SPOTY 2013

Nairnster

What a load of bollocks. The fact they made a point of someone being there to give that person the award gave it away. Fixed a bit methinks.

TheBigBean

and they must have had two trophies...

No_Ta_Doctor

ignore

Nairnster

TheBigBean wrote:

and they must have had two trophies...

Good point. Or they magiced it there after the phone lines closed.

Paul 8v

Well that's that then, he has about as much personality as a tea towel

secretsqirrel

Happy with that. Voted 1/2p, always good value

Paul 8v

It would have been brilliant seeing Wiggins have to hand the award to Froome, even now they have "Made up" :-)

afx237vi

Surprised and pleased to see Halfpenny in second place. Where did Froome come?

Richmond Racer

afx237vi wrote:

Surprised and pleased to see Halfpenny in second place. Where did Froome come?

6th

4th Farah
5th Ainslie
6th Froome

RichN95.

Murray winning was well deserved, I can't argue against it.

Halfpenny coming second was a bit a surprise, but he's had a great year and is immensely popular in Wales. So fair enough.

The one I have an issue with is McCoy. He's the third best rider in a sport that never leaves the British Isles. A winner of lots of 'sh!t small races'. He wins lots due to turning up more than anyone else. His record in big races is terrible. Ruby Walsh and Barry Geraghty stomp all over him. If his 4000th winner had been in February rather than when they were doing the nominations he wouldn't have made the list.

I feel sorry for Mo Farah more than Froome. What does Mo have to do to make the podium?

rick_chasey

Win the London marathon.

afx237vi

Rick Chasey wrote:

Win the London marathon.

Dressed as a rhino. I'd vote twice for that.

mroli

Murray won Wimbledon - job done, he deserved it.

Amazed Halfpenny came 2nd. Think the Lions achievement was overcooked - Australia by far the weakest of the traditional NZ/SA/AUS triumvirate at the moment.

If Mo wins the London Marathon - he'll win it.
If Ainslie wins the America's Cup with a British team - he'll win it.
If Rose wins 2 major golf championships in a year (and possibly the Ryder Cup) - he'll win it
McCoy has already won it

thomthom

Froome 6th?

Let's be honest. His whole season is 20 times the achivement than winning some tennis tournament.

Anonymous

ThomThom wrote:

Froome 6th?

Let's be honest. His whole season is 20 times the achievement than winning some tennis tournament.

Murray's final was just over 3 hours long, in the heat, and the short intense blasts that tennis requires it is still physically grueling. Each is a physical challenge in itself and deserves credit where due.

Remember it is a public vote, people knew Wiggin's because it was the first and the olymipcs, i'd say 60% of the public couldn't tell you who Chris Froome is.

wombly_knees

TheBigBean wrote:

Warren Gatland beats Sir Dave Brailsford and Ivan Lendl for coach of the year.

if they were handing awards to Kiwis, surely Robbie Deans should've received it for leaving the Wallabies in the shambles that they were.

wallace_and_gromit

ThomThom wrote:

Froome 6th?

Let's be honest. His whole season is 20 times the achivement than winning some tennis tournament.

Not to underplay Froome's achievements, but as a stage racer, if you're good enough, have a strong team, stay healthy and avoid crashing or inopportune mechanicals then you'll probably win. There's not a lot that can't be reasonably well controlled. The challenge, of course, is getting to be good enough.

In tennis, as it's "mano-a-mano" you have to be good enough and beat the other guy when it matters. Throw in the baggage of Murray's loss at Wimbledon the previous year and the weight of expectation (being the only Brit with an earthly chance of winning the "home" Grand Slam) and his victory really was an epic achievement.

John McEnroe once said that the pressure Tim Henman came under at Wimbledon was the most he'd ever seen experienced by an individual sportsman. And he never even made it to the final.

On a lighter note, it says something when a Chris Froome speech is one of the most lively of the evening!

mulletmaster

What is the big deal about a british isles dream team beating australia anyway? Sure England managed it on their own without Halfpenny?

whiteboytrash

ThomThom wrote:

Froome 6th?

Let's be honest. His whole season is 20 times the achivement than winning some tennis tournament.

In a sense I think it demonstrates the underlying skepticism held in regards to Froome's performances.

The British public appear to be holding a wait and see approach on Chris. 6th place is not encouraging.

ugo.santalucia

whiteboytrash wrote:

ThomThom wrote:

Froome 6th?

Let's be honest. His whole season is 20 times the achivement than winning some tennis tournament.

In a sense I think it demonstrates the underlying skepticism held in regards to Froome's performances.

The British public appear to be holding a wait and see approach on Chris. 6th place is not encouraging.

It's a popularity contest, Murray has been around for many years and people got behind him... Froome has appeared out of nowhere last year and only blossomed this year... give it time... people will get behind him if he keeps doing well. He needs to lose too, Brits and French love a good loser...
A bad day on the mountains will grant him more fans than another yellow jersey

RichN95.

whiteboytrash wrote:

In a sense I think it demonstrates the underlying skepticism held in regards to Froome's performances.

