Projo Sports Blog

By Larry DiTore
Bloomberg News

Golfer Tiger Woods remains the U.S.’s favorite sports star, while New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter takes over the second spot, a new poll found.

Woods, a winner of 12 major tournaments and the top-ranked player in the world, was named as America’s No. 1 athlete for the second straight year in an annual poll conducted by Harris Interactive. Jeter, a seven-time Major League Baseball All-Star, moved up to No. 2 from No. 4 last year.

Five-time National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player Michael Jordan, who topped the survey every year from 1993 to 2005, dropped to third, followed by Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre and Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star LeBron James.
Jordan is the only retired player in the top 10, which was open to both male and female athletes.

Nascar’s Nextel Cup driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. was sixth, followed by Tim Duncan of the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs, Peyton Manning of the National Football League’s Indianapolis Colts, Kobe Bryant of the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers and Tom Brady of the NFL’s New England Patriots.

Serena Williams, winner of eight Grand Slam tennis titles, was voted the most popular female athlete, while her sister Venus was third behind Indy race car driver Danica Patrick.

Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants, who is seven home runs shy of breaking Hank Aaron’s career record of 755, dropped out of the top 10 as links to steroids dogged his chase of baseball’s most revered record. He was tied for No. 9 last year. Also dropping out were basketball Shaquille O’Neal (No. 6 in 2006) and Nascar driver Jeff Gordon (tied for No. 9).

Harris Interactive conducted the online survey of 2,372 U.S. adults from June 5-11. No sampling error was provided.

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