c4countdown

Sports Personality is on this Sunday. I think Jensen Button will win.

I've gone for Button. I think the fact that he was unemployed three weeks before the start of the season says it all! He's always been one of the best drivers, but never had a good enough car to challenge, and he showed what he could do when given the chance. The race where he won the title was one of the finest drives i've seen in F1. Ryan Giggs would be a very worthy second, and I say that as an Arsenal fan!

As there's no comedy option I must abstain from voting.

In June I'd have argued for Button but imo toward the end he coasted toward the championship, Bazza was more than a match for him in the second half of the season. I've gone for Haye, it's been a while since we've had a great heavyweight champion and his match against the Empire friggin' State Building (okay then, Valuev) was epic.

Ben Wilson wrote:I've gone for Haye, it's been a while since we've had a great heavyweight champion and his match against the Empire friggin' State Building (okay then, Valuev) was epic.

You're the first person to describe that fight in that way other than the Haye camp! Truly one of the most boring boxing matches there has ever been! Valuev barely landed a punch and had the aggression of a sedated kitten!! No doubt that Haye is a great boxer though, but there are only two worthy opponents for him, and that's the Klitschko brothers. A Haye-Lewis fight would have been great.

Despite being a massive Formula 1 fan, I really hope Button doesn't win. I know it sounds silly, but if Hamilton didnt win it last year (when he should have done), then Button shouldn't win it this year. So I'm going to go for Giggs.

Steve Durney wrote:

Ben Wilson wrote:I've gone for Haye, [...] his match against the Empire friggin' State Building (okay then, Valuev) was epic.

You're the first person to describe that fight in that way other than the Haye camp! Truly one of the most boring boxing matches there has ever been!

Too right, I genuinely tried to watch that for a short while before just reading a review and skipping to the 12th round when I discovered the main highlight was an almost knock down.

I never really liked boxing before I was into MMA so I don't claim to have an overarching view, but it's certainly figures that once you get into MMA you'll never truly go back to boxing.
If boxing is a margherita pizza, MMA is a stonebaked margherita pizza with sweetcorn, red onion, oregano and a better thought out blend of cheeses.

I voted for Button but that was as much on "who will" rather than "who should" win it - he's gotta be a shoe-in, surely.

Haye won by default basically. Was a pretty weak performance. Going to look pretty bad if he gets voted Sports Personality then gets annihilated by someone who can a) throw a punch b) beat someone who throws one punch a round.

Button would be my choice. Won something big and has a personality.

Craig Beevers wrote:Haye won by default basically. Was a pretty weak performance. Going to look pretty bad if he gets voted Sports Personality then gets annihilated by someone who can a) throw a punch b) beat someone who throws one punch a round.

Button would be my choice. Won something big and has a personality.

Going to look pretty bad, though, if Button gets voted Sports Personality then gets annihilated by someone who can a) convincingly follow through on early season form, b) fulfil some second criteria which allows me to properly ape your post.

I picked Haye. In terms of personality, he can't be beaten. I'm not normally a fan of boxing, but his wrestling-style promos for the Valuev fight made me a fan of him. Plus he's a world champion and beat someone who'd never been beaten. I found the fight fascinating. I wasn't looking for it to be a classic slugfest. Haye did what he needed to do and I was happy with its freak show quality.

Steve Durney wrote:Ryan Giggs would be a very worthy second, and I say that as an Arsenal fan!

How would Ryan Giggs be a worthy second He has done nothing of any significant merit this season I still think it was a con that he won the PFA Player Of The Year Award.

Based on actual awards, Giggs, Murray & Cavendish should be ruled out altogether.

Award not made due to lack of a deserving recipient. Alternatively, Mark Cavendish, though he is actually Manx, not British. If that matters.

Jessica.

She should win IMO but probably won't. All that work and effort done on a shoe string and in such a variety of activities. A true athlete.

I would hate it to be a mere car driver whizzing about in a 'sport' that is all about money - or a man who's so called 'sport' involves potential severe damage both to himself and to his opponent. What does that tell us about our species that we watch that stuff. (and ,yes, I did it once)

John Bosley wrote:What does that tell us about our species that we watch that stuff. (and ,yes, I did it once)

That beating each other up is basically what we're designed for. That and breast feeding, which is harder to turn into a sport.

(PS Tell us more about your boxing exploits. Were you at school when it was a school sport?)

I had a boxing match once when i was a kid. I thought i was cool getting to wear the only pair of gloves we had between us while my opponent was forced to make do with cotton wrist bands over his knuckles, that is, until he hit me. Fight didn't last long from what i remember.

Button will probably win, but has always been overrated in my opinion. Even when he dominated the early part of the season, I didn't feel I was watching a great driver, just a car far more capable than anything else in the field. He really ought to have been punished for his poor second half performance. Lewis has so much more talent and is far more daring and watchable. I guess next season will settle this debate either way.

Jessica Ennis would get my vote; understated, but she wiped the floor with her competition at the Worlds. Even though I love Giggs, I can't understand why he's even on the list.

You shouldn't have asked me that Charlie, but I will try and stop while I am ahead (or 'behind' as my wife would say)

Yes it was a school sport and I did it for a few years. Once I actually got knocked out which was bit unusual - a blow to the temple (which made me into an atheist !)
I remember it well because the advance medical system involved me being taken to the staff room by Ma Bung, the geography teacher, and given a cup of tea. As I staggered down the pokey stairs from the staff room (that in itself was strange, as we never ever went to the staff room) I was stopped by George Partridge, the music teacher, and instead of going home I was 'dragged' into a classroom and given an impromptu music lesson on the trumpet - that I was just learning. If you ever blow on a trumpet, do it when you are not trying to recover from a KO - it is worse than the original blow.

I then boxed for the regiment during National Service because we got a larger relaxed breakfast after our training when the rest had gone off, practising to be soldiers. I lost my first 'big' fight and gave it up. All I got out of boxing was a gold cap to a broken tooth which has long since gone and the nickname 'Yingtong' - it being the Goon show cry from Spike Milligan - also gone.


I will stop now.

Is Phil Taylor not nominated this year?

Junaid Mubeen wrote:when he dominated the early part of the season, I didn't feel I was watching a great driver, just a car far more capable than anything else in the field. He really ought to have been punished for his poor second half performance.

A very good point. It was a hollow formula one season with this in mind and Brawn had a great advantage and had he not won the championship it would have been seen as a great failure.

I'm actually gona tip Giggs for the win, unlikely as it may seem. Such a quiet genius, he has constantly worked to improve his game and to come back from a period of injury through sheer hard work to produce some of the best football of his career in his 30s when the game has arguably increased in pace. As well as that he is a great role model in a sport full of twats. Did he break the record for premier league appearances for an outfield player yesterday? Two weeks after scoring his 100th goal? was voting still open yesterday?

Matthew Green wrote:Is Phil Taylor not nominated this year?

No, and he hasn't bothered to turn up to the ceremony either. He claims there's a conspiracy, because his tournaments are shown on Sky, hence he's only been nominated once, despite winning the World Championship 14 times.

I've had money on Button since March (got in at 8/1 - he's now 4/6 at best) so I hope he wins. However, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Giggs takes it down.

Forgot about this til now... g'man Giggsy.