Which male athlete has most frequently graced the covers of Sports Illustrated?
The answers can easily be found in the SI Vault (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/). The website includes a database that allows sports enthusiasts to conduct searches on articles, covers, galleries, and swimsuit issues. These searches provide an interesting perspective on what has been important in sports since SI began publishing in 1954.
The purpose of the following analysis is to identify the male athletes who most frequently adorned the SI covers and to look for other interesting trends. In December, 50 male athletes were selected for analysis. Their names, as listed in the charts below, were placed in the advanced search engine (exact phrase). Note that slightly different frequencies occurred when the names were placed in the general search box. It was also necessary to be aware of multiple athletes with the same name, such as Bill Russell, and adjust the search accordingly.
Keep in mind, the purpose of this analysis is not to identify the best athlete; rather the intent is to point out the athletes that adorned the SI covers most often. Athletes such as Lou Gehrig passed away before SI began publishing, so his coverage is minimal compared to current players. There are a number of factors that can determine whether an athlete makes the front cover or just receives mention in an article or picture gallery. The following questions address these factors:
• When did the athlete play?
• Did they participate in a team sport or an individual sport?
• How long has their sport been in existence, for example snowboarding is a relatively new sport?
• Did the athlete play in a major sport or a minor sport?
• Did the athlete play in a small market or a major market? Did they compete internationally?
• Who did the athlete have as sponsors and how well were they marketed?
• Was the athlete a flashy player who drew attention, such as John McEnroe, or were they a steady performer like Brian Gottfried?
• How has the interest level in their sport changed over time? Are people as interested in that sport as they once were?
• Were there lockouts or strikes during an athlete’s career that prevented additional exposure?
• Did the athlete experience injuries that reduced media coverage?
• Were there other events that were more significant or overshadowed the significance of an athlete’s performance?
• Was it a “slow sports day”, which allowed for certain athletes to receive greater coverage?
It is interesting to note who has been on the cover most frequently, but it can be equally as intriguing to consider the factors that may have caused or prevented greater coverage.
The data suggests that there are a handful of athletes who are media icons. Michael Jordan is one of them. He was on the SI cover 58 times followed in a distant 2nd and 3rd place by Tiger Woods and Muhammad Ali. Based on the data below, Tim Tebow will likely become the next icon if he turns out to be the real deal.
Woods tops the list for being in the most articles (6,983) followed by Jordan, Nicklaus, Mickelson, Manning, Favre, Bonds, and Brady. The latter group was each mentioned in 2,700 to 3,700 articles. The group of top 10 athletes represented football (3), basketball (3), golf (2), boxing (1), and baseball (1).
(Analysis of the SI database is included in the December 2, 8, and 20 blog posts. The three discussions identify the sports, major sporting events, male athletes, and female athletes to most frequently adorn the front cover.)
