Here are the totals for the Ninth Annual Sportswriters Poll. Everyone who contributed to the Voice sports section in 2000 was asked to vote for a first-, second-, and third-place finisher in each of the poll’s six categories (44 responded). A first-place vote was worth four points, a second-place vote two points, and a third-place vote one point. Below are the top vote-getters, preceded by the number of points they received.
Female Sports Figure of 2000
98 Venus Williams, tennis
65 Marion Jones, Olympic track and field
43 Cathy Freeman, Olympic track/Aboriginal activism
19 Cynthia Cooper, basketball
14 Heather Sue Mercer, football/equal rights
9 Laura Wilkinson, Olympic diving
8 Serena Williams, tennis
7 Karrie Webb, golf
4 Laila Ali, boxing
4 Nouria Merah-Benida, Olympic track/trailblazing
4 Fu Mingxia, Olympic diving
4 Melissa Stark, sportscasting
3 Stacy Dragila, Olympic pole vault
3 Naoko Takahashi, Olympic marathon
2 Andra Douglas, football
2 Heike Drechsler, Olympic long jump
2 Teresa Edwards, Olympic basketball
2 Georgia Frontiere, football ownership
2 Mia Hamm, soccer
2 Andrea Jaeger, tennis/charity
2 Gabby Reece, volleyball/bod display
2 Maureen O’Toole, water polo
1 Chyna, pro wrestling/bod display
1 Inge de Bruijn, Olympic swimming
1 Doris from Rego Park, talk-radio caller
1 Fatima Gerashi, Olympic swimming/trailblazing
1 Cheryl Haworth, Olympic weight lifting
1 Tegla Loroupe, marathon
1 Janica Kostelic, skiing
1 Tara Nott, Olympic weight lifting
1 Shea Ralph, basketball/surviving
1 Lucia Rijker, boxing
1 Irina Slutskaya, figure skating
1 Michelle Snow, basketball/dunking
Male Sports Figure of 2000
78 Tiger Woods, golf
43 Lance Armstrong, cycling/surviving
24 Rulon Gardner, Greco-Roman wrestling
16 Shaquille O’Neal, basketball
10 Derek Jeter, baseball
10 Mario Lemieux, hockey/comeback artistry
8 Felix Trinidad, boxing
7 Pedro Martinez, baseball
7 Alex Rodriguez, baseball/money bags
7 Ian Thorpe, Olympic swimming
6 Luis Sojo, baseball
4 Scott Boras, contract brokering
4 Kobe Bryant, basketball
4 Roger Clemens, baseball
4 Marshall Faulk, football
4 Goldberg, pro wrestling
4 Jim Haslett, football coaching
4 Phil Jackson, basketball coaching
4 Lennox Lewis, boxing
4 Eric Moussambani, Olympic swimming
4 Mariano Rivera, baseball
4 Murray Sperber, sports criticism
4 Sylvain Wiltord, soccer
4 Zinedine Zidane, soccer
3 Gustavo Kuerten, tennis
3 Kurt Warner, football
2 Benny Agbayani, baseball
2 Mateen Cleaves, basketball
2 Jonathan Edwards, Olympic triple jump
2 Johnny Number One Fan, minor league fandom
2 Jeff Kent, baseball
2 Bobby Knight, basketball/glad-handing
2 Corey LaTulippe, college hockey/anti-hazing whistle-blowing
2 Randy Mueller, football GM
2 Alexei Nemov, gymnastics
2 Earvin “I’ll Be Right Back” Opang, playground basketball
2 Richard Williams, tennis PR
1 Vince Carter, dunking
1 Gary Cohen, sportscasting
1 Norm Duke, bowling
1 Sean Elliot, basketball/surviving
1 Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, poker
1 Andres Galarraga, baseball/surviving
1 Michael Johnson, Olympic track
1 Jim Keady, anti-Nike activism
1 Lou Lamoriello, hockey GM
1 Al Leiter, baseball
1 Dennis Miller, sportscasting
1 Randy Moss, football
1 Keith Olbermann, broadcasting
1 Marat Safin, tennis
1 Joe Torre, baseball managing
1 Andy van Hellemond, hockey officiating
1 Zippy Chippy, horse racing
Team of 2000
78 NY Yankees, three-peat World Series champs
32 Houston Comets, four-peat WNBA champs
25 NY Mets, one-peat NL champs
16 U.S. Postal Service, cycling
15 Cameroon, Olympic soccer gold medalists
15 NJ Devils, Stanley Cup champs
14 LA Lakers, NBA champs
14 StL Rams, Super Bowl champs
12 Oakland A’s, low-rent AL West champs
8 Bahamas, Olympic women’s 4×100 relay track gold medalists