The British public appear to be holding a wait and see approach on Chris. 6th place is not encouraging.

It's because the winner was a certainty and he took almost all of the general vote, so the other positions were largely down to motivated fan bases (Welsh rugby fans and gamblers with each way action on McCoy). It's also an award which tends to reward those with several years of achievement behind them - as ugo syas, the established names.

If there was any specticism regarding Froome then it would have been in regards to his Britishness rather than his performances.

nic_77

whiteboytrash wrote:

ThomThom wrote:

Froome 6th?

Let's be honest. His whole season is 20 times the achivement than winning some tennis tournament.

In a sense I think it demonstrates the underlying skepticism held in regards to Froome's performances.

The British public appear to be holding a wait and see approach on Chris. 6th place is not encouraging.

So the landslide last year was conclusive proof that Wiggins' performances were beyond doubt?

I had no idea you could detect doping by phone vote.

mike6

ugo.santalucia wrote:

whiteboytrash wrote:

ThomThom wrote:

Froome 6th?

Let's be honest. His whole season is 20 times the achivement than winning some tennis tournament.

In a sense I think it demonstrates the underlying skepticism held in regards to Froome's performances.

The British public appear to be holding a wait and see approach on Chris. 6th place is not encouraging.

It's a popularity contest, Murray has been around for many years and people got behind him... Froome has appeared out of nowhere last year and only blossomed this year... give it time... people will get behind him if he keeps doing well. He needs to lose too, Brits and French love a good loser...
A bad day on the mountains will grant him more fans than another yellow jersey

I wondered when someone would try and raise a doping issue because Froome/Sky are involved. Get real. If that were the case how must the "skeptical" public feel about the performances of the athletes who finished 7th to 10th? :roll:

mroli

Although Christine Ohurugou was one of the athletes below Froome (insert smiley here).
As a matter of balance, I don't think anyone has accused Ian Bell of being doped, but having a vote as his team is getting stuffed out of sight in Oz is never going to win him SPOTY!

Stillnox

RichN95 wrote:

If there was any specticism regarding Froome then it would have been in regards to his Britishness rather than his performances.

I agree. Does Froome even have a house in England?

Murray's Wimbledon victory was huge. Froome being only sixth means cycling and England are not yet united as one.

Wiggins last year was something completely different, he allready was a multi - Olympic winner.

cougie

Whoever won Wimbledon for Britain was gonna walk SPOTY. Not done in decades.

Even if Wiggins had won the Tour this year - he'd not have won this award. It was special the first Brit to win the Tour.
Now its almost expected.

I reckon even if Murray wins Wimbledon next summer he's unlikely to get SPOTY again.

whiteboytrash

ugo.santalucia wrote:

whiteboytrash wrote:

ThomThom wrote:

Froome 6th?

Let's be honest. His whole season is 20 times the achivement than winning some tennis tournament.

In a sense I think it demonstrates the underlying skepticism held in regards to Froome's performances.

The British public appear to be holding a wait and see approach on Chris. 6th place is not encouraging.

It's a popularity contest, Murray has been around for many years and people got behind him... Froome has appeared out of nowhere last year and only blossomed this year... give it time... people will get behind him if he keeps doing well. He needs to lose too, Brits and French love a good loser...
A bad day on the mountains will grant him more fans than another yellow jersey

I don't disagree with what you write.

Considering most here believe Murray to be boring it says a lot what the thoughts are of the British public in regards to Froome. 6th place!

In a lot if ways the cycling fans of Froome are not good indication of the sentiment of the British public as a whole.

Agree that it's only a phone vote but it is in some ways a vote of confidence if people can believe in the sport or not. 6th place says not.

Maybe cycling has peaked in Britain?

nic_77

WBT you're in the US right? I would suggest it might not be possible to gauge a nation's opinion of an individual based on one TV show. Froome is significantly less well known than Wiggins given the influence of Olympic cycling on the average Brit's cycling knowledge.

Yellow Peril

Froome lost because winning the TdF was literally "last year" and two cyclists won it on the bounce before him.

Murray was always a shoe-in after 77 years or however long. I suspect if some other British geezer won Wimbledon next year they wouldn't be a dead cert for SPOTY.

It really is about winning stuff not won before or for a really long time. If it was World Cup year next year and England won it and someone scored a hatrick they'd be my pick

salsiccia1

Stillnox wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

If there was any specticism regarding Froome then it would have been in regards to his Britishness rather than his performances.

I agree. Does Froome even have a house in England?

Murray's Wimbledon victory was huge. Froome being only sixth means cycling and England are not yet united as one.

Wiggins last year was something completely different, he allready was a multi - Olympic winner.

Point of order, sir - Britain =/= England.

As you were.