[The Rake]

The shortlist for BBC Sports Personality* of the Year with Mark Cavendish making the Top 10. Viewers of the show in December can then vote for one of the ten. The list is drawn up by editors of 27 newspapers and magazines (with only the Manchester Evening News, the Daily Star and Zoo not rating him**).

The Top 10 (including votes cast) is:

1 Rory McIlroy 27
2 Darren Clarke 26
3 Mo Farah 25
4 Mark Cavendish 23
5 Alastair Cook 17
6 Dai Greene 17
7 Andrew Strauss 14
8 Andy Murray 14
9 Luke Donald 11
10 Amir Khan 7

Puts Cav in 4th so far, but expect the golf voters to split (as indeed the N. Ireland contingent).

Some fury at the lack of women included. For the record, Kerri Ann Payne was 13th, Rebecca Adlington 14th and iron woman Chrissie Wellington 20th. Top footballer was 21st.

So, Cav has a chance to become the third cyclist to win the award.

* - term used loosely as Nigel Mansell and Greg Rusedski have both won in the past, neither of whom you would probably want to sit next to at a dinner party

** - for those not in the know, Zoo is basically an excuse for t*t photos, the Star calls itself a newspaper but is a daily equivalent of Nuts, and the MEN voted for Dimitar Berbatov.....)

[N.B.O.L.]

The Rake, on 29 November 2011 - 02:52 PM, said:

** - for those not in the know, Zoo is basically an excuse for t*t photos,

You need an excuse for that????

[VdB]

Had to laugh at the highest ranked football player for 'personality of the year being at 21st.

Those pansies get smacked with so much media training that they never have anything useful to say anymore. No personality at all. Well, until they get to the club, naturally.

On a sidenote; a local football commentator (+- the Flemish Lineker) is catching craploads of criticism for citing a Dutch physical coach in his program saying that 'playing a top football game is much more impressive than riding a mountain stage in the Tour'. I was watching the show when he said that and I spontaneously burst out in laughter. And now there are entire fan campaigns and fellow journalists calling him out for it. Only in Belgium.

One of his colleagues in the newspaper today: 'compared to a cyclist, a football player has the condition of an obese cashier nearing her early retirement'.

[The Rake]

Cav won the event with just under 50% of the vote.

Breakdown of the vote:

Mark Cavendish 169,152 (49.47%)

Darren Clarke 42,188 (12.34%)

Mo Farah 29,780 (8.71%)

Luke Donald 23,854 (6.98%)

Andy Murray 18,754 (5.48%)

Andrew Strauss 17,994 (5.26%)

Alastair Cook 13,038 (3.81%)

Rory McIlroy 11,915 (3.48%)

Dai Greene 9,022 (2.64%)

Amir Khan 6,262 (1.83%)

Can't really argue with the Top 3, but astonished that Andy Murray finished as high as fifth.

http://news.bbc.co.u...ty/16303729.stm

[VdB]

I saw the news on Sporza and was pleasantly surprised, but a well-deserved award for Cav after a great year. Do you feel as if (road) cycling is finally getting some recognition in the UK by this Rake?

[The Rake]

VdB, on 23 December 2011 - 02:08 PM, said:

I saw the news on Sporza and was pleasantly surprised, but a well-deserved award for Cav after a great year. Do you feel as if (road) cycling is finally getting some recognition in the UK by this Rake?

I definitely do. I thought he had a chance of winning, but would never have thought he might amass 49% of the vote. Most people you speak to have heard of him, Bradley Wiggins and Sir Chris Hoy. Everyone knows about the Tour de France. people still occasionally refer to Chris Boardman's "cheating" bike from the 1992 Olympics. It gets air time and it gets press coverage, and someone like Cavendish is a good outlet for it: he is young, brash and successful.

The BBC shows a lot of track cycling and ITV4 (not terrestrial, but not subscription either) shows a number of races, when previously it was just the Tour.

Even David Millar was in the news today

[VdB]

Great to hear! Thanks for the breakdown.