8 France, Euro/World Cup soccer champs
8 Tennessee Titans, AFC champs
8 University of Oklahoma football
7 Michigan State basketball, NCAA champs
4 Calais, amateur soccer
4 New Orleans Saints, NFC West champs
4 Williams sisters, Olympic & Wimbledon champs
2 Australian Olympic team, multiple medalists/gracious hosts
2 Cuban Olympic béisbol
2 Florida State football, national champs
2 Lithuanian Olympic men’s basketball, near giant-killers
2 Stanford men’s track, NCAA champs
2 Texas Rangers, Bush résumé builder
2 University of Florida basketball, Final Four
2 U.S. men’s Olympic swimming, multiple medalists
2 U.S. Olympic softball, gold medalists
2 U.S. Olympic Team, medal leaders
1 AL All-Stars
1 Australian Olympic women’s field hockey, gold medalists
1 Bleacher Creatures, greatest fans
1 Montreal Canadiens, hockey
1 NY Giants, NFC East champs
1 Norway, women’s Olympic soccer gold medalists
1 Notre Dame football
1 Philadelphia 76ers, basketball
1 Real Madrid, Euro Cup champs
1 Sacramento Kings, near Laker killers
1 Save Fenway Park!, stadium activists
1 Seattle Storm, gay-friendly women’s basketball
1 UConn men’s soccer, NCAA champs
1 Maryland women’s lacrosse, six-peat NCAA champs
1 Nebraska football
1 U.S. Supreme Court conservative justices, election refs
1 U.S. women’s Olympic swimming, multiple medalists
Worst Sports Figure of 2000
32 Roger Clemens, baseball/madman
27 Marty McSorley, hockey/madman on ice
25 Bobby Knight, basketball/madman in red
19 Daniel Snyder, football owner/madman with money
18 Rae Carruth, football/illegal contractor
14 John Rocker, baseball/failed multiculturalist
12.33 Scott Boras, agent/greedmeister
12 Bobby Clarke, hockey GM/inhuman egomaniac
11.33 Alex Rodriguez, baseball/overpaid brat
10 Tiger Woods, golf/scab
9 George W. Bush, former baseball owner/idiot-elect
9 Dick Ebersol, network exec/Down Under blunderer
8 Steve Phillips, baseball GM/general mismanager
7 J.A. Samaranch, IOC chair/corrupt old man
6 Don King, boxing promoter/scoundrel
5 Marie José Pérec, track/coward
4 Armando Benitez, baseball/domestic batsman
4 Dave Checketts, MSG exec/Knick-Ranger ruiner
4 C.J. Hunter, shot-putter/distracting husband
4 Vince McMahon, WWF exec/evil emperor
4 Rickey Henderson, baseball/sycophant
4 Thomas Junta, overinvolved parent/murderer
4 John McEnroe, tennis/Bobby Riggs redux
4 Ioachim Oana, gymnastics doctor/quack
4 Olympic women’s gymnastics judges, blind bats
4 Bobby Valentine, baseball manager/despot
3 James Carter, hurdler/self-aggrandizing loser
3 Mark Chmura, football/jailbait aficionado
2 Damir Dokic, tennis dad/gourmand
2 Rudy Giuliani, mayor/Steinbrenner lackey
2 Svetlana Khorkina, gymnast/prima donna
2 Phil Knight, Nike CEO/sweatshop enthusiast
2 Mike Milbury, hockey GM/fish-stick fuckup
2 Brian Price, hockey history defiler
2 Bill Romanowski, football/prescription-drug-benefit supporter
2 Bud Selig, baseball commish/multichinned vulgarian
2 U.S. Olympic Dream Team, bullies
2 Rasheed Wallace, basketball/anger-management guru
1.33 Tom Hicks, baseball owner/spendthrift
1 BCS Honchos, failed statisticians
1 Gary Bettman, hockey commish/ignoramus
1 Kobe Bryant, basketball/young punk
1 Mike Dubose, football coach/fair-weather Christian
1 Carl Everett, baseball/anger-management practitioner
1 Allen Iverson, basketball/b-boy bigot
1 Michael Jordan, basketball exec/bear-market capitalist pig
1 Anna Kournikova, tennis/tease
1 Matt Lindland, litigious Greco-Roman wrestler
1 Eric Lindros, hockey/softheaded narcissist
1 Dennis Miller, sportscaster/blowhard
1 Mike Piazza, baseball/wuss
1 Daryl Strawberry, baseball/recidivist
1 Mike Tyson, boxer/cannibal
1 U.S. Olympic men’s 4×100 track team, poseurs
1 Charlie Ward, basketball/Jesus freak
