[I used to love SPOTY as a kid]

For reference

Click to see full-size image.

note to self: no point ever betting this early in the year, or getting sucked into recency bias from a single event that is usually trumped by the time december comes around

Anyone surprised at how few people voted for Willet?  He would have surely been a huge price to actually finish last?  Just shows the cricket/golf/football (Vardy/Bale also polled much lower than i thought they would overall) predominately on Sky must have very little chance of ever winning this award again.  Is Rugby effectively in this group now as well?

Yes. being on terrestial is a huge factor. whether formally or not the BBC promotes stuff it has rights to in the SPOTY PR process and on the night itself

look at last night's show, sports like racing, boxing etc got seconds (not minutes) of coverage in the monthly summaries

i too thought the football guys might poll higher with MOTD and the Euros on BBC, i must admit though

Willett, its too early in the year to feed into the recency bias in voting on the night.

This is my next question isn't Joshua a terrible fav to win this next year because of this?  Some of the (lack of) coverage of some major sports was truly shocking at times last night.  Snooker (even on the bbc) literally has no chance of ever being in with a mention for spoty again even though it has previous winners.  The extended air time given to disabled athletes at times all seems to stink of BBC PR rather than anything else.  Not sure if this is a general view or whether i will get shouted down about it but it is the view i hold in a rather similar vein to the BBC camera man always finding the token non white person in a crowd shot on centre court at Wimbledon.

I used to love SPOTY as a kid but after watching it last night i probably wouldn't even watch it again tbh.

This totally - it used to be a review of the sporting year, now it is just a voting contest - too much time spent discussing each nominee.
I didn't watch last night for the first time ever I think, more interested in watching the darts and NFL redzone

Man United - 2nd - 78 points
Leicester - 10th - 51 points
Liverpool - 6th - 64 points
Spurs - 5th - 70 points



Arsenal - 73 points

Crystal Palace confirm £10m signing of James Tomkins from West Ham.  http://gu.com/p/4np7t/stw

Good signing I reckon - what do others think?

Definate upgrade on Delaney, who is probably now past his best.

Andros Townsend and Steve Mandanda to Palace both confirmed this morning.
Dwight Gayle gone to Newcastle.

All in all good business for Palace I reckon

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If that's true and that's the reason for the totally inept performance last night then they are even bigger wa**ers than I thought.
Do they have no personal pride, or thoughts for the thousands of fans who have spent fortunes to travel to watch them.
Whether they agree with the managers selections or not they should be giving everything they have in the middle of a major tournament.
Those senior players that felt that way should never play for England again IMO.

i think this is a good point

Paul Hayward ‏@_PaulHayward

Before anyone searches too hard for an Eddie Jones as England football manager, the players wouldn't cope with that kind of brutal honesty.

--


players earning up to £300k a week are basically in charge, no matter how inept the tactics.

Well if they cant take the honesty maybe they are not cut out to play for their country.

Maybe the time has come where the public would rather see a squad of players who really care and would accept anything to play for England rather than the 'most talented' squad.

Palace have just exploded onto the transfer scene with a club-record bid... http://lbrk.es/3wmH301HYX6 

£32m!!

That's not just a club record bid, that's almost 3 times our record signing value.
This guy is top quality and I will still be shocked if we do sign him.

Apparently also in advanced talks with GK Mandanda from Marseille and have activated Andros Townsends release clause.
Exciting times.

Wondering if Arb still thinks we are good value to get relegated? 

Mens Winner
Murray £20 EW

Mens Q2 Winner
Cilic £10

Mens Q3 Winner
Zverev £10

Womens Q2 Winner
Radwanska £30

Womens Q3 Winner
Keys £10

Nice one for running Mere

56.8%

Poland v England

Matthew Matthew, serious entries only please.

Didn't fancy a final tie break so thought I would go with an extreme answer  

Poland v England

Captain: Jason Mercier

2015 ITM More than 5 times: Erik Seidel

Brits: Stephen Chidwick

WSOP POTY Top 10s 2014-15: Daniel Negrenau

High Stakes: Jason Mercier

Main Event Champions: Phil Hellmuth

Eurozone: George Danzer

Best of Blondes: Stu Rutter

Wild card 1: Shaun Deeb

Wild card 2: Dmitry Urbanovich


Nice one Mere

In for £10 please

Bank details please

Crystal Palace are 3/1, Chelsea 6/5 for the first game of their new year

http://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/crystal-palace-v-chelsea/winner

I know Hiddink is steadying the ship, but isn't 6/5 far more priced off reputation than reflecting the current situation?

should we back Palace?

** awaits War ant Peace ***

Without both Bolasie and Wickham who are both injured we lack both the pace and strength of recent weeks up front.
On top of that Cabaye is suspended for this match.
If Chelsea set up like they did yesterday we will struggle to break them down.
Haven't looked at prices but would think 0-0 or under 1.5 goals would be the bet