Sports Personality of the Year

gtvlusso

Does anyone else get a reward when they do reasonably well at work?

Actors?
Sports?
Marketing?

Seriously - are there the good manager, good engineer rewards? or should we all just basque in our anonymity and the odd reminder that we may or may not get a bonus.....

In other news, it will be cricket....

I was very surprised when Zara Philips got the sports personality award, although she competes in a sport, she has sweet FA personality.....

asprilla

gtvlusso wrote:

Does anyone else get a reward when they do reasonably well at work?

Actors?
Sports?
Marketing?

Seriously - are there the good manager, good engineer rewards? or should we all just basque in our anonymity and the odd reminder that we may or may not get a bonus.....

In other news, it will be cricket....

I was very surprised when Zara Philips got the sports personality award, although she competes in a sport, she has sweet FA personality.....

Of course there are award ceremonies for all these people. They just don't make very good television.


Oh, wait.....

bigmat

TailWindHome wrote:

I'm considering starting a thread in the Cake Stop forum asking where I could buy a World Champions jersey for the club run...


Too much?

If you do, make sure you specify a Team Sky one, to go with all your other Sky kit!

tailwindhome

Keith1983 wrote:

I'm not exactly sure what the criteria is for SPOTY? We've had people in the past win it that haven't actually won anything major and we've had people who are clearly socially inept. Cav would buck the trend and actually be a likeable sports personality who has actually won the big prizes in the sport which he partakes, but I don't think enough people know him and unfortunately the voters turn it into a daft popularity contest!

According to the good people at Wikipedia it is ...."Awarded to the sportsperson "whose actions have most captured the public's imagination"



Many cycling fans don't actually find Cav that likeable.

rick_chasey

BigMat wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

I'm considering starting a thread in the Cake Stop forum asking where I could buy a World Champions jersey for the club run...


Too much?

If you do, make sure you specify a Team Sky one, to go with all your other Sky kit!

Do it.

shm_uk

According to the good people at Wikipedia it is ...."Awarded to the sportsperson "whose actions have most captured the public's imagination"

That might be what SPOTY aspires to represent, but in reality it'll be the sports person who's sport has the biggest fan base &/or who the media made the biggest song and dance about (therefore who the public remember best) .

I don't think Cav has quite captured the imagination of the British public in the same was as Chris Hoy (SPOTY winner 2008). Maybe he can if he wins something at the Olympics next year though.

spen666

shm_uk wrote:

According to the good people at Wikipedia it is ...."Awarded to the sportsperson "whose actions have most captured the public's imagination"

That might be what SPOTY aspires to represent, but in reality it'll be the sports person who's sport has the biggest fan base &/or who the media made the biggest song and dance about (therefore who the public remember best) .
......

Sadly, the facts do not support that.

In 50+ years only 5 footballers have won the title despite it being by far the most popular sport (angling excluded)

17 winners have been athletes yet it is a very minority sport

lostboysaint

spen666 wrote:

shm_uk wrote:

[
17 winners have been athletes yet it is a very minority sport

In terms of participation yes, in terms of coverage no. It gets a disproportionate amount of tv coverage so is therefore lodged in the public mind.

gtvlusso

spen666 wrote:

shm_uk wrote:

According to the good people at Wikipedia it is ...."Awarded to the sportsperson "whose actions have most captured the public's imagination"

That might be what SPOTY aspires to represent, but in reality it'll be the sports person who's sport has the biggest fan base &/or who the media made the biggest song and dance about (therefore who the public remember best) .
......

Sadly, the facts do not support that.

In 50+ years only 5 footballers have won the title despite it being by far the most popular sport (angling excluded)

17 winners have been athletes yet it is a very minority sport

Perhaps athletes are more articulate than footballers......and the BBC bows to the intellectual sports enthusiast....

jonny_trousers

gtvlusso wrote:

Does anyone else get a reward when they do reasonably well at work?

Actors?
Sports?
Marketing?

Seriously - are there the good manager, good engineer rewards? or should we all just basque in our anonymity and the odd reminder that we may or may not get a bonus.....

In other news, it will be cricket....

I was very surprised when Zara Philips got the sports personality award, although she competes in a sport, she has sweet FA personality.....

There are seemingly award ceremonies for every flipping profession under the sun. I have been employed to work at many of them - the annual insurance underwriters awards and the truck haulage awards being two particular favourites.

spen666

gtvlusso wrote:

[....
Perhaps athletes are more articulate than footballers......and the BBC bows to the intellectual sports enthusiast....

They are voted for by the public, not the BBC


Every year there is a footballer or two in the running, but public do not vote for them, usually


Are bedroom gymnastics a sport? If so, it could be Ryan Giggs again

prawny

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

gtvlusso wrote:

Does anyone else get a reward when they do reasonably well at work?

Actors?
Sports?
Marketing?