Best Sports Moment of 2000
41 Super Bowl XXXIV, final play
32 Cathy Freeman wins gold
25 Bobby Knight fired
16 Rulon Gardner defeats “Meanest Man on Earth” for Greco-Roman gold medal
13 Subway Series
13 Yanks win Subway Series
12 Benny Agbayani’s 13th-inning, game-winning HR, NLDS Game 3
11 Vince Carter’s Olympic dunk over France’s Frederick Weis
11 Cathy Freeman lights Olympic Flame
8 Marion Jones wins 5 Olympic medals
6 Mets clinch NL pennant
5 Lance Armstrong wins second Tour de France
5 Heather Sue Mercer wins discrimination suit vs. Duke
4 Clemens vs. Piazza II, World Series weirdness
4 Patrik Elias honors injured teammate Petr Sykora by wearing his jersey as Devils hoist the Stanley Cup
4 Rickey Henderson utters the classic, “I hit it out, but it didn’t go out.”
4 Implosion of the Kingdome
4 Marion Jones’s victory lap after winning fourth medal
4 Lakers 4th-quarter, Game 7 comeback vs. Trailblazers
4 Mets lose Subway Series
4 John Rocker Battery Night flyers posted at Shea
4 Rucker League semifinal: Vacant Lot’s 2OT win over Terror Squad
4 Ben Sheets leads U.S. to baseball gold vs. Cuba
4 Scott Stevens knocks out Eric Lindros in NHL semifinals
4 Laura Wilkenson wins gold in Olympic diving
4 Tiger Woods’s nature-defying sand shot, Canadian Open
3 Mario Lemieux’s comeback
2 Jillian Barberie does weather for Fox NFL pregame
2 David Cone pops up Mike Piazza, World Series Game 4
2 Devils defeat Stars for the Stanley Cup
2 France wins European soccer championship
2 Bobby Jones hurls one-hitter vs. SF in NLDS
2 Erik Morales-Marco Antonio Barrera fight
2 NYC Marathon
2 Timo Perez’s giddy final-out catch to clinch pennant for Mets
2 PGA Championship goes to sudden death
2 Naoko Takahashi wins Olympic women’s marathon
2 Venus Williams wins Wimbledon
2 Yankees’ annual victory parade
1 Jill Arrington does sideline reports for CBS college football
1 Australia wins 4×100 men’s freestyle swimming gold medal
1 Mike Ditka fired
1 Tie Domi scores his ninth goal. . . in a half-season
1 Andres Gallaraga hits HR in first game back from cancer
1 Giants coach Jim Fassel makes playoff guarantee
1 Jets comeback vs. Miami on MNF
1 Keyshawn Johnson is traded
1 Knicks beat Sixers, 91-71, Dec 22
1 Knicks defeat Heat in playoffs. . . again
1 Lithuania nearly beats U.S. Olympic Dream Team
1 Shane Mosley beats Oscar De La Hoya for welterweight title
1 Gabby Reece poses for Playboy
1 Marat Safin defeats Pete Sampras in U.S. Open Final
1 Picabo Street’s comeback
1 Felix Trinidad-Fernando Vargas fight
1 Randy Velarde’s unassisted triple play
1 Venus Williams wins U.S. Open
1 Venus Williams comeback win vs. Martina Hingis in U.S. Open Semis
1 Williams vs. Williams at Wimbledon
1 U.S. vs. Norway, Olympic soccer final
1 Tiger Woods dominates the U.S. Open
1 Tiger Woods wins British Open, Grand Slam
Worst Sports Moment of 2000
28 Clemens vs. Piazza II, World Series mayhem
24 NBC’s Olympic coverage
18 Tiger crosses SAG picket line
14 Alex Rodriguez gets staggering new contract
12 C.J. Hunter positive for steroids, subsequent press conference
12 Marty McSorley clubs Donald Brashear in the head
12 MNF hires Dennis Miller
12 Spain sends able-bodied athletes to Paralympics
11 Clemens vs. Piazza I, Rocket beans Mikey
9 George W. Bush wins in OT
6 Beer is banned in Yankee Stadium bleachers
6 Darryl Strawberry arrested for parole violation
4 Baseball season starts in March and in Japan
4 James Carter taunts rivals in Olympic 400m hurdles
4 Opening of Comerica Park in Detroit
4 Bob Costas, Katy Couric play ugly Americans during Olympic opening ceremonies
4 L’affaire Bobby Knight
4 Melvin Mora traded from the Mets
4 Music City Miracle: Titans win playoff on controversial lateral
4 Olympic basketball Dream Team’s arrogant behavior
