Brits what's the American equivalent of British Sports Personality of Year Award

[quote] Is this thing super prestigious? Like Heisman Trophy for everyone? [\quote]

I guess. the best way to describe it is to compare it to the oscars. some folks think the oscars are super important and if some actor has or has not won an oscar it is a very important thing to discuss and to know. other folks think the oscars are just the film industry back-slapping themselves to get free publicity. does anyone care who was national plumber of the year? maybe not, but actor of the year (voted for exclusively by people in the film industry) is supposed to be a really important metric of social mores. go figure.

BBC Sports Personality of the Year is a tv programme. I guess that if you take it seriously then it's super important and meaningful and prestigious, and if you don't then it isn't. none of the folks I have talked to about this in the previous two weeks, other runners mostly, care very much who wins. I have personally never voted and don't know anyone who has. I don't know how the nomination process works but the votes come exclusively from the public. they can vote only for the sports persons nominated. the BBC obviously take it seriously and behave as though it is the most important thing on TV this year, but a lot of other folks yawn and turn over to watch re-runs of Dynasty.

[quote]How could Farah only be top 3 once? And not last year with double Olypic gold?[\quote]

there is a perception, and it may only be a perception, that racism may have played a role in this. among those people who see sport only through their tv screens and in the newspapers there is a certain distaste for supposedly "British" sports stars who were not born here and do not live here. tennis player Johanna Konta (born in Australia), racing driver Lewis Hamilton (lives in Monaco), cyclist Chris Froome (born in Kenya) and others all suffer from this to some extent so Farah (born in Somalia and resident in the US) gets some of this from both sides. maybe moving to the UK and dissasociating from Alberto Salazar has improved his standing in the eyes of some.

I personally suspect that these folks (the tv watching sports fans who have never stepped on a running track or held a tennis racket in their lives) are the kind of people who vote for BBC Sports Personality of the Year and therefore the choice reflects their view of how things ought to be. which is why this year it is a big surprise. Anthony Joshua was widely tipped to win.

[quote]Also football players never seem to do very well. Help put this in context for us Americans.[\quote]

I don't follow british soccer at all and probably couldn't name more than three currently active football players so I am probably not the best person to comment on this. but the public can vote only for those who get nominated. I suspect that tribalism probably plays a part in this resulting in not too many football players standing out as popular personalities to a wide enough demographic. Spurs fans are not going to vote for an Arsenal player even if he did score two hat tricks in the world cup final.

Cheers.

Its probably about as prestigious as sports awards go in Britain and should ultimately result in the publics favourite sports person of the year.

Its questionable how much people really care though - he got apprx 60,000 votes which isnt a lot in a country of 60million!

Why's he not got it before? Not sure, certainly basic racism or tribalism could be a factor. I suspect its also because in the years when he wins biggest its an olympic year and other good stuff tends to happen too (e.g. 2012 Brad Wiggins chose to win the TDF, olympics double and last year Andy Murray won Wimbledon/olympics) so he's been a bit unlucky.

Whilst football is probably the most popular sport overall general public perception of the England team and players is very low at the moment so would need a good run at the World Cup/Euros for a footballer to have a chance. If we made the semis next year and Kane scored 5 then he'd stand a very good chance in a non-olympic year. Doubt that'll happen though!

I think this year he got a boost on the night as he had his kids in his interview so people think "seems a nice family guy". Also, Froome's dug test was well/badly timed - he still got 40,000 votes so I reckon he'd have won easily if that hadn't come out last week.

Dunno what the Heisman Trophy is, so perhaps you need to put that in context for we Brits.

SPOTY is a thing run by the BBC each year - shortlist is selected by the BBC, the public gets to vote for the winner.

It gets quite a bit of media coverage, including the BBC show to announce the winner.

Not really sure why we don't get so many footballers. I suppose a lot of the top flight footballers are not Brits - which a criterion for inclusion, as far as I know.

Why are you pretending to be British?

wejo wrote:

Is this thing super prestigious? Like Heisman Trophy for everyone?

How could Farah only be top 3 once? And not last year with double Olypic gold?

Also football players never seem to do very well. Help put this in context for us Americans.

I'm not British, but I would say that SI Sportsperson of Year is the closest.

Jeff Wigand wrote:

wejo wrote:

Is this thing super prestigious? Like Heisman Trophy for everyone?

I'm not British, but I would say that SI Sportsperson of Year is the closest.

Or the Espy award equivalent for ESPN. (I know there is one; just not sure exact name)

Jarra wrote:

Why are you pretending to be British?

what makes you think I'm pretending?

I'm more British than Winston Churchill.

Cheers.

Cottonshirt wrote:

but a lot of other folks yawn and turn over to watch re-runs of Dynasty.

Dynasty? WTF???!!! That show went off the air in America in the 1980s! What else do you guys have on TV? Happy Days? MASH? The Andy Griffith Show? I Love Lucy?

Corduroyshirt wrote:

Dynasty? WTF???!!! That show went off the air in America in the 1980s! What else do you guys have on TV? Happy Days? MASH? The Andy Griffith Show? I Love Lucy?

I'm no expert because I don't watch a lot of tv but I don't think Andy Griffith has ever been shown over here but the other three certainly have, more than once. the Fonz is a very popular character. a lot of what shows over here originates in the US so series like Cheers, LA Law, Cagney and Lacey, Hill Street Blues, Hawaii Five O, Star Trek, and more recently Sex and the City, True Detective and Breaking Bad have been very well received. probably the most popular American series ever would be Friends.

when I was a small boy my parents always used to go out dancing on a Monday evening and my brother and I would sit up and watch Bonanza on BBC1 and then turn over and watch The High Chaparal on BBC2.

Cheers.