BBC Sports Personality Of The Year

[cdbearsfan]

She's the third skeleton winner in a row but, in fairness, two of the three were her! She is also our most successful Winter Olympian ever (not sure if I mentioned it) whereas there is no way Thomas can claim to be our most succesful cyclist, or even our most succesful cyclist at the Tour De France.

[paul_e]

She's the third skeleton winner in a row but, in fairness, two of the three were her! She is also our most successful Winter Olympian ever (not sure if I mentioned it) whereas there is no way Thomas can claim to be our most succesful cyclist, or even our most succesful cyclist at the Tour De France.

Sorry yes I was counting in Rudman but she only got the silver, but the point still stands that, 15 year ago, we saw a winter sport we could excel at and she's a consequence of the decision to provide the funding to it. Remember that, like cycling, it's an event that you can break down into points of expertise and make small gains. Yarnold was already in the team GB programme as a heptathlete but wasn't on the same level as the women around her so they suggested skeleton as a perfect fit for her physique, which is what I mean but the importance of the setup she came into, only an excellent program with very clear guidance in what they were looking for would take an 18 year old with no experience of an event and who'd never expressed an interest and create a double olympic champion.

I think retaining her title was a massive achievement and I'm in no way talking her down, it's the opposite in fact. we've recognised our cycling excellence, we've recognised our rowing excellence but for some reason we've not taken the opportunity to recognise our skeleton excellence at a time where it would've been perfect to do so, and we've done it because SPOTY is a popularity contest. Greg Rutherford is the biggest victim of just doing the wrong sport, he consecutively held every major title (olympic, world, commonwealth, european and diamond league) he was eligible for despite being in a sport with poor funding, poor exposure and limited facilities (comparatively).

[cdbearsfan]

I always wonder why we never seem to have people who can be good at luge, or for that matter, why the Germans can't do skellington?

[Risso]

Greg Rutherford is the biggest victim of just doing the wrong sport, he consecutively held every major title (olympic, world, commonwealth, european and diamond league) he was eligible for despite being in a sport with poor funding, poor exposure and limited facilities (comparatively).

He's also a victim of the fact that he comes across as a massive twat.  In my opinion, of course.

[paul_e]

Greg Rutherford is the biggest victim of just doing the wrong sport, he consecutively held every major title (olympic, world, commonwealth, european and diamond league) he was eligible for despite being in a sport with poor funding, poor exposure and limited facilities (comparatively).

He's also a victim of the fact that he comes across as a massive twat.  In my opinion, of course.

We gave Andy Murray 3 of them, being a twat isn't a barrier.

[cdbearsfan]

Why is Andy Murray a twat?

[paul_e]

Why is Andy Murray a twat?

I didn't call him one (I sort of implied it now I read it back) but I was thinking more along the line of the oxymoron of Andy Murray and Personality.

[PeterWithesShin]

Because he's an Arsenal fan from that well known area of North London, Glasgow. Having ditched Hibs in the process.

[Chinchilla Bathhouse]

Sports awards ceremonies are unnecessary anyway. Sportspeople get the acclaim of the crowd right there in the sporting arena, they get medals to parade and trophies to lift, they don't really need it all again in a function room. Things like the Oscars and the Baftas exist to let screen actors experience the immediate glory that sport gives. They don't have a crowd to punch the air for when they're at work. They don't do a lap of honour for recording a Holby City deathbed scene in one take. It's their attempt to make it sport. Same for lots of other fields.

[cdbearsfan]

Because he's an Arsenal fan from that well known area of North London, Glasgow. Having ditched Hibs in the process.

I think he's still Hibs. But switching to Arsenal is enough to convince me. He is a twat.

[TopDeck113]

[quote author=cdbullyweefan link=topic=56362.msg3523420#msg3523420 date=1545057379 whereas there is no way Thomas can claim to be our most succesful cyclist, or even our most succesful cyclist at the Tour De France.
[/quote]

That's a nonsensical criteria for choosing an award in a given year.

Was Flintoff's Ashes performance in 2005 really better than Botham's in 1981?  Probably not.  But the regaining of the Ashes and Flintoff's part in it defined that year's sport, so he was a worthy winner.

If we ever have an Olympic men's middle distance gold medalist again, do we dismiss them as a SPOTY candidate because they don't reach the same World Record breaking heights as Coe and Ovett?  I doubt it.

In the final analysis the public votes for success and especially success in a sport they can recognize.  Thomas alluded to the fact last night that British Cycling's success on the track and now on the road has seen a massive up take in the sport, even if most are in the non-competitive arena.  However, if you're struggling through the Lickey Hills on your weekend ride. you've got an empathy and appreciation for a guy who conquers Alpine passes for a living.  Very few people are going to vote for Lizzy Yarnold based on any first-hand understanding of the sport.

[cdbearsfan]

Fine, seeing as we win the Tour De France every year, let's just rename the award the Cycling Personality of the Year.

[TopDeck113]

Even if the team currently known as Sky find a new sponsor with as deep pockets, I can't see which British cyclist will be winning in two or three years time.  The team might have a future winner in Egan Bernal, but Columbians aren't eligible.  So let's enjoy it whilst it lasts: after all it only took 99 editions of the race to get the first British winner, and Thomas is only the third British cyclist to do it.  For some context of the "we win it every year", his victory made Britain the fifth most successful nation in terms of the number of wins, overtaking the sporting superpower that is Luxembourg.  Win it every year for the next thirty and we'll draw level with the French...

[Lizz]

I listened to some of it while driving. Bloody hell, I was almost in tears when Billie-Jean King was given her lifetime achievement award and hearing Ain't No Mountain High Enough, one of my favourite Motown songs (though prefer the Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell version) was the icing on the cake. On the radio they spoke with 2 females while there was some VT activity on the telly; the 2 females, neither of them tennis players, spoke about how much Billie-Jean had done for females in sport. Only saw the actual presentation of the SPOTY award, what a great woman she is IMO. Will watch it over Christmas some time.

[dave.woodhall]

never mind all that shit about who won, how come they let Baddiel, Skinner and That Fucking Band into the same building without dropping a bomb on  it?