My Final Words on American Pharoah and Serena Williams

A few days removed from the brouhaha of the Serena Williams - American Pharoah fiasco, I wanted to personally clear the air on a few things. These will be my final words on the subject, and as is true with all my writing on racing, they cannot be separated from my lifetime love for the sport of horse racing.

First of all, I can say with a clear mind, and a good conscious that I am none of the many things that I was accused of being this week. I am not a racist, a brainless fool, nor do I have any interest in beastiality. And yes, I do in fact know the difference between a horse and a human. I honestly never thought I would need to defend myself on any of those counts, but such can be life on Social Media.

In case you missed it, this was the Tweet that sparked a firestorm of activity…

Perhaps a bit naive, but as you may have guessed, I was not expecting the statement, nor the short opinion article that quickly followed, to ignite such a reaction, but it was clear from the thousands of responses that I received, that I had struck a nerve. The response was so overwhelming, in fact, that my tweet and/or portions of my article made their way into stories on news outlets such as: CNN, BBC, NPR, Maxim, Deadspin, the Washington Times, etc ...

I get it. Serena Williams is an African American, and she is a woman. When I voiced my opinion, though, it had nothing to do with her race, or her gender. I would have been just as disappointed if the award had been given to Jordan Spieth (a white male), for example, and I would have voiced my disappointment in the exact same way.

I have actually been a big fan of tennis since the days of Evert, Navratilova, Borg, McEnroe, and Connors. Because I follow the sport so closely, I know perfectly well that Serena is one of the greatest tennis players of all-time, if not the greatest. In 2015, she had an outstanding year -- one of her best.

I reached out to Serena earlier this week, through her agent, in hopes of smoothing out the craziness, but have not heard back.

But really, my feelings on the subject, which have not changed over the week, have nothing to do with Serena -- the person who won the award. Rather they have everything to do with who didn’t win the award -- American Pharoah.

I believe that, Sports Illustrated, a well respected publication which I have read since I was too young to remember, was way out of line in their recent treatment of their readership. That is why I was disappointed, and still am. I, like so many others who took an interest in the outcome of the poll, believed these words had some meaning.

“Sports Illustrated’s editors will choose the 2015 Sportsman of the Year, but we think our readers should also have a say.”

And with that, Sports Illustrated opened up a voting ground for fans of sport, and their readership, to have a say in who would be named the 2015 Sportsman of the Year. The results were staggering. American Pharoah garnered 47% of the vote. By comparison, the votes for Serena Williams as Sportsman of the Year totaled just under 1%.

I ask you -- does this sound like Sports Illustrated gave their readers even a thought, much less “a say”? Isn’t that what they claimed they would do throughout the voting process? If the overwhelming winner of the poll (American Pharoah) was not really a possible winner, why was he included in the poll in the first place? Doesn’t someone need to call SI out on this? I personally cannot fathom treating the readership of Horse Racing Nation in this way.

Serena Williams is an all-time great, worthy of every honor bestowed upon her. I wish her nothing but the best as she continues her amazing career, and continues to break records.

American Pharoah, on the other hand, is done racing. His career as a runner can only be judged on two fantastic years, and in the case of 2015, a most historic year. One that brought horse racing fans, both passionate, and casual alike, together to celebrate his accomplishments.

In the grand scheme of things, this award probably does not mean a hill of beans to the overall accomplishments of American Pharoah, but from Sports Illustrated, I believe his many fans deserved better.

But then again, what do I know? I am just a fan, and that is how I write -- Always have, and always will. Thank you for reading.