Well I may be a cyclist but I am certainly not voting for Cav. Cycle races are for winning. The Tour is a 3 week endurance race. The flat stages are about providing the media with something to write about between the important bits. Brad did very well. He came 4th Like Emma did in the Giro. Cav did an great ride in the MSR. However as a road rider, Cav has a long way to go to catch up with the rides, many cyclists dismissed as being not worthy of SPOTY last year. In reality I think we saw, by some good margin, the best ever rides by a Brit, last year, and we just failed to value them as we should.
So who to vote for ? F1 is not a sport. It is a business and a very lucrative and well run business it is too. The triple jump is about as competitive on the World stage as many track cycling disciplines, with diving in a “little league” below even these. Andrew Strauss and Andy Murray are both very well rewarded and receive reverence from the press, way beyond that their attainment justifies. (What is wrong with our country? If we must have a cricket representative, let us at least have somebody who led a winning team – step forward Charlotte Edwards.) A vote for either Strauss or Murray would be like voting that the Chairman of RBS should receive an even bigger bonus for having his hand on the tiller whilst the taxpayers’ money was loaded into the holds. Ryan Giggs – well he is going nowhere with Wales so he gets the sympathy vote. World Class ? I have listened to a few commentaries and watch MotD. I would definitely say he has been reliable and loyal to Sir Alex. A token footballer !
Boxing – another business. Was somebody trying to tell me he fought an athlete ? I see better physiques in the local gym every week and nobody comes up with some fairy story that these people are World Champions. Boxing needs to get some good management in like Max “spank me harder fraulien” Moseley, then they could come up with more plausible storylines. A couple of years ago the BBC boxing correspondents were trying to sell us, Olympic Champion Amir Khan as SPOTY.
Getting a bit tight. Jessica Ennis is World Champion and had a season’s best of 6,731. I see that in recent years 7 winners have scored over 7,000 with a best of 7,291 and Jessica being behind Denise Lewis’ 1998 score. A void left by Kluft ? 600 marks in 7,000 is just under 10% down. A bit like Riis winning in ’97. After Indurain and before Lance. (No – do not stretch the metaphor, I am not suggesting that any of the heptathletes are doped up to the gills like Mr 60%. Does he still have anything to do with men’s cycling?) Right place, right time. And then Beth Tweddle. Gymnastics lost its competitiveness when it was no longer the extended front line of the Cold War. Without a fully committed Soviet Block, performances seem muted. My perceptions. Maybe I am wrong. I will happily stand corrected.
So who is not there? Well there is Victoria. Great riding, beats everyone put in front of her, well done on that lady – but please read above. Steve Peat – how does anyone get somebody to pay for you to take a car ride to the top of the hill with your bicycle ? I enjoy descending and I am entirely confident that I am not a tiny fraction as good as Steve Peat. I have heard Phil the Power is quite good at descending as well. Joanne Jackson, beat Adlington and set a new World record but then only took silver at the Worlds so we need to write her out of the history books. Gemma Spoforth went one better and took gold in the 100m backstroke. Getting close. I do wish there were less swimming medals – all those lengths and strokes, you can never work out who has struck it lucky dodging the competition. Triathlon re-arranged itself this year (well the ITU bit did, not the WTF bit (oh dear undermining myself here, sounds like boxing)). Alistair Brownlee is ITU World Triathlon champion. They changed from a single event to a World Cup format. Champion this year, Alistair seems to have garnered as much publicity as Helen Tucker before him (and Nicole Cooke). Major event, worldwide participation, athletic endeavor, 3 % off the top and you are nowhere. Alistair would have had my vote above any of the others. Sadly I see that according to the BBC, who outsourced the preparation of the top 10 to the newspapers, (when did Zoo become a font of knowledge to guide the great unwashed ?).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tv_and_radio/sports_personality_of_the_year/default.stm Alistair did not warrant a single vote from any.
Oh well, I must be dumb. I see one newspaper decided Cristiano Ronaldo needed to be on the short list of top 10 GB performers. The Ladybird book explaining the rules must have been left out of their pack. And then there is Dario Franchitti who is deserving, according to our betters. Yes, I had to do a google as well. Exactly as I thought before I wasted some life. The one that had me scratching my head was Catriona Matthew who received multiple nominations. According to Wikki - In January 2009, she won the inaugural
HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup 2009, an unofficial LPGA event with a field of 14 LPGA players and a Brazilian national amateur. Matthew was five months pregnant with her second child at the time of the victory. And there was me moaning about Jessica Ennis being 10% off the pace.. Bring on the yachters sponsored by all the banks – what the hell do I know. Brad and Emma – you did the business for me this year, thank you. I will avoid the program and instead watch the Road World Champs of 2008 instead. The winner of SPOTY 2009 is - (sponsored by the Max and Bernie show) –Mister Jason ……
