Olympic kayaker Adam van Koeverden (left), tennis player Andy Roddick and baseball player David Wright are three of the 16 North American athletes in Round 1 of the King of the Hardwood contest. Using an NCAA tournament-style format, the contest will pick one of 32 North American athletes and one of 32 athletes around the world, who will face off in the KOTH final. The first round features eight matchups in the Americas North bracket, with voting ending Friday.
Vote in the Americas North bracket.
Check out photos of the 16 jocks in this bracket.
on Mar 18th, 2009 at 5:58 AM
Where is the diversity regarding the “photos of the 16 jocks in Americas North bracket?”
on Mar 18th, 2009 at 8:27 AM
Year-after-year, “King-of-the-Hardwood World” is the whitest place on earth!! Imagine that!
on Mar 18th, 2009 at 10:34 AM
If Cristiano Ronaldo doesn’t win, it will be the greatest tragedy in society since the day Martin Luther King was shot…
on Mar 18th, 2009 at 11:33 AM
I knew this was going to come up. Regarding diversity, yes I know the tournament lacks it. For 6 years, I have been including players and every year they don’t advance to the 2nd round. Last year, in hopes to increasing diversity, I ran preliminary rounds and 90% of the “diverse” players did not make the top 8 cut. They didn’t even make the Top 12 cut. So yes, I do realize that the field is not diverse. But I decided this year because I started late and because of personal issues that I wasn’t about to search for athletes just for the sake of diversity.
How about this. Next year, when I post that the tournament is coming, perhaps make suggestions on who should be included.
Or, and I am serious about this, maybe you or someone else can help me out and run a separate “conference” tournament like I did last year and I’ll take the 8, 12 or 16 guys who come out of that tournament and put them into KOTH VII. I’m always looking to shake things up. Instead of doing it by sport, I can run it by Continents? That would guarantee Diversity. But I can’t do it alone. Oh, and when when you do your tournament of Asia, don’t only include the Russians and forget about the Asian athletes because I have yet to see “hot athletes” lists that include Asian players.
So send me an email around October or November and I’ll see if you want to help out.
Thanks.
MDG
on Mar 18th, 2009 at 12:23 PM
michael phelps does not belong…he’s a great athlete but he’s not attractive wtf lol
oh and yeah this tourny definitely sucks in terms of diversity
on Mar 18th, 2009 at 12:24 PM
there was a bunch of actually hot swimmers you could of put instead of phelps lol
on Mar 18th, 2009 at 1:40 PM
MDG does a great job and a lot of work doing this contest, so I hope everyone is aware of this. This is a labor of love, so those complaining can always start their own contest and we will promote it.
And the diversity issue has always been frustrating — last year’s field was diverse and yet 90% of the non-white jocks got past the first round. I think MDG was hoping to have more competitive matchups.
So, how would any of you do this?
on Mar 18th, 2009 at 3:41 PM
Kasy Kahne a 16 seed…?
on Mar 18th, 2009 at 4:15 PM
how can Dwayne Wade not be in there? sheesh, suffer from Abercrombie worship much?
on Mar 18th, 2009 at 5:04 PM
Anyone trying to blame MDG for the “whiteness” of the KOTH needs to rent a brain somewhere. He does a great job, especially considering how much work it must take to set everything up — voting, pics, etc. He also posts a thread on the discussion board every year where he asks for recommendations. If you don’t make some, you can’t complain after the fact.
And he’s not the one who OVERWHELMINGLY votes for the white athletes over anyone of color — that’s a very sad commentary on the voters. It’s like there’s a hierarchy: naked white guy, almost-naked white guy, shirtless white guy, fully clothed white guy, anyone else. I tend to vote for anyone of color even if I don’t like them for some reason, just to be contrary.
on Mar 18th, 2009 at 6:07 PM
yeah i don’t blame MDG he can’t help who outsports voters vote for…their preference obviously are for white athletes
on Mar 18th, 2009 at 6:31 PM
Ok. This is the last time I am responding to this.
Yes, I realize there is a lack of diversity. I try my best to include athletes from all over the world, but I know this year I didn’t do as well as years past. Personally, there are tons of guys in other countries that I find hot but from doing this tournament for 5 years, I know they will not do well in the tournament. As Joe mentioned, there is a pattern on who does well in the tourney. That’s one of the reasons why I put the Rugby boys in the World brackets so they can beat up on each other.
Paul: You’re just lucky Kahne made the tourney
I was going to pick someone else from the Nascar circuit but in the end, Kahne was the chosen one. Sorry, but he’s a 16 to me.
Dwayne Wade has been in past tournaments and got smoked. It wasn’t even close so I wasn’t about to put him in again. And no, this is not Abercrombie worship. It is what it is. A lot of the guys in the tourney would hardly be considered A&F material. It is also interesting that you wrote in your blog “so I’m going with North Carolina defeating Memphis in the title game and that hot hunk of white meat Tyler Hansbrough going out a champ”. Hot hunk of white meat, huh. Just sayin’.
Like I said before, if anyone would like to assist me in next year’s tourney, feel free to drop me a line. I posted something in the prelim. thread to recommend some nominations and the thread was pretty much silent. I searched other hot jock threads but it was pretty much the same athletes, except for the track thread.
If you want to know what I do to come up with the tournament candidates drop me a line and I will tell you. Maybe Jim & Cyd will have me on their podcast one day. We tried before, but I was not available at the time they did their broadcast.
Oh, and I hope to all of you saying “lack of diversity” mean that there is a lack of diversity to INCLUDE the Asian athelete, Pacific Islanders, Indian, Middle Eastern athlete, etc and not just the Black athlete.
Finally, I’m still hoping that one day Koji Murofushi would win King of the Hardwood, but that is just a fantasy:(
‘Nuff said. Go and vote. World North voting begins on Monday.
on Mar 18th, 2009 at 7:17 PM
The one person whose continued omission I still don’t understand is Tiger Woods. The guy is the most famous athlete in the world, is reknowned for his fitness, and has appeared shirtless on TV (http://www.insidesocal.com/tomhoffarth/TigerWoods_450x400.jpg).
on Mar 19th, 2009 at 2:39 AM
yeah that reminds me, where’s Hansbrough? that guy is fine too