Sunday 14 December 2008

My sporting review of the year

It's the end of the year, which can only mean one thing, filler! Yeah it's the end of the year sporting review, well awards, as made up by me.

Best Sporting Event - The Olympics, well it couldn't really be anything else now could it? 2 weeks of solid sport and British over achievement. And we finished above the aussies!

Best Sporting Event I was actually there for - Super League Grand Final. Brilliant stuff, with Leeds Rhinos winning against all the odds. Everybody already had the Red and White Ribbons of St Helens on the trophy but Leeds had other ideas and the atmosphere was electric.

British Sporting person of the year- Well it could be any of the cyclists really couldn't it but I'm going to go for Chris Hoy. Don't really need to say more because the BBC said it all tonight.

Foreign Sports Star of the Year -Usain Bolt, no matter what Phelps did, he didn't jog the 100 metres in 9.69 seconds did he? Bolt made it look so easy, set 3 world records in the process. He won all that he could win (just like Phelps) but he did it with more style.

Team of the Year - GB Cycling team. They dominated the world of track cycling like no other British team has dominated a sport. All but one person (poor old Cav) won a medal at the Olympics, we won more medals on the track at the Olympics than everybody else put together. Shows the way forward for the rest of our sports, invest in the best and train them and they will give you the results.

Comeback of the year - Has to be Wiggins and Super Cav in the Madison. Needing to gain a lap to have any chance of winning the title with just 20 laps to go they stormed back to gain the lap and win the gold. The Manchester Velodrome was on fire (well looked like it on the telly anyway) and it set the tone for the year.

Worst Team of the year - England RL team. They went down under full of confidence, only to scrape past PNG, be destroyed by the Aussies, throw away a 20 point lead against the Kiwis and then make a string of basic mistakes to rob themselves of a place in the final. The players made mistakes that they would never do playing for their clubs. It was embarrassing.

The "It couldn't happen to a nicer team award" - Basically put, the award for a team that is the most arrogant and they lost and it was fun to watch them lose. Before I get to the winner, honourable mention to the Ferrari F1 Team for their reaction after the last race of the championship, classic. Also an honourable mention to the St Helens team before the Grand Final, despite talking about how they weren't going to go into the match thinking they had already won it, the reaction of James Graham scoring the first try showed the truth. However the award has to go to the Aussies RL Team. We were told they were the greatest team that had ever played the sport, they walked their way to the final and yet they lost in their own backyard. Brilliant stuff.

The Personality of the year award- Not like the BBC one, this goes to a sports star that has a personality and it has to go to Mark Cavendish. After winning 4 stages of the Tour, every interview was a joy to listen to. A Brit with confidence! He knows he is good, he knows he is the best but he is the right side of the confident/arrogance line.

Most predictable story of the year - Positive drug tests in the Tour De France. This is threatening to destroy the sport and the teams need to act now to cut it out or the tour will die.

Most surprising story of the year - Lance Armstrong announce his comeback. WTF! Why risk ruining the legend.

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