiger Woods (Chase Utley, Miguel Cabrera, Asafa Powell)
September - Maria Sharapova (Ryan Howard, Johan Santana Troy Smith)
October - Chris Carpenter (Marco Scutaro, Adrian Peterson, Jeff Suppan)
November - Ladanian Tomlinson (Chad Johnson, Troy Smith, Dwayne Jarrett)
December - Drew Brees (Reggie Bush, Greg Oden, Colt Brennan)
