Is it too soon to talk about who will be People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive for 2012?

I know: this issue doesn’t come out until November, and it’s March now.

But still. This matters, right?? In a #firstworldproblems kind of way.

People, there is last year’s “winner” to atone for.

There was backlash, particularly among Ryan Gosling fans, and people who wonder if Bradley is living an, ahem, inauthentic life (what’s sexy about hiding your true self, after all?).

In spite of my Advanced Age, I’m pulling hard for our young friend, Robert Pattinson. If you follow me on twitter, this will not come as a big surprise. Or a surprise at all.

The timing works: People looks for a guy with projects to promote and Breaking Dawn part 2 comes in in November. Rob will need to do press so why not for People?

The downside is that Rob doesn’t have any projects coming out immediately after Breaking Dawn, only before. In this regard, Ryan Gosling made much more sense for 2011 than Bradley Cooper.

I have no doubt a Rob SMA cover would sell out in spite of People’s reader base skewing older. Rob’s fan’s are serious.

But People likes older guys. Not necessarily old – Sean Connery was the oldest SMA, honored at age 59 – but only a handful of men have been selected when they were in their 20s. The Gos turns 32 in 2012; Rob will turn 26 in May.

Who do you think should be the 2012 Sexiest Man Alive? Comments, please.

Lads, you cannot nominate yourselves.

I’ll save my comments on the lack of diversity in People’s SMA choices (and also in my post) for another time. I’m starting to weird myself out with this analysis.