SPOTY 2012

First topic message reminder :


Lets move away from the usual who is doping and who is not.

On a more positive note. Who do you think will win SPOTY 2012.

The main contenders are:

Jess Ennis

MO Farah

Bradley Wiggins

Andy Murray (if he wins the US open)

David Weir

Ben Ainslie

Sarah Storey

Gerg Rutherford

Ellie Simmonds

Chris Hoy

Wayne Rooney

Frankel

Has there ever been such a deep feel of contenders.

My top 4 are: Jess, Wiggo, MO and Murray.

I think Jess might just clinch it.










Wayne Rooney/Frankel ..... Just kidding

As a few above have already commented, the best sporting year for Great Britain that any of us have seen (or are likely to see in the foreseeable future). All we need now is for the cricketers to rediscover their form of the last 2 or 3 years...

Wiggins - Tour de France Champion, Olympic ITT champion, winner of 3 major one week stage races, world #1 ranked road cyclist

Murray - USO Champion, Wimbledon runner up, Olympics singles champion and mixed doubles runner up. Before the summer, he was having a slightly disappointing season by his standards

McIlroy - US PGA champion, won 4 tournaments in the US (3 of his last 4), clearly #1 ranked player and dates Caroline Wozniacki

Olympics - Too many high points to mention them all, but special mention to Mo (superb double gold) and to the track cyclists (only one rider in the team didn't take at least one gold medal, and 3 of them won two golds). Oh, and Ben Ainslie for taking gold for a 73rd consecutive games...

For SPOTY, I still put Wiggins just ahead of Murray with Mo 3rd, but it depends what happens for the rest of the year.

I think Ainslie deserves a special mention

GSC wrote:...The first brit to win TDF looks like its just going to make the edge.

Nicole Cooke 2006
Nicole Cooke 2007
Emma Pooley 2009
2010 not held
2011 not held
2012 not held

Reminded me of that sexism twitter account I found yesterday lol

McIlroy should be in with a shout if he plays a large part in winning the Ryder Cup and wins the Fed Ex cup.

Nore Staat wrote:

GSC wrote:...The first brit to win TDF looks like its just going to make the edge.

Nicole Cooke 2006
Nicole Cooke 2007
Emma Pooley 2009
2010 not held
2011 not held
2012 not held

Yeah cos women's cycling is so popular, they don't even hold it anymore

In all fairness, the biggest stage race in women's cycling has always really been the Giro Donne.

Giro Donne
2004 Nicole Cooke (GBR)

Emma Pooley considers ending her cycling career aged 29
Pooley has been a leading voice in urging the International Cycling Union (UCI) to raise the profile of women's racing and is also concerned about the inequality in prize money between the sexes.

"If I was a male cyclist, I wouldn't have to work after I finish cycling," she said. "It's a bit like football. The wages are much higher, not at all levels, but, at the level I've got to in women's cycling, the disparity in pay is quite incredible."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/19556710

Emma who?

Wiggins
Murray
Mo or Ennis.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:Emma who?

Think that's the point she's making really.

The fact that you don't know who she is doesn't actually make her less of a bike rider.

Nore Staat wrote:Emma Pooley considers ending her cycling career aged 29
Pooley has been a leading voice in urging the International Cycling Union (UCI) to raise the profile of women's racing and is also concerned about the inequality in prize money between the sexes.

"If I was a male cyclist, I wouldn't have to work after I finish cycling," she said. "It's a bit like football. The wages are much higher, not at all levels, but, at the level I've got to in women's cycling, the disparity in pay is quite incredible."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/19556710

Same crap the women tennis players came out with. Worked for them.

Earn what you're worth now bore off.

I think Wiggins will edge it, with Mo 2nd and Murray 3rd. Ennis pushed into 4th with Ellie Simmonds in 5th.

TopHat24/7 wrote:

Same crap the women tennis players came out with. Worked for them.

Earn what you're worth now bore off.

It's not really anything like that, and it's certainly not what she's saying.

She's not saying that she should earn as much as the men, but she is saying that the UCI should work more to help raise the profile of women's cycling. The UCI do a lot of stuff to raise the profile of men's cycling, but the women not so much.

There's big difference between asking/hoping for equal pay and liking the governing body to put in equal work to promote both men's and women's cycling.

djlovesyou wrote:

TopHat24/7 wrote:

Same crap the women tennis players came out with. Worked for them.

Earn what you're worth now bore off.

It's not really anything like that, and it's certainly not what she's saying.

She's not saying that she should earn as much as the men, but she is saying that the UCI should work more to help raise the profile of women's cycling. The UCI do a lot of stuff to raise the profile of men's cycling, but the women not so much.

There's big difference between asking/hoping for equal pay and liking the governing body to put in equal work to promote both men's and women's cycling.

Really? Pretty much the entire quote is about pay inequality?? That said I haven't read through the thread in its entireity so may have missed something.

She can try and get the profile raised all she wants, it'll never draw parity. All this forced equality Love sacks really narks me, falsely engineering a situation that wouldn't/doesn't occur naturally. The tennis pay issue was ridiculous.

This is a bit different to the tennis discussion though. A male cyclist of her level probably earns high 6 figures a year (Some over a million). She'll be lucky to get a livable wage. That's a bit different from the symbolic gap of a couple of percent in tennis that oddly nobody against equal prizemoney complained about before there was parity.

Sponsors of teams have to earn their money, but the primary focus of the UCI should not be financial but for the benefit of the sport itself. They're essentially letting the women's side of things die, while promoting the hell out of the men's side of things in the far east and elsewhere.