Sports Personality 2017

[forestfan]

Eddie Hall - Worlds Strongest Man 2017.

Wonder if he will get a mention.

Is this a spoiler for Christmas TV? If so didn't realise they film it this early in the year...

Quite an achievement to beat "The Mountain" and the American bloke who usually wins it these days... not sure if regarded as a "sport" though and nobody will see it on TV until after SPoTY!

[Ashers]

Eddie Hall - Worlds Strongest Man 2017.

Wonder if he will get a mention.

Is this a spoiler for Christmas TV? If so didn't realise they film it this early in the year...

Quite an achievement to beat "The Mountain" and the American bloke who usually wins it these days... not sure if regarded as a "sport" though and nobody will see it on TV until after SPoTY!

Yeah, happened this week and he retired from WSM after the event. The Mountain came 2nd team again.

[unc.si.]

Well Froome wins his 4th Tour de France, which pretty much marks him down as one of the greatest Grand Tour riders of all time.

Will he remain Britains least loved sporting great? Probably tbh, although surely he's got to get onto the shortlist.

At some point though, given that there aren't that many challengers and he's quite likely to go on and win more TdF's, there surely has to be a tipping point where people have to vote for him.
What happens if he wins 6 and becomes the most successful TdF rider of all time (assuming we don't count Armstrong). Surely he'd have to win then (although I'm not convinced he would).

Mind you, I don't suppose he really cares. He's probably never even heard of it

[juckster]

I agree Unc, however, he's not as popular rider in the Sport as say Wiggins, Indurain, Merxx etc and as we've said in the past - the general UK population (or at least those who will vote) don't seem to warm to him like they did Wiggins. Peaty could be in with a shout, not sure if there's any more major swim meets left this year - but he's definitely a popular personality.

[Striker]

Can't disagree with the last two posts. Even if not true of any individual year, and that's a big if, he is unequivocally the best at what he does over the last five years. Which other British sportsman about whom this could be said wouldn't be right up there. That simply shows that he's not popular and that achievement is only one criteria in the popular vote. However it is arguably disgraceful that a panel of so called experts doesn't even include him in the list of candidates which they put forward for the public to vote on, as that list should be based on achievement and not who your mates are.

Clearly there is an element who regard him as a "plastic Brit". But at least, unlike several other candidates, he's had a British passport from birth.

[juckster]

Peaty just bettered (is that a word ?) his own World Record in the 50m Breaststroke.

He's 50/1 on Skybet

[unc.si.]

He's got the potential to go under 26 for the 50 and under 57 for the 100, which would be a huge achievement.
He's got to be better than a 50/1 shot, although the Worlds aren't as SPOTY friendly as the Olympics.

[juckster]

Skybet now 33/1, 16/1 most other bookies.

But, yes, it's not the Olympics.

[unc.si.]

Just looked on paddypower and yes, he's showing as 16/1 there.

Defoe is 2nd favourite???

Because of the kid with Leukaemia I guess?

[Footy66]

It's only these 5 that have a chance of winning IM0.

Joshua 1/2
Froome 16-1
Farah 22-1
Hamilton 25-1
Phil Taylor 100-1


It's difficult. I'd guess that if Joshua fights Klitchko again and wins, then he'd highly likely win SPOTY.

Froome and Farah are similar in the sense they weren't born in the UK, as well as having personalities that don't particularly connect with the British public. It's interesting now they have both built up their legendary stature, that will help them, as well as the fact it seems there isn't as much competition for SPOTY as there has been in recent years.

I was thinking that Lewis Hamilton is value at 25-1, but I'm not sure. My gut says that the British public would more likely vote for Lewis in a vote off between him, Farah, and Froome. Lewis did not do well in the voting after his title in 2015. I'd guess this was because he won SPOTY the previous year, 2015 was an easy win for him, and there was a lot of British sporting success that year. Maybe a key point is - he beat both Farah and Froome in the vote that year. Also this year he could have a close, exciting battle with Vettel. So IMO I'd personally put him 2nd in the odds, not 4th like some bookies have him.

Phil Taylor - not a follower of darts, but aware of Taylor's legendary status, and aware of him finishing 2nd in the SPOTY vote a few years or so back. I believe he is in with a chance of winning a dart major this weekend? Could be a dark horse, currently at 100-1.

[murf]

Laura Muir 25/1

Cracking value. A gold and nationalistic votes.....

Outsider but not that far out.

[maradonash]

Phil Taylor 100-1

Taylor's price now generally into 33/1.
I can't see it happening though.

When he made the shortlist in 2010, he'd'won the Worlds in Jan and a further 6 titles throughout the year.
Yes, he could get a good share of the public vote...but I don't think he's done anywhere near enough to make the shortlist.

Similarly, Defoe. People could massively get behind the whole Bradley thing in a vote.
But, despite the name of the award, you don't just make the shortlist for being a bloody nice bloke. I suspect he may get recognition in some other form on the evening.

