
Love how all twitter commentary treats global sporting success as merely a means to #SPOTY end. Uniquely British irony?
— Robert Sharp रॉबट शारप (@robertsharp59) December 16, 2012
I want to draw attention to something particular regarding the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award 2012. It’s best encapsulated in this tweet from Sunder Katwala, who is director of the British Future thinktank:
Difficult to see what more Rory McIlroy could have done for #SPOTY bid; apart from doing it in a non-Olympic year
— Sunder Katwala (@sundersays) December 16, 2012
I love the suggestion that sports people might ‘bid’ for the Sports Personality of the Year trophy, as if it is an Oscar nomination or Presidential campaign that must be plotted and strategised years in advance. The humour lies in the idea that winning a world championship or a gold medal is simply a false peak, a means to an end, with the ultimate pinnacle actually being that little trophy of an old-style TV camera, on a polished wooden stand. Continue reading “British Humour, Under Achievement, and the Sports Personality of the Year”