Harris Poll Critiques for 2011... DJ3K the Winner?

Jeter Hits a HR for his 3000 Hit (yankeesdaily.com)

           The Harris Poll for the top 10 athletes for each sex were released the other day for 2011. And not the person who everyone thought would be on top was in fact top of the charts. Kobe Bryant was dethroned as America's favorite athlete and replace by DJ3K, or as everyone knows him as, Derek Jeter. Jeter just reached the 3,000 hit milestone prior to the All-Star break and has always been a fan-favorite in the Bronx and part of the evil empire everywhere else in the country. Jeter was always in the top 10 since 2004, making it comfortably but this year he jolted up the charts and took the top honor. This year's rankings for the men was as follows:

1. Derek Jeter
2. Peyton Manning
3. Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan (tied)
5. Tiger Woods (How he is on this list still is pathetic.)
6. Tom Brady
7. Albert Pujols and Hines Ward (tied, Hines Ward?!)
9. Derrick Rose (From average to a star in one season will help your popularity.)
10. Aaron Rodgers (Winning the Super Bowl MVP always helps.)

           Big slips from Kobe (Tied for 1st to 3rd), and Tiger (Tied for 1st to 5th) really show how people think of athletes nowadays. Scandals really do hurt their image (Ben Roethlisberger) and retired athletes are still very popular as shown by his Airness, MJ.

          For the women this year's rankings were not nearly as shocking as Serena Williams continued her choke-hold on the top spot after holding it in 2007, 2009 and 2010. Venus finished second this year in the ranking.

Serena and Venus at Wimbledon (wimbledon-tennis.com)

1. Serena Williams (Dominance remains.)
2. Venus Williams (Neither Williams sister did much so far this year but still remain well ahead of the rest.)
3. Danica Patrick (Is it because she is the godaddy.com girl? Because it's not because of her driving.)
4. Maria Sharapova (This will keep rising if she continues her excellent play.)
5. Mia Hamm (Women's World Cup fever propelled memories of 1999 and her dominance in women's soccer in the US.)
6. Anna Kournikova (Uhhhh why? She hasn't been relevant in about 10 years. Her and Pavel Bure are off somewhere thinking about their golden years.)
7. Martina Navratilova and Sue Bird (Tied, Bird is a top star in the WNBA and Martina is a tennis legend... interesting how they tied since Martina's just a commentator now.)
9. Kerry Walsh and Michelle Wie (Tied, How does Misty May view this?!)

         I love rankings like these and really enjoy seeing who other people in this country view as the top athletes for all the sports. I am surprised that Jimmy Johnson/Dale Earnhardt Jr. didn't crack the top 10 when Hines Ward did. Not very surprised no hockey players were represented since most people still don't follow the NHL as much as NFL/NBA/MLB. 4 Football players (3 QBs), 2 Baseball players, 3 Basketball players and 1 golfer were represented in the men while the women had 5 tennis players (men had 0, no Federer or Nadal even), 1 soccer player, 1 basketball player, 1 beach volleyball player, 1 golfer and 1 race car driver. The diversity in the women is a little more apparent but tennis did dominate and is probably the most televised major sport for women.

        I'd love to hear your opinions, thoughts, critiques... post some comments!
Here is the article that discusses the Harris Poll http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/07/19/poll-derek-jeter-unseats-kobe-bryant-as-americas-favorite-athlete/?iid=moreonnf