Chris Hoy BBC Sports Personality of the year - NOT Hamilton

Earthbound

I know it's been raised already but it needs to be kept at boiling point!!

This OVERBLOWN coverage of Hamilton is a serious challenge to Hoy's position of pre-eminence in British Sport. I actually heard someone on BBC radio saying Hamilton's win was "one of the great acheivements in the history of sport" - purleeeze - get some perspective.

Hamilton has won ONE world championship by the narrowest possible margin. He didn't even win the last race, he was world champion be overtaking a non entity of a German on the last bend to finish 5th (fifth - when was the last time Hoy finished as low as 5th!!!). So on AVERAGE (very AVERAGE) he is champ.

Chris Hoy won 3 world championships this year, count em THREE, NOT 1. Oh and there's that small matter of 3 Olympic gold medals!!! And none of them were won by finishing 5th by (dubious) overtaking on the last bend. Hoy goes to the front, rides faster than everybody else and keeps riding faster than everybody else. Big man, Big balls!!

Well done Lewis, but you're nothing compared to King Chris the real McHoy. He totally destroys all opposition.

After all is motor racoing really a sport? Is it exemplary of the Greek Olympian ideals. Is the it a place for true athletes when all you have to do is sit on your ar*e and drive a car!!! (FFS) So long as it's a McClaren or a Ferrari you can win the world championship. If it's not - you've got NO CHANCE.

I'm calling on ALL cyclists, their families, friends and neighbours to vote for Chris Hoy BBC sports personality. As Jamie Oliver says - PASS IT ON!!

Hamilton is too greedy to even live in Britain and pay the same taxes as the rest of us (including Hoy, who earns buttons). Hamilton earns Millions a year, he can afford a bit of tax but he doesn't pay ANY. The people of Britain should not be proud of him cos he sure ain't proud of being British!!

We need to co-ordinate an effort to make sure the right thing is done. I live in Glasgow and I'm damn sure we can get this city voting Hoy and Edinburgh too. if 1/4 of the population of these two cities votes Hoy then it's a done deal

I'm calling on all cyclists to do the right thing, vote Hoy, pass it on and make sure a REAL SPORTSMAN wins BBC Sports Paersonality of the Year.

redvee

We can't vote now only on the night of December 10th

The shortlist will be announced on 4 December - six days before the event, which takes place at Birmingham's NEC.
Nominations made by the public via the BBC Sport website, newspaper and magazine editors and an expert panel will decide the shortlist.
The new nominations system ran for more than a fortnight until 15 November.
The public will decide the winner on the night with voting by phone and text during the show.

Parsnip49

I wasnt actually that bothered about who won it, and wouldnt have bothered voting, but after reading your ill informed post, hamilton is getting my vote.

You are so far wrong im not even going to bother arguing.

heavymental

Parsnip49 wrote:

I wasnt actually that bothered about who won it, and wouldnt have bothered voting, but after reading your ill informed post, hamilton is getting my vote.

You are so far wrong im not even going to bother arguing.

RockyHopperShow

I'm going to vote for Chris, but not for any of the reasons given by Earthbound. I just happen to think he deserves it.

Tom Butcher

I was going to vote for Nicole Cooke but I might vote for Hoy if it looks like he might win and she's got no chance. I'm not really a fan of Hamilton - and the tax avoidance does influence me in that - I mean how much money does he need - yeah I know Cooke doesn't live in the UK but I'm guessing that's for training rather than financial reasons.

Infamous

Earthbound wrote:

I know it's been raised already but it needs to be kept at boiling point!!

This OVERBLOWN coverage of Hamilton is a serious challenge to Hoy's position of pre-eminence in British Sport. I actually heard someone on BBC radio saying Hamilton's win was "one of the great acheivements in the history of sport" - purleeeze - get some perspective.

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blahblahbahblahblahblahblahblahblahbahblahblahblahblahblahblahbahblahblahblahblah
blahblahbahblahblahblahblahblahblahbahblahblah
blahblahblahblahbahblahblahblahblah

I'm calling on all cyclists to do the right thing, vote Hoy, pass it on and make sure a REAL SPORTSMAN wins BBC Sports Paersonality of the Year.

Eat My Dust

TBH I think you're all being a bit harsh. Almost a bit of forum bullying going on here.

aarw

I honestly believe Cooke deserves it over them all, Hoy included.

northturton

Its called Sports PERSONALITY of the year, so if anyone votes for Hamilton, you have a severe problem with what a personality is, as he doesnt have one! Check your dictionary.

Hoy gets my vote, what an athlete and so humble, without getting paid umpteen £million a year!

Eat My Dust

northturton wrote:

Hoy gets my vote, what an athlete and so humble, without getting paid umpteen £million a year!

Just out of interest. Does anybody know how much the cyclists were being paid for being a member of the Sky team?

beverick

It's got to be Hamilton.

The accolade is not just as recognition for their sport but for their personality.

