Sports personality of the year

[Nico29]

How many on this list do we think are taking PED's of some form?

I'd hope 0.

I'd say as many as 6 wouldn't surprise me.

So i'll go for 3.

[redsimon]

Are bookies offering EW bets on this market? If Farah is 5/1 might be worth a EW punt?

[Nico29]

Are bookies offering EW bets on this market? If Farah is 5/1 might be worth a EW punt?

Nah is win only.

There is a sep place top 3 market which coral and betfair offer, but in the main the prices are no value, certainly not for mo.

http://www.oddschecker.com/awards/sports-personality-of-the-year/top-3-finish

[DaveShoelace]

Mo has to win it.  He beat The Cube FFS!!

This.

Its tough, Wiggins has this rebelious streak that some people seem to like (Kind of like a likable Ronny O'Sullivan) but everything about Farah is just endearing - two golds, super saturday, the Mobot, his daughter, his grumpy wife (I think a few million men felt for him when seconds after his 2nd Olympic triumph his missus seemed to be giving him a mouthful about something), the fact he is little, beating the Cube etc etc.

Anyone know what the exact voting process is? ie. do votes come in on the night? If so, I think once we see footage of Mo early on the show, it might swing it his way.

[TommyD]

Anyone know what the exact voting process is? ie. do votes come in on the night?

This is my concern, they have said all voting will be done on the night by the public.  Just checked and last year they did a phone in vote which opened at 8pm on the night of the show.  BBC voting is vastly different to phone in votes on other channels and IIRC has more variance than other broadcasters.  You probably have to consider a lot of people not watching the show will forget to vote, then you have to look at the key demographic watching.  You won't have many large groups of men watching, you're down to families, couples and single.  IMO Women are more likely to be bothered to vote than men, so you have to look at who from the list women are more likely to vote for.  It makes it tough.  Personally I think Ennis won't place on this basis.  I know I've been slammed for mentioning this before but Simmonds is better than Sevens to finish in the top three with Weir around fives in the same market.  Personally I think that's where the value is.  I still like Mo's chances to win though.  He was incred on the Cube.

[TightEnd]

Tommy

Don't Women like Ennis?

Why is BBC voting different from other channels? Is that the mechanics of the vote or just the demographic watching?

ta


I like Mo too in this, fwiw.

[TommyD]

Tommy

Don't Women like Ennis?

Why is BBC voting different from other channels? Is that the mechanics of the vote or just the demographic watching?

ta


I like Mo too in this, fwiw.

The BBC has a different demographic watching compared to other commercial channels.  Generally an older viewer will watch more BBC1 rather than say ITV1.

Women in general like Ennis but I think they are more likely to vote elsewhere.  Through the history of phone voting women have fared worse on shows than men on the whole, which is odd when more women watch the shows.  The caveat to this is women voters have stronger loyalty than men (in other words they are more likely to repeatedly vote for one person or more likely to stick with one candidate through multi round systems, the later doesn't apply here).  When women vote for women, it can be argued there is some sort of collective maternal protective instinct rather than admiration for talent.  To look at something comparable on the BBC, The Voice shock of the series in terms of talent was Leanne beating Ruth in the semi final IMO.  I would argue on pure talent Ruth should have won that.  But the strength of that was shown in the final when Leanne won in a final where I think others were more talented.  Just my opinion but I think women are much more likely to vote elsewhere despite liking Ennis in general.

[kinboshi]

I would have thought that Ennis would attract the female vote - as she's a brilliant athlete, attractive (although there's a thread on here that says differently in some peoples' opinion) and a great female role-model?

[Tonji]

I would have thought that Ennis would attract the female vote - as she's a brilliant athlete, attractive (although there's a thread on here that says differently in some peoples' opinion) and a great female role-model?

Yeah, agree with this. A lot of the Olympic BBC media coverage was emphasising the success of the women in team GB. Ennis was after all the poster girl of London.

I'd also expect a larger & wider spread viewing audience this year, perhaps changing the normal demographic.

[TommyD]

I have to admit the lack of either Laura Trott or Jade Jones in the final shortlist does prevent a lot of split voting for people who take a 'best woman' line in the vote.

TBH that's an excellent point Tonji about the demographic probably being broader on the back of a sucessful Olympic year.  I still think women are more likely to vote than men and phone vote history has shown women doing worse than men in shows.  I of course stand to be corrected and if it was down to talent and being a role model then Ennis would be a worthy winner IMO, but then again so would several of them.

[shedboymuff]

Disappointed not to see Craig Whyte's name not up there. Perhaps he is a shoe-in for the Lifetime Achievement Award or Unsung hero?

[Jon MW]

I would have thought that Ennis would attract the female vote - as she's a brilliant athlete, attractive (although there's a thread on here that says differently in some peoples' opinion) and a great female role-model?

Yeah, agree with this. A lot of the Olympic BBC media coverage was emphasising the success of the women in team GB. Ennis was after all the poster girl of London.

I'd also expect a larger & wider spread viewing audience this year, perhaps changing the normal demographic.

I'm pretty sure that's the main reason she's on the short list.

Does nobody think Ennis might not place purely because she's won a single gold whereas pretty much all of the other contenders have achieved either something exceptional for a Brit (e.g. Wiggins, Murray), something exceptional in general (e.g. Farah), been rewarded for persistence (e.g. Grainger) or something historically significant (e.g. Nicola Adams)

[AndrewT]

Heptathlon is extra-special though - one gold for being good at seven different things.

Farah got one gold for running a bit and another for running a bit further.

[Tal]

I would have thought that Ennis would attract the female vote - as she's a brilliant athlete, attractive (although there's a thread on here that says differently in some peoples' opinion) and a great female role-model?

Yeah, agree with this. A lot of the Olympic BBC media coverage was emphasising the success of the women in team GB. Ennis was after all the poster girl of London.

I'd also expect a larger & wider spread viewing audience this year, perhaps changing the normal demographic.

I'm pretty sure that's the main reason she's on the short list.

Does nobody think Ennis might not place purely because she's won a single gold whereas pretty much all of the other contenders have achieved either something exceptional for a Brit (e.g. Wiggins, Murray), something exceptional in general (e.g. Farah), been rewarded for persistence (e.g. Grainger) or something historically significant (e.g. Nicola Adams)

Completely agree with all of that on a moral point (with the exception of Adams, as it's hardly like it has been years and years of GB being beaten in women's boxing at the Olympics!)

However, she's much more marketable (and has been more than prepared to be marketed) and Brand Ennis has been pushed against our retinas more than Gio Compario.

[Tal]

Survey on MSN's homepage

vote now

Who do you think should win 2012 BBC Sports Personality of the Year?

 21 %
Jessica Ennis
18,182 votes

 19 %
Mo Farah
16,744 votes

 5 %
Sir Chris Hoy
3,933 votes

 12 %
Andy Murray
10,081 votes

 6 %
Ellie Simmonds
5,496 votes

 1 %
Katherine Grainger
660 votes

 4 %
Rory McIlroy
3,138 votes

 3 %
David Weir
2,376 votes

 26 %
Bradley Wiggins
22,782 votes

 2 %
Ben Ainslie
1,754 votes

 1 %
Nicola Adams
1,071 votes

 0 %
Sarah Storey
535 votes