shiva

oh ye of little faith.......


yes, yes, ****ing yes

Bob

He finally over came his gag reflex to come good with this one. Well done

commander

agree. there are athletes who are not even going to be shortlisted this year who would have won it on previous years.

Just goes to show what a superb year its been for GB sport.

To be fair, the SPOTY is meaningless anyway in my opinion.

Millsyisland

It's certainly got nothing to do with 'personalities' as many of the winners don't seem to have one.

scrubbedexpat141

Why is it meaningless?

Any number of people could win it this year. What's wrong with that?

The Dean

I can just imagine Andy Murray's autobiography........

"2012...... my greatest year - I won the Olympics and the US Open, I finished runner-up at Wimbledon....... but, best of all, I won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award........."

It's a garbage award, given undue prominence completely out of line with its actual importance by the BBC who usually have to worry about which also-ran did best......... what would be a great gesture by the BBC this year would be to award it collectively to "Britain's sportsmen and women" - now that would be worthy of a mention........ come to think of it, that's a great idea........

scrubbedexpat141

That's a terrible idea. That's like modern sports day where nobody wins and nobody loses. Piffle.

If it's a garbage award then why be bothered by it?

littlejimmy

I think it's a good idea. How can you pick just one person to represent this year?

Or maybe they could just give it to Emile Heskey.

Oh, and what Shiva said. Well done Andy.

The Dean

I'm not - I have never watched it since Red Rum and Frank Bruno had a penalty kick competition or something......... I'm already sick and tired of the interweb being flooded with SPOTY speculation - in this, of all years, it's irrelevant, surely?

Actually, this might be a year when it IS worth watching (lots of actual winners to cover).........

OK I'll play along: my top five: 1 - Murray, 2 - Wiggins, 3 - Ennis, 4 - Simmons, 5 - Farah. OK?

NorthernLad

Hoy?

The Dean

No - not sure about Wiggins at 2 either - great achievements, but they were reasonably regarded as favourites to win at the outset........ Murray wasn't.

BTW - tennis trivia: when they won their first Grand Slam events, neither Federer, nor Nadal, nor Djokovic had to beat a previous GS winner in the final - Murray now has.

NorthernLad

I don't think that matters - he had to step up, under huge expectations and he still did it.

And surely they are being awarded for being great sportsmen, not underdogs who bucked the trend?

scrubbedexpat141

I just think it's pointless dishing it out to everyone. Olympics / Paralympics will get the Team of the Year thing so there is recognition there for the masses.

Yeah it doesn't really mean a great deal but someone should win.

I think Wiggins or Murray should/will win.

The Dean

To be fair to the BBC (I never thought I'd write that sentence, as I am not a Guardian reader), it is an award for a personality, as opposed to say a winner, a champion, etc. This year, luckily, they have plenty of candidates who meet all criteria......

......... and, I suppose, with seven races left, Lewis Hamilton could conceivably still become F1 champion.......

scrubbedexpat141

Jenson could do it too, technically.

What about Ryder cup in a few weeks?

Chelsea's Champions League win?

Weir's golds in the Paralympics?