Even at 23 Hamilton just oozes personaility. Hoy's flat and I can't even say I know what Cooke sounds like.

Bob

aarw

beverick wrote:

. Hoy's flat and I can't even say I know what Cooke sounds like.

Bob

Do you actually follow cycling Bob?

pneumatic

Hamilton will get the individual award

Team GB cycling will get team of the year (consolation prize and not subject to a public vote, as I recall)

The whole thing's always been a bit dodgy anyway, epitomised by the horsey royal winner a couple of years back. There are no proper criteria to judge a winner by. It's just another big TV love-in for TV people and their mates. I stopped watching it years ago.

heavymental

They ought to stop calling it Sports Personality to avoid the constant boring discussion about whether the winner has a personality or not. I think they just call it that rather than Sports Person of the year because they think it sounds better. Its never been about personality hence Beckham and Mansell have won it. Its decided on achievement, who's likeable and how easy the sport is to understand. Hence Adlington is a favourite along with Hamilton. Hoy and co fall down on the fact that the sport is a bit of a freakshow to the Britsh public and not easy to understand.

Plus we seemed to breeze all the track events. Adlington (in one of her events), the rowers, Hamilton and Christine Ohorugu all provided dramatic results that went down to the wire. Thats more popular than seeing Hoy cruise to 3 golds, destroying all comers. Its like in the film Gladiator. the crowd prefer it when there's a struggle. People get bored of outright dominance.

Any of the Olympians deserve it because they put in a hell of a lot of work and most don't get richly rewarded. Thats just unlucky. F1 is a millionaires game but you can't say Hamiltons story hasn't been remarkable and you've got to accept that F1 is more popular than alot of the sports in which we had success. Track cycling for one.

Personally....hmm...I dunno. I'd probably go for Hoy because he seems such a nice chap. Wiggins often seems a bit troubled, Adlington is nice but a bit scatty and F1 isn't really my bag. Although to be honest, as long as they do a decent bit of footage on each nominee, with a well written voiceover and an interesting interview (take note Adrian Chiles), I don't really mind who wins. Most years its all very unequal in terms of coverage. I don't think Monty Panesar got a look in despite being up on the board. Maybe Calzaghe will win as his fight next week is going to be his last (apparently).

northturton

Well the Beeb still call it Spots Personality

See http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tv_and_radio/sports_personality_of_the_year/6080190.stm

which rules out Hamilton and any other head up their own arse sports people.

heavymental

This is the boring discussion I was referring to.

I think they mean this definition.

A famous, notable, or prominent person; celebrity.

Can we give up pointing out how dull/arrogant/unlikeable they are now, please.

redddraggon

Personally I think Nicole Cooke should get it. It's not often we get someone at the very top of their sport in country. Hamilton is good, but he's got plenty of good competition, and Chris Hoy is in a true minority sport.

Even though Nicole is probably the best female cyclist in the world at the moment, she won't get it because she's Welsh, a woman, and a cyclist.

I'm glad a British guy won the F1, as it stops a foreigner winning it, but I still don't think he's the best British sports "person" at the moment.

pintoo

The nice thing about a democracy is that people can choose for themselves. Trying to compare Hamilton to Hoy is pretty pointless. Either is a wholly deserving winner. I have the utmost respect for them both. Both have had to make sacrifices to reach the top. Just because one sport pays more than another doesn't diminish what it takes to get there. In both cases, it's an individual honour that couldn't have happened without an otherwise unthanked support team.

jpembroke

As it's a British Sports Personality we're talking about here, shouldn't we be voting for someone who hasn't won anything? That's what usually happens anyway.

Ash_

redddraggon wrote:

Personally I think Nicole Cooke should get it. It's not often we get someone at the very top of their sport in country. Hamilton is good, but he's got plenty of good competition, and Chris Hoy is in a true minority sport.

Not wanting to take anything away from Cooke, but isn't women's road cycling just as much of a 'true minority sport' as men's track racing?

Let's be honest here, cycling all told is still a minority sport in the UK. Ask someone to name a cycle race, and they'll say the Tour de France. If someone British wins that - they might get a look in for BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Good shout above for the track cyclists getting the team award (geniunely can't think who else it would go to).

Let's not kid ourselves, Hamilton's going to win it. Not that anyone really cares.

heavymental

pintoo wrote:

The nice thing about a democracy is that people can choose for themselves. Trying to compare Hamilton to Hoy is pretty pointless. Either is a wholly deserving winner. I have the utmost respect for them both. Both have had to make sacrifices to reach the top. Just because one sport pays more than another doesn't diminish what it takes to get there. In both cases, it's an individual honour that couldn't have happened without an otherwise unthanked support team.

I like the fact that Hamilton always recognises the team when he speaks about his achievements. There's an article on the BBC website about how he considers himself part of a family at Mclaren. They're a very close team from junior engineers up to the very top by all accounts. Not that Hoy and others don't recognise their teams of course but I can't see anything to dislike in Hamilton as a person. You may not like F1 but he's done very well to get where he is and always recognises the contribution of his family and team. Yes he's now worth many millions and owns a resort in Antigua whereas Hoy will still be thinking twice about financing a trip to stay there, but c'est la vie.

