Sports Illustrated's (Chinese) Sportsman of the Year

On our way to the gym yesterday morning, still a little groggy, we got off the subway one stop too early. But at Shaanxi Nan Lu, we saw the attached advertisement. It's probably been up for several weeks now, but we have been out of town — and we don't normally get off at the wrong stop.

Anyway, the billboard shows two Sports Illustrated covers. The American one on the right shows Dwyane Wade as the 2006 Sportsman of the Year. And the Chinese cover on the left shows hurdler extraordinaire Liu Xiang ... as the 2006 Sportsman of the Year.

It's not surprising that the two editions would have different sportsmen of the year. It makes sense to localize*. It just makes us wonder how many international editions Sports Illustrated has (we couldn't find the info on their website) and just how many athletes worldwide can put "Sports Illustrated's 2006 Sportsman of the Year" on their resume.

We can assume all of China is hoping that the dreaded Sports Illustrated cover jinx does not befall their Olympic champion. Dwyane Wade wasn't so lucky: Not long after earning SI SOY honors, he dislocated his shoulder and is likely done for the season.

* But, either way, Roger Federer probably got shafted.

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