Sports personality of the year

[Boomstick]

Gotta be Tyson fury, surely.
Nothing short of phenomenal what he's got over and achieved.
Inspirational .

[wilts rover]

I would expect Geraint Thomas will be in with a shout.

[mushRTID]

Herbie Kane

[drfchound]

Could be Harry Kane on the back of England’s World Cup campaign.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Aye. A hatfull of goals against Tunisia and Panama. Should be a shoo-in.

[drfchound]

Yeah, lets not give an England player any praise eh.

[Draytonian III]

Tyson Fury,inspirational, for being a coke head and getting banned by his sport for 2 years !!!

[BillyStubbsTears]

Just a bit of perspective Hound, that's all.

[drfchound]

Just a bit of perspective Hound, that's all.

Who do you think should win it then BST.

[drfchound]

Aye. A hatfull of goals against Tunisia and Panama. Should be a shoo-in.

I just looked on three online bookies sites, two have Harry Kane as favourite and on the other he was second favourites behind Geraint Thomas.

Maybe my suggestion isn’t so bad after all.

[BillyStubbsTears]

I'm not saying he won't win it Hound. I'm saying it would be a bit embarrassing if he did. If our expectations are really that low that the best sportsman we have is the captain of a team that came fourth in the world.

Geraint Thomas is the obvious one.

[Bentley Bullet]

I'd have thought Liam Mandeville would be on the shortlist.

 

[Boomstick]

Tyson Fury,inspirational, for being a coke head and getting banned by his sport for 2 years !!!

Suffered mental health problems, almost suicidal, and ballooned in weight.
Sought help, got rid of his demons, got his life back on track and returned to the elite level of world boxing.
Then donated his entire purse to charity, all 8 million pounds of it.

Yes, he's an inspiration.
No contest.

[Boomstick]

I would expect Geraint Thomas will be in with a shout.

Maybe runner-up

[RoversAlias]

Thomas would probably win it for me.

Fury wouldn't be on the shortlist at all.

Harry Kane? He was basically the face of England's memorable World Cup run. I suppose Southgate has a great shout of being Coach of the Year.

[roversdude]

Probably Lewis Hamilton competing in a sport that’s open to all

[drfchound]

I'm not saying he won't win it Hound. I'm saying it would be a bit embarrassing if he did. If our expectations are really that low that the best sportsman we have is the captain of a team that came fourth in the world.

Geraint Thomas is the obvious one.

Before the World Cup, generally, people were doing the usual slagging off of the England team, saying that they had little chance of going beyond the QF stage.
There were plenty of posters on here who stated that opinion too.

In truth, England did very well and weren’t too far away from actually making it to the Final.

Far from being the joke team that their detractors had suggested they would be, the team provided our best World Cup showing for many years.

Harry Kane was the Captain of that team and was one of the most inspirational players in it.

England finishing as fourth best in the World was a better outcome than most people thought they could ever have achieved.

Why wouldn’t he be a good shout to win the Sports personality of the year award.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Because in a country that has pride in its sport, you give prominence to sports people who have utterly excelled, not ones who have done a bit better than they were expected to do.

And again. Perspective. England beat Tunisia, Panama, Colombia and Sweden.

England lost three matches against genuinely world-class sides.

[Bentley Bullet]

I'm not sure if we are a country that has pride in its sport. The English media have been known to much malign success, yet glorify losers. For instance, Steve Davis, when he was the best snooker player in the world was called 'Boring' by the press, yet Eddie 'the eagle' Edwards, the rubbish skier, was a hero. Frank Bruno was a hero before he became World Champion, then he was ridiculed after he did!

[BillyStubbsTears]

I think you're saying that we have a peculiarly unpleasant popular press in this country BB.

I entirely agree.

[Bentley Bullet]

I think you're saying that we have a peculiarly unpleasant popular press in this country BB.

I entirely agree.

Yes, I am BST, and the pressure it's brought on our sportspeople has been detrimental to their success.

[nightporter]

Probably Lewis Hamilton competing in a sport that’s open to all

Hamilton started in karts paid for and repaired by his dad, he had dreams of formula 1 and made it, same as an 8 year old playing football in the park dreaming of playing in the world cup.

[BillyStubbsTears]

BB

I agree.

[Glyn_Wigley]

If anyone from the England World Cup squad were to get it, I'd rather it went to Jordan Pickford. He really blossomed in the tournament and did a lot better than people thought he would, he deserves it the most.

[drfchound]

Because in a country that has pride in its sport, you give prominence to sports people who have utterly excelled, not ones who have done a bit better than they were expected to do.

And again. Perspective. England beat Tunisia, Panama, Colombia and Sweden.

England lost three matches against genuinely world-class sides.

BST, in your last two sentences you are doing exactly what you say our Press people do.

Also, since the World Cup we have beaten some world class sides, including Croatia and not in a friendly either.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Hound.
No I'm stating facts. Those sentences aren't opinions. They are the context in which opinions are formed.

And yes, we have beaten Spain and Croatia, and that's great. But we weren't able to beat a genuinely world class side at the most important moment.

This is my opinion.
Had we made the final and lost narrowly, and had Kane really excelled against top class sides then yes, I'd agree he'd be top of the list. But we didnt. And he didn't.

[drfchound]

BST

Kane is at the top of the list of favourites on quite a few betting sites to win the award.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Hound.

I daresay he is. That doesn't change my opinion that it would be rather embarrassing to give it to him.

[drfchound]

So for the second time I will ask you, who do you consider to be the best person to win then.

[The Red Baron]

Give it to James Coppinger. A decent, humble sports person who is actually a personality, unlike Hamilton. Otherwise Alistair Cook, who is a similar person.