A brief intermission: 2013
So here's the marvellous thing: I started this two months ago and British sport is going through such a generally golden age that there have been deeds within that period which certainly demand admission into this most hallowed list.
First of all, golfer Justin Rose being the first Brit in decades to win the US Open, and doing so with such a display of nerve, and finally coming good on promise he'd held for 15 years, made a case for entry in the lower reaches, but his absence does not feel like an aberration. Not yet.
Also, within a couple of weeks, I'd be very surprised if Kenyan/South African/ but mainly British gentleman of the road Chris Froome didn't deserve a significantly higher placing than the relatively low place I have him so far. Already, this year's Tour de France has seen two days which exceed in drama anything in Bradley and Froomey's magnificent but perfunctory procession to glory last year.
And the Lions! How about that? It is accomplishment at the highest level of sport that counts, and at least a couple of magnificent Welshmen made their case for glory - first of all, the perenially dominant prop Adam Jones, whose