Lionel Messi Named The Third-Best Argentine Athlete Of 2012

How was your calendar year, Messi? Oh, not too bad, only the greatest of all time. (I know. He scores too many in the box. He needed more games than Müller. You could net 20 getting fed by Xavi and Iniesta. Whatever, it was amazing and he's amazing.) But great enough to be named the country's best athlete by the Argentinian Association of Sports Journalists? Ni a palos.

Boxer Sergio Martinez was given the Olimpia de Oro, after a year in which he won the WBC middleweight title. Sebastian Crismanich, who captured Argentina's only Olympic gold medal (in taekwondo), came in second. Messi, who won last year, came in third, likely the victim of the rarities of a boxing world championship and an Olympic year. Also, of the voters' MESSI MESSI MESSI fatigue—the same reason Michael Jordan doesn't have nine MVPs.

[ AP, via Dirty Tackle]