Pimples

On Sunday, Lewis Hamilton, a racing driver supported by a team of over 1000 people, who races maybe twenty times a year and has only one serious rival, won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award for 2014.

He beat Rory McIlory, a golfer, into second place. McIlroy has probably fifty rivals, all capable of beating him on their day. He plays probably 30 times a year, and is supported by a small team which includes his caddy, coach,  management team and various suppliers and sponsors.

Whether it was the right decision is taking up a lot of column inches in the newspapers at the moment. Hamilton won the F1 World Championship, which he has won previously. McIlroy won the Open Championship and the US PGA championship. No European has ever done that before in the same year. He also won the Bridgestone Invitational and the PGA championship at Wentworth. He was also part of the European Ryder Cup team who defeated the USA.

McIlroy has a personality, Hamilton is a bit dull. So it would seem that petrolhead's took the trouble to vote, whereas golfers didn't.

Sadly it's another sign of the fading star which SPOTY has become. SPOTY has always been a must watch in our family, and I can remember the sixties programmes when the BBC had most of the sporting coverage in the World to use to produce their programme. Henry Cooper won the title twice, and he never really won anything of significance in his sport. David Steel was sent out to face the barrage of West Indian fast bowling and almost single-handedly saved England from ignominy. He won it for true British spunk.

More recently, however, the BBC have struggled to find any sporting coverage to populate the programme with as Sky and now BT, hoover up all the best events. The 2014 show reached new depths with repeated voiceovers by Eddie 'the idiot' Butler, listing the names of great British sports personalities, but showing almost no action at all.

The BBC must have know the writing was on the wall when in 2009, a year with no Olympics, World Cup or Commonwealth Games, the winner was Ryan Giggs, an aging Welsh footballer who is best know outside football for bedding his own brother's wife. Jenson Button came second that year so even the petrolhead's must have been bored with the whole thing.

Aging pop band Simple Minds opened the show on Sunday, and that, sadly,  is a suitable  phrase to refer to the BBC blazers who masterminded the whole thing.

A Prial of Teas

Blimey what a few days we have had. The weekend saw us celebrating SWMBO's fathers 75th birthday, her parents house warming party and the christening of Nell and Ava. Actually it was billed as a blessing  but there was water and cake involved  and with some imagination we managed to combine all three celebrations into one afternoon.

The London branch came up for the do's. Tim and Maya came on Friday and Mike and Val on Saturday, so I was finally able to have a team photo with my five grandchildren.

The previous week Pete and Maria had come up for a few nights as sadly her brother died, but they are now over in Australia for Christmas. Graham then turned up for the Liverpool European Cup tie, meaning we had nine visitors in less than a week.

I did check the guest book for comments, but sadly the pages were empty, but that did not stop SWMBO and I going out for our works Christmas party at the Refreshment Rooms in Rock Ferry last night, and a good time was had by all.

Its a bit off the beaten track on the Mersey in a part of Rock Park which in its day was home to seafaring men, merchants and company bigwigs. Indeed the Royal Liverpool Yacht Club is right next door in the shadow of Cammell Laird ship builders, both sit as a reminder of how Birkenhead used to be the senior partner in the Merseyside relationship.

So now on to Christmas. The tree arrived yesterday and I have already managed to break the top bit off, so not sure where the fairy is going to go, no doubt number one daughter will sort it out.

Christmas bash in Manchester next Friday should be chaos, and I have the annual opportunity to win festive meat at the Wallasey golf club turkey trot on Sunday, and the Seniors equivalent on Monday.
Things are hotting up.