4 Adam Petty dies in NASCAR crash
4 John Rocker returns to NYC
4 Malik Sealy’s auto accident death
4 SI publishes Anna Kournikova cover story by drooling Frank Deford
4 Mike Tyson’s “eat his children” rant
4 University of Alabama’s football season
4 Vault in Olympic gymnastics set at wrong height
4 The day “Who Let the Dogs Out” was recorded
4 Yanks win Subway Series
4 Youth-hockey parent Thomas Junta kills another parent while watching practice
3 Trailblazers’ 4th-quarter, Game 7 collapse vs. Lakers
3 Two Leeds United fans killed in Istanbul by Galatasaray fans
2 Accumulation of drug incidents taint the Olympics
2 Rick Ankiel’s wild pitching during baseball playoffs
2 Bryan Berard’s eyeball squashed by errant stick
2 Rae Carruth trial
2 Patrick Ewing traded
2 Bogus handball call, U.S. vs. Costa Rica
2 Allen Iverson cuts a bigoted album
2 Mets win the Pennant
2 Mets fans attempt to flip Rick Reed’s car
2 Bam Morris pleads guilty to marijuana distribution
2 Nike runs “stalker” ads
2 Steve Phillips disses Alex Rodriguez
2 Mike Piazza refuses to fight back vs. Clemens
2 John Rocker threatens SI’s Jeff Perlman
2 Bud Selig testifies before Congress
2 Tampa Bay Bucs robbed on late bad call in NFC Championship
2 Mike Tyson vs. Andrew Golota bust
2 Tiger Woods demands share of PGA TV money
2 U.S. men’s 4×100 track team stages a pose-down after winning gold
2 Whenever Steve Spurrier speaks
1 Matthew Barnaby goes after elderly heckler in stands
1 Bill Belichick snubs Jets, takes job with Patriots
1 Bob Costas and Joe Morgan complain about length of baseball games
1 Court case against Marty McSorley
1 Whenever Mike Ditka does anything
1 Patrick Ewing’s final boast: Knicks would win if they had him
1 Giuliani suggests a Yankees-Mets joint ticker-tape parade
1 International cricket match-fixing scandal
1 Knicks fall to Celtics, 92-86, Dec 21
1 The Legend of Bagger Vance takes in $30.4 million
1 Marion Jones pre-Olympic hype
1 MetroStars goalie Mike Ammann “mugged” by Tampa Bay’s Mamadou Diallo
1 Mets and Cubs wear ads on uniforms for season-opening series in Japan
1 Playboy asks us to vote for “America’s Sexiest Sportscaster”
1 Andrea Raducan is stripped of the Olympic gymnastics all-around gold medal
1 Rangers re-sign Mark Messier
1 Bud Selig issues bullshit Blue Ribbon Panel report on baseball
1 Subway Series
1 Super Bowl shots of Kurt Warner’s wife, Brenda
1 Death of Derrick Thomas
MALE SPORTS FIGURE OF THE 20th CENTURY Muhammad Ali
FEMALE SPORTS FIGURE OF THE 20th CENTURY Babe Didrikson
MALE SPORTS FIGURE OF THE YEAR 1999: Lance Armstrong 1998: Sammy Sosa 1997: Michael Jordan 1994: Mark Messier 1993: Michael Jordan 1992: Magic Johnson 1991: Magic Johnson 1990: Roger Milla
FEMALE SPORTS FIGURE OF THE YEAR 1999: Serena Williams 1998: Chamique Holdsclaw 1997: Martina Hingis 1994: Martina Navratilova 1993: Sheryl Swoopes 1992: Manon Rhéaume 1991: Martina Navratilova 1990: Lisa Olson
TEAM OF THE YEAR 1999: U.S. Women’s Soccer 1998: New York Yankees 1997: Chicago Bulls 1994: New York Rangers 1993: Chicago Bulls 1992: U.S. Men’s Basketball “Dream Team” 1991: U.S. Women’s Soccer 1990: San Francisco 49ers
WORST SPORTS FIGURE OF THE YEAR 1999: Rae Carruth 1998: David Stern and the NBA Owners 1997: Mike Tyson 1994: Bud Selig, Richard Ravitch, and the MLB Owners 1993: Vince Coleman 1992: Marge Schott
SPORTS JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR 1999: Robert Lipsyte (New York Times) 1998: Andrew Zimbalist (SportsBusiness Journal, New York Times, Wall Street Journal) 1994: Darcy Frey (The Last Shot)/Steve James, Peter Gilbert, and Frederick Marx (Hoop Dreams) 1993: USA Today Sports Section 1992: Phil Mushnick (New York Post) 1991: Robert Lipsyte (New York Times)