NEW YORK—The Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year Award is a crowning life achievement for the player whom it honors, and the award's announcement is a landmark event highly anticipated by aficionados across the world of competitive athletics, Sports Illustrated magazine announced Monday. "The SI Sportsman of the Year award is a chance for one singular performer to transcend the limitations of his sport, his league, and yes, sports itself, and be placed in the pantheon of cultural luminaries by that finest of institutions: Sports Illustrated magazine," an editorial in Monday's Sportsman of the Year issue of Sports Illustrated read in part. "Simply put, you are not a sports enthusiast if you do not agree." Derek Jeter, the 2009 honoree, said he had not yet read the article, although he was looking forward to the annual swimsuit issue.