We here at Fanster.com are proud to announce that Kurt Warner, starting quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals, is the recipient of our “Fanster.com Phoenix Athlete of the Year” award. Warner becomes the first Arizona athlete to receive the award for his performance in 2008, throwing for 4,583 yards, 30 touchdowns and leading the Cardinals to their first division title since 1975. Warner’s 2008 numbers were his best since 2001 when he threw for 4,830 yards and 36 touchdowns, and was named the MVP of the NFL, and led the St. Louis Rams to an NFC Championship.

The award winner was selected by a vote of influential Phoenix media members and bloggers including Mark Asher, Dave Burns and John Gambadoro of Sports 620 KTAR, Dan Hilton of Suns.com, Vince Marotta of Fanster.com, Kevin McCabe of AM 1060 The Fan and Darren Urban of AzCardinals.com. All voters ranked their top five professional or amateur athletes in Phoenix in 2008. A first place vote was worth 5 points, 4 points for a second-place vote, 3 points for a third-place vote, 2 points for a fourth-place vote, and 1 point for a fifth-place vote.

Warner finished with 9 first place votes and 75 total points. Others receiving first place votes were Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Brandon Webb (5), ASU guard James Harden (3), Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Anquan Boldin (1) and Olympic gold medal-winning wrestler Henry Cejudo (1).

Complete voting results (total points):

Kurt Warner (75), Brandon Webb (63), James Harden (32), Anquan Boldin (26), Larry Fitzgerald (13), Amare Stoudemire (12), Henry Cejudo (10), Steve Nash (10), Dustin Pedroia (8), Shaquille O’Neal (7), Stephen Drew (5), Dan Haren (4), Katie Burkhart (4), Steve Breaston (3), Shane Doan (3), Randy Johnson (3), Ilya Bryzgalov (2), Brock Heffron (2), Rudy Carpenter (2), Jennie Finch (2), Conor Jackson (1), Lopez Lomong (1), Brett Wallace (1), Domiskatrix (1)

This year’s voters were: Mark Asher (Sports 620 KTAR), Matt Blake (Fanster.com), Dave Burns (Sports 620 KTAR), Greg Esposito (Fanster.com), John Gambadoro (Sports 620 KTAR), Dan Hilton (Suns.com), Travis Johnson (XTRA Sports 910), Justin Karp (Pitchfork Nation), Michael Kossett (XTRA Sports 910), Vince Marotta (Fanster.com), Paul Martinez (AZ Hardball), Kevin McCabe (AM 1060 The Fan), Mark McLane (Black Jesus Disciples), Jim McLennan (AZ Snakepit), Luka Rossi (Sons of Steve Nash), Michael Schwartz (Valley of the Suns), Darren Urban (AzCardinals.com), Eli Wahlstrom (Voice of the Cardinals), Ben York (Ben’s Suns Blog)

January 6th, 2009 10:54 AM

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