LorneC

redddraggon wrote:

Personally I think Nicole Cooke should get it. It's not often we get someone at the very top of their sport in country. Hamilton is good, but he's got plenty of good competition, and Chris Hoy is in a true minority sport.

Even though Nicole is probably the best female cyclist in the world at the moment, she won't get it because she's Welsh, a woman, and a cyclist.

I'm glad a British guy won the F1, as it stops a foreigner winning it, but I still don't think he's the best British sports "person" at the moment.

As long as she doesn't have to sit through another condescending interview, I'm sure she will be happy.

nickwill

Has everybody forgotten about Mark Cavendish. It could be argued that his breakthrough is the greatest achievement by a British rider for decades.

Trying to be impartial though, I think that Hamilton's world championship win is fairly iconic, and has turned him into a globally recognised star. To my mind he has handled all the fuss with great dignity, particularly for one so young.

eh

Don't forget Tom Simpson won it back in the 60's.

The problem for cycling ironically is that there are too many world class GB cyclists, which will split any cycling vote. Personally I think what Cooke, Cav, Hoy et al have achieved this year is way beyond Hamilton. However, GP is a very British sport so I'd expect hamilton to win the BBC SPOTY.

graeme_s-2

I think "eh" is spot on. The cyclist vote will be split amongst all the cyclists. We haven't even mentioned Romero, Wiggins or Pendleton yet, all of whom have also had fantastic years.

It's also worth remembering that the last time a British driver won the World Drivers Championship and didn't win BBC Sports Personality of the Year was when James Hunt won the WDC in 1976. Mansell and Hill both won BBC SPotY in years when they closely contested the title before going on to win both the WDC and SPotY later on. Hamilton was actually quite unfortunate not to win SPotY last year.

F1 drivers have won SPotY 6 times, Tom Simpson is the only cyclist to ever win SPotY. Only 3 people have ever won SPotY twice, and 2 of them are F1 drivers (Mansell and Hill, the only other person is Henry Cooper).

Seems likely to me that Hamilton will win it. What a great year for British sports people and British cycling

giant_man

beverick wrote:

It's got to be Hamilton.

The accolade is not just as recognition for their sport but for their personality.

Even at 23 Hamilton just oozes personaility. Hoy's flat and I can't even say I know what Cooke sounds like.

Bob

But he's a wanker with the charisma of a knat that's the problem

robthehungrymonkey

giant mancp wrote:

beverick wrote:

It's got to be Hamilton.

The accolade is not just as recognition for their sport but for their personality.

Even at 23 Hamilton just oozes personaility. Hoy's flat and I can't even say I know what Cooke sounds like.

Bob

But he's a wanker with the charisma of a knat that's the problem

Can you elaborate? He oozes personality? a "wanker"?

I can't see how people can hate hamilton or think too badly of him? Yes, in interviews he has to spout off the normal team this, sponsor, sponsor, sponsor etc... But it is his JOB! He's a professional in and out of the car. It is a team sport, and he is an employer. If you did an interview on behalf of your employer how would you sound?

Yes, the cyclists are great. And sacrifice, and acheive a lot for relatively little reward... but at the end of the day, Hamilton has an arguably more difficult job that involves just as much work. The fact he gets paid a lot reflects the popularity of the sport. I doubt his attitude to his sport and the work involved would change if he was getting paid the same as the cyclists. The same as when he was 7 years old.

Some of the arguments on this thread could be applied to pretty much any minority sport.
I'd vote for British snowboarders, who seem to do very well considering we don't have mountains with snow on them.

I also think Cav or Nicole Cooke over Hoy. They are just as dominant, but probably in a *bigger* discipline.

andyp

Ash_ wrote:

Good shout above for the track cyclists getting the team award (geniunely can't think who else it would go to).

Manchester United for their Premier League and Champions League double?

I agree with you btw, I think the GB cycling team deserve recognition but am not sure they'll win the team award. (Which will be about the only competition they haven't won this year).

redddraggon

Personally I reckon "Team GB" will win the team prize for getting all those golds (cycling and sailing mainly wasn't it?) at the olympics.

eh

Hamilton has an arguably more difficult job that involves just as much work.

WTF? Hamilton has a drive in one of only four cars capable of winning the overall title and his races last about 2hr 30. Compare that to Cav who in the TDF started with approximatly 200 riders (hard to determine a % in with a chance of winning a particular stage) and raced for over a week for about 7hrs a day, including some nice big mountins to get over, yet still took 4 stage wins.

Don't get me wrong F1 drivers are fit guys and people like Prost and Webber have also stuck in quick times at bike races like the Etape and 24hr MTB, but to say Hamiltons job is more difficult is bizarre, it like comparing chalk and cheese.