For what it's worth, here''s my current best guess at names likely to feature on the 2017 shortlist :

Anthony Joshua
Mo Farah
Chris Froome
Adam Peaty
Joahnna Konta
An English ladies cricketer (Shrubsole, Sciver or Taylor)
Kadeena Cox
Johnnie Peacock
Lucy Bronze
Moeen Ali
Lewis Hamilton (if wins the world title)
Andy Murray (if wins the US Open)

Can't see past Joshua winning it. Probably got 90,000 votes to begin with!

A top 3 finish for Konta and/or Farah would do me fine.

[Judio]

Froome may get a podium finish now (But I guess they will have to host the show abroad for him to show up )

But Joshua still 9 to 4 on

Froome 6 to 1

Defoe 3rd favourite (Really ??)

Then Farah
Then Lewis Hamilton

Phil Taylor

Adam Peaty

Then a stream of female stars from Rugby Cricket and Football

[blahblah]

Yep to Defoe re the kid with Cancer "his best mate".

[Judio]

But he has to get a nomination first.

The Panel decide the 10 who you can vote for

[Judio]

Why not give him the Helen Rolleston award.

That would be more suitable.

The main award is for a Sporting achievement

[murf]

The panel was brought in after the Giggs farce I believe. Should stop a Defoe nomination

Is it necessary for 'acheivement'? Should be but technically it is for being a 'personality'...

PS Froome and Mo by a mile for me - but.....

[Striker]

If Froome doesn't get it now, the British public are totally devoid of sound judgement, showing that the Little Britain mob are alive and well. It would be a similar "emotion over reason" victory that led to the disastrous Brexit vote.

If Joshua knocks out Pulev after dominating the fight, his overall achievement would still pale in historical terms compared to Froome who is now very close to the all time cycling greats. Joshua very close to Ali, gimme a break!

Even on the personality scale, he's miles ahead of Mansell, and that didn't stop Mansell winning SPOTY.

Furthermore even if Joshua wins well, I'd still have Mo ahead of him.

[Striker]

The whole Defoe thing is inappropriate but it sums up much of what is wrong with the world today, and especially football. The higher echelon of the football world is dominated by money and that doesn't sit well with its frequent over-sentimentalising of sad events and deaths. The whole Defoe and his best friend story is part of this.

Defoe has acted admirably throughout bringing some joy to the suffering little boy, but it's the type of thing that should be largely private between Jermain, Bradley, the Lowery family, hospital staff etc. Not splashed over the media for the benefit of anyone bar those intimately involved.

[murf]

We need a like button for those last 2 posts....

[golden bear]

SPOTY loses all credibility.

[quizking]

Having looked through LOTS of commentary on the interwebs about this result, the most pertinent comment seems (to me) to be that neither Joshua or Hamilton compete in sports currently available on the BBC, or even regularly on free-to-air channels. I've seen allegations of interference from Russia, block voting from northern ireland and superbike followers (actually that's quite likely), and relief from many that they didn't back Joshua at 1/100 to finish in the top three. Chaotic BBC show, with more screen time spent on rag'n'bone man's keyboard player than footage of sportspeople who died this year, and lipreaders will know what Paula Radcliffe's husband thought of the result.
On the plus side, Mo Farah's win will infuriate the daily mail.

[murf]

Sorry, what on earth is wrong with Mo winning??? Well deserved in my book.

Except in the eyes of racists.

[golden bear]

Farah beats Froome in battle of the drug cheats.
Joshua should have won easily.

[forestfan]

Yeah, long overdue and only surprising because of his underperformance in the vote in previous years. I think it’s his son that swung it for him though!

Very surprising that Joshua didn’t make the top three, even though his big fight was PPV it had a massive public profile and was probably the sporting event and achievement of the year. Maybe his time will come when he sends gobshite Fury packing...

The others on the podium were questionable though, Peacock must have benefited from Strictly name recognition, and as for Rea who I had to think for a few minutes who he is, the niche sport block vote is becoming an issue, the winner has to be someone who is a household name and reaches beyond their sport’s dedicated fans. (And has Superbikes really had any global prestige since the days of Fogarty et al?)

[Ashers]

What’s has Joshua done this year to win?

Two fights - one vs a man past his best and the other which most heavyweights would have beat.

Joshua needs to unify the division to be a worthy winner.

[Edmondson]

Bit harsh Murf?

Mo was the guy who sat there after the documentary aired about Salazar and said he was going to head back to Oregon and ask his coach about the allegations. Utterly astonishing admission from someone that would have been fully aware of the content pre broadcast.

[forestfan]

Farah beats Froome in battle of the drug cheats.
Joshua should have won easily.

And when did Farah fail a drug test? Or is it just presumed guilt by association, in which case we should just ban athletics and cycling from the awards completely?

If he is exposed as a cheat at some point in the future then he will presumably be stripped of this anyway. And a motorcyclist who 95% of the country wouldn’t recognise if he walked down the street would take his place on the roll of honour...

[Edmondson]

Froome still got more votes than the last 4 combined - who were all the female athletes put forward.

Make of that what you will.

[golden bear]

What’s has Joshua done this year to win.

Had a winning personality, that’s the point isn’t it?