Serena vs. Carli: Sportswoman of the Year

Sports Illustrated has selected Serena Williams as its Sportsperson of the Year.

This was no mere "lifetime achievement award," although her career merits that. This year, she came within a lost Semifinal of winning tennis' grand slam: She won the Australian Open in Melbourne, the French Open in Paris, and then Wimbledon in London, before running out of gas at the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadow. Certainly, a great achievement.

Was there another justifiable choice? Who else should have been considered?

* It wasn't an Olympic year.

* Boxing remains a muddled mess.

* American Pharoah became the 1st horse to win the Triple Crown in 37 years, but no animal has ever won the honor, including the 3 previous horses to win the Triple Crown since SI's founding in 1954: Secretariat in 1973, Seattle Slew in 1977, and Affirmed in 1978. Affirmed's jockey, Steve Cauthen, won it -- in 1977, before he won the Triple Crown aboard Affirmed. But can you even remember the name of the jockey who rode American Pharoah? I hate to admit it, but, just 6 months after this epochal achievement, I had to look it up: Victor Espinoza.

* No baseball figure stood out. The Kansas City Royals won the World Series, and while they have several good players, none of them really stood out. Nor did any other player do anything epochal this year, like Denny McLain's 31 wins or Bob Gibson's 1.12 ERA in 1968, or Hank Aaron and later Barry Bonds breaking the career home run record; or Roger Maris, then Mark McGwire, and later Bonds breaking the single-season home run record.

* The leading football figure is Tom Brady, and he's a cheater.

* The leading hockey figure is Patrick Kane, and while the legal case against him fell apart, there's still a cloud over him.

* They could have chosen Lionel Messi. But while the U.S. team that won the Women's World Cup was collectively chosen for 1999, no individual soccer player has ever been chosen, not even Pelé.

* There is Stephen Curry in basketball. The Golden State Warriors defeated LeBron James and The Other Guys to win their 1st NBA Championship in 40 years, and they followed that up by winning their 1st 24 games of this new season.

So it's between Serena and Steph. And SI went with a woman.

But there's another woman they could have chosen. And I'm not just saying this because she's a fellow New Jerseyan, or a Rutgers graduate.

Carli Lloyd led the U.S. to win the Women's World Cup this past early Summer. She won the Golden Ball as the tournament's most valuable player. She scored 3 goals in the Final to beat Japan. To put that in perspective: The women's edition of the World Cup has been around since 1991, and the men's edition since 1930, and only once before had anyone scored a hat trick in the Final: Geoff Hurst of England in 1966. And the 3rd goal be like, "Nice pass, Carli, hey, that's not a pass! Holy shit! What a goal!"

No, Carli isn't as image-conscious as Serena. She doesn't go out of her way to show us how fit or sexy she is. Serena does, but, except for Alex Morgan and Sydney Leroux, none of the '15 USWNT players do that. Unlike the 1999 USWNT, which also won the World Cup, there's no one making the kind of statements that Brandi Chastain made, first by de-shirting herself like a male player would after scoring a historic goal, then by posing nude, and finally by saying, "Hey, I ran my ass off for this body, I'm proud of it."

For the most part, this team let its on-field performance, and its interaction with its fans, especially its girl fans, do the talking. Which, alone, puts it in the conversation for "Sportspeople of the Year."

But what Carli did was stunning. Remember, it had only happened once before. And while Serena seemingly wins at least 1 tennis major every year, the World Cup happens only once every 4 years. If the U.S. team had lost, as they did in 2003, 2007 and 2011, they would have had to start all over again with the qualifying campaign for 2019. Just typing the number looks strange. I grew up in the 1970s, when 1990 seemed like "the future," and here I am, typing 2019. (Assuming no tragedy or crime gets in the way, I'll be 50 at the end of the year.)

Serena Williams has had 3 or 4 years, including this one, in which she was a legitimate candidate for Sportsperson of the Year. Certainly, she cannot be begrudged this selection. She earned it, and then some. She will have the chance to go for the Grand Slam again in 2016. Who knows, she may even get it.

Had Carli Lloyd's achievement happened last year, or next year, Serena would have been an easy choice this time, ahead of Steph Curry and Victor Espinoza and everybody else.

But Carli Lloyd did something even more remarkable, making the most of the best chance she was ever going to get. Something that legendary soccer players like Ferenc Puskas, Johan Cruijff, Doctor Socrates, Roberto Baggio, Paolo Maldini, Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney, and, thus far, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo haven't been able to do.

Am I wrong? Let me know what you think.

UPDATE: This was written before Serena won the 2017 Australian Open -- unknown to the general public at the time, which she was 8 weeks pregnant. Some have argued that this was her greatest achievement yet. After having the baby, she did not compete in another major until the 2018 French Open, but withdrew due to injury after reaching the 4th Round. She then reached the Finals of both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open before losing. That she got even that far back in the year in which she turned 37 was incredible.

Having won 16 majors -- Wimbledon and the Australian Open 7 times each, the U.S. Open 6 and the French Open 3 -- since 1999, Serena Williams is the greatest female athlete -- maybe the greatest athlete, period -- of the 21st Century thus far. What's considerably more debatable is whether she's been the greatest in any single calendar year.