Every year, Sports Illustrated names its Sportsman of the Year. It's a huge honor: one person, across all sports, is chosen as the best of the best. They are the representation of all that athletes stand for - this year, Sports Illustrated named Madison Bumgarner of the San Francisco Giants their Sportsman of the Year. He is one of the best postseason pitchers in recent memory, and was one of the reasons that the Giants got to the promised land yet again.
Then again, that's not what this story is about. Bumgarner is a great athlete, sure - but he's also got a strange dating history. No, it's not anything like experimentation in college or something equally ridiculous...no, it's far stranger than that.
It's buried in the story, and it only shows up for a single sentence, but it's the most interesting part of the piece: once upon a time, Madison Bumgarner dated someone named...Madison Bumgarner.
"It's all true...that before he dated Ali, he dated a girl named Madison Bumgarner ("No relation, I'm sure of it")."
Well then - that's odd. 'Madison Bumgarner' isn't exactly a common name. In fact, 'Bumgarner' sounds like a bad joke thought up by an elementary school student.
Even the chances of meeting someone with the name 'Madison Bumgarner' has to be a few million-to-one, and athlete-Madison Bumgarner took it one step farther and dated random-Madison Bumgarner.
It's amazing that the story doesn't go into more detail, as it's obviously the most interesting part of the article. Everyone has seen just how well Bumgarner can throw the ball; he's been on TV plenty of times, so people know how talented he is. People want to know how and why someone would date a person with their exact same unique name, and exactly how awkward that relationship got.
Certainly, people can't be that into themselves that they would date someone with the same name.
...right?
Lead Image: Dirk Hansen (SD Dirk)