Seriously - are there the good manager, good engineer rewards? or should we all just basque in our anonymity and the odd reminder that we may or may not get a bonus.....

In other news, it will be cricket....

I was very surprised when Zara Philips got the sports personality award, although she competes in a sport, she has sweet FA personality.....

There are seemingly award ceremonies for every flipping profession under the sun. I have been employed to work at many of them - the annual insurance underwriters awards and the truck haulage awards being two particular favourites.

Oi!

I'll have you know I'm a haulage fleet insurance underwriter, I deserve a spectacular ceremony! 8)

joelsim

It's got nothing to do with personality, it's all about who has done well, got the best media coverage to the largest audience. That's why I will be very surprised if Cav wins it as pretty much no-one outside of this forum has heard of him.

asprilla

Joelsim wrote:

It's got nothing to do with personality, it's all about who has done well, got the best media coverage to the largest audience. That's why I will be very surprised if Cav wins it as pretty much no-one outside of this forum has heard of him.

He was 4th in 2009 and again last year. That's not bad and his profile is much bigger this year.

Given that around 600,000 votes tend to be taken between the 10 short listed then it's doesn't take much of a campaign to swing it.

gtvlusso

spen666 wrote:

gtvlusso wrote:

[....
Perhaps athletes are more articulate than footballers......and the BBC bows to the intellectual sports enthusiast....

They are voted for by the public, not the BBC


Every year there is a footballer or two in the running, but public do not vote for them, usually


Are bedroom gymnastics a sport? If so, it could be Ryan Giggs again

And the BBC then tailors the result to give a more introspective view.........maybe not!

Ultimately, who picks the candidates?

The stats you have provided are surprising considering footballs massive coverage and the fan devotion, perhaps some of them are dialling pad illiterate.....

joelsim

I hadn't heard of him this time last year, and read a lot about sport in general.

A large proportion of the voters will have no idea who he is.

mtb-idle

I may be being cynical but i think Cav's chances are greatly improved by the fact that the World Chamionships were shown on BBC.

And he deserves it too.

mtb-idle

Mouth wrote:

...Scholes? When's the last time you saw his face in the papers for anything except football? In this day and age for someone who plays the most followed sport in the world both on and off the pitch this is an incredible feat.

That's what they were saying about Giggsy last year and look what happened to him. :oops:

Gussio

Joelsim wrote:

I hadn't heard of him this time last year, and read a lot about sport in general.

A large proportion of the voters will have no idea who he is.

He made the news every day he won a stage of the tour, including front page. I think that you are underestimating how well he is known by the British public. Hope so anyway: he deserves to win SPOTY this year.

NGale

Joelsim wrote:

It's got nothing to do with personality, it's all about who has done well, got the best media coverage to the largest audience. That's why I will be very surprised if Cav wins it as pretty much no-one outside of this forum has heard of him.

Not strictly true, even the 'casual' observers at the ToB in Exeter knew who Cav was. The slightly less causal fat woman stood near me certinally made it known that she knew who he was

joelsim

NGale wrote:

Joelsim wrote:

It's got nothing to do with personality, it's all about who has done well, got the best media coverage to the largest audience. That's why I will be very surprised if Cav wins it as pretty much no-one outside of this forum has heard of him.

Not strictly true, even the 'casual' observers at the ToB in Exeter knew who Cav was. The slightly less causal fat woman stood near me certinally made it known that she knew who he was

Not sure that using spectators at the ToB is a particularly robust segmentation of society.

oscarbudgie

There is a precedent - Tom Simpson won SPOTY and the Sports Writers Award after he won the Worlds in 1965. Sadly the judges in those days were chosen because they understood sport and recognised achievement (even in a very obscure sport such as cycling was in the 60s) Nowadays the only the qualification needed to be a judge is having a quid to make a phone call.

Wallace1492

Is it not the turn of snooker or darts to have a SPOTY? Huge following, immensly skillful athletes.......

asprilla

Wallace1492 wrote:

Is it not the turn of snooker or darts to have a SPOTY? Skillful following, immensly huge athletes.......

Fixed that for you.

notsoblue

oscarbudgie wrote:

There is a precedent - Tom Simpson won SPOTY and the Sports Writers Award after he won the Worlds in 1965. Sadly the judges in those days were chosen because they understood sport and recognised achievement (even in a very obscure sport such as cycling was in the 60s) Nowadays the only the qualification needed to be a judge is having a quid to make a phone call.

Thats democracy, baby! 8)

shm_uk

If there was a SPOTY category for the 'sport' that requires the use/movement of the fewest number of body parts then Darts would be entitled for a nomination.

I move more when I'm asleep.

asprilla

shm_uk wrote:

If there was a SPOTY category for the 'sport' that requires the use/movement of the fewest number of body parts then Darts would be entitled for a nomination.

I move more when I'm asleep.

Depends what you mean by 'use'. They push their livers to the limits of human endurance.