Athlete of the Decade

LeBron James.  Runners-up: Tom Brady, Serena Williams


I've been doing a weekly list of the top athletes as long as I can recall; I've got the full documentation from 1990 forward; here's 3 decades of Athletes of the Year:

1990: Joe Montana  

1991: Michael Jordan

1992: Mario Lemieux

1993: Michael Jordan

1994: George Foreman  90-94

1995: Hakeem Olajuwon

1996: Michael Jordan

1997: Tiger Woods

1998: Mark McGwire

1999: Tiger Woods   95-99

2000: Tiger Woods

2001: Barry Bonds

2002: Barry Bonds

2003: Lance Armstrong

2004: Peyton Manning   00-04

2005: Reggie Bush

2006: Roger Federer

2007: Tom Brady

2008: Usain Bolt

2009: Manny Pacquiao  05-09

2010: Maya Moore

2011: Aaron Rodgers

2012: LeBron James

2013: LeBron James

2014: Madison Bumgarner  10-14

2015: Serena Williams  2015

2016: Michael Phelps 2016

2017: Tom Brady  2017 

2018: Breanna Stewart 2018

2019: Megan Rapinoe  2019

So - the nominees for Athlete of the 2010s:

Maya Moore

Aaron Rodgers

LeBron James

Madison Bumgarner

Serena Williams

Michael Phelps

Tom Brady

Breanna Stewart

Megan Rapinoe

The only two time winner is LeBron; he's likely fairly non controversial as Athlete of the Decade.  By my current metrics, he's now the greatest basketball player of all time.  Brady secured his spot as greatest QB of all time as he flourished in his 30s and who the greatest female athlete ever is feels above my pay grade but Serena Williams has a pretty good claim.  Those three are clearly a cut above the rest of the field.

30 years down and onto the next.  There will be a point where I stop publishing this (in truth, the publishing really just serves as my own way to keep the records, I understand how the next thing sounds, but it just doesn't matter to me at this point in my life if you're reading this or not - that wasn't always true, but now this is entirely just a way to keep my lists) but I'm likely to keep doing this on my own until I drift off into the sea.  

See you (or not, I don't know your life) in the Roaring (?...will we hand it a nickname?  Wilting?  Weeping?  Whining?...I'm sure something will catch on) 20s.

2019 Athlete of the Year

Megan Rapinoe.  Runners-up: Tiger Woods, Giannis Antetokounmpo

Here's December, which has the full list of the eligible athletes.

Tiger, pun intended, was the leader in the clubhouse following his Masters win - George Foreman won the award the year he came back to become Heavyweight Champion again, that Tiger Woods won the Masters this year made him the presumptive leader - but the rest of his year was really quiet, for US sports, the dominant team this year (and on the short list for dominant US teams of the era, which is at the front of the mind given that the decade is ending) is the Womens Soccer Team, and so the edge goes to Rapinoe.

It's hard for a team athlete to get the award without both a dominant year and a title - Giannis, Harden, Lamar Jackson, Trout all have the former and Kawhi has the latter, but it's hard to move any ahead of the rest.  Simone Biles wasn't eligible as she didn't get a monthly award, but had she been she would have been in the top 3.

That ends the decade - tomorrow - the Athlete of the Decade Award.

Athlete of the Month - December, 2019

November was here

 Giannis Antetokounmpo.  Runners-up:  James Harden,  Joe Burrow, Drew Brees

And that ends 2019.  Tomorrow - The Athlete of the Year.  Here are the nominees.

January-James Harden

February-Stephon Gilmore

March- Sabrina Ionescu

April-Tiger Woods

May-Steph Curry

June-Kawhi Leonard

July-Megan Rapinoe

August - Mike Trout

September - Elena Della Donne

October - Stephen Strasburg

November - Lamar Jackson

December -  Giannis Antetokounmpo

Top 20 Television Shows 2019

Here's 2018

First quarter

Second quarter

Third quarter

4th quarter


1. Succession (HBO)
2. Fleabag (Amazon)
3. The Righteous Gemstones (HBO)
4. Euphoria (HBO)
5. Pen 15 (Hulu)
6. Barry (HBO)
7. Russian Doll (Netflix)
8. The Loudest Voice (Showtime)
9. Crashing (HBO)
10. Better Things (FX)

11. I'm Sorry (Tru)
12. High Maintenance (HBO)
13. Years and Years (HBO)
14. Superstore (NBC)
15. The Good Place (NBC)
16. Shrill (Hulu)
17. The Deuce (HBO)
18. Mindhunter (Netflix)
19. Broad City (Comedy Central)
20. You're the Worst (FXX)

Top 10 Television Series (Oct-Dec, 2019)

July-Sept

1. The Righteous Gemstones (HBO)
2. Undeniable (Netflix)
3. The Good Place (NBC)
4. The Deuce (HBO)
5. Mindhunter (Netflix)
6. Mr. Inbetween (FX)
7. Mr. Robot (USA)
8. Silicon Valley (HBO)
9. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)
10. MLB Now (MLB Network)

Gemstones is the best Danny McBride vehicle to date (yup, seen them all - yup, I'm certain it's the best) and it edges out Undeniable, for which Merritt Weaver hopefully gets some recognition. Both Superstore and Brooklyn Nine-Nine were on prior lists this year, leaving only Good Place as eligible from that strong NBC Thursday lineup. The Deuce and Mr. Robot both finished up this year; neither really needed to move beyond Season one (and if you said Mr. Robot got too muddled to remain on a list like this I wouldn't argue) Mr. Inbetween also didn't cover much new terrain in its second season and were it to return it will be interesting to see how many new roads there are left to walk.  Also done, Silicon Valley, which also could have wrapped up...I don't know, maybe when TJ Miller left, but certainly prior to its final season.  I preferred this season of Maisel to season two, the supporting actors really leaned into their performances and Sterling K Brown provided a nice jolt.  I watch a fair number of sports studio shows, the best is MLB Now and I'm glad to have found a spot for it. 

Tomorrow - the year end list, the 20 best shows of 2019.