Sure today is Valentine’s Day, but in the sports world a more important holiday dominates February 14, 2012 — the release of Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue and unveiling of its cover.

Kate Upton, every sports fan’s favorite swim suit model, is this year’s covergirl for the 2012 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

Upton’s cover hit the interwebs yesterday afternoon, but was formally introduced to the world on The Late Show with David Letterman.

Below is the high-resolution image of Upton’s cover.

If you really need an explanation as to why I posted Upton’s cover on BSR, I will say that I did at least do a Google search for “Kate Upton Baltimore,” but came up with nothing.

Here’s a sports tie though, U.S. World Cup soccer star Alex Morgan joins Upton in this year’s issue.  She’ll be donning body paint.

LOVE LOVE LOVE the @SI_Swimsuit Cover! @KateUpton looks gorgeous!! Can’t wait for it to come out tomorrow!! #SISwim
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SI’s swimsuit issue is on new stands (do news stands still exist?) now and if you can’t get enough KU, check out her MLB 2K12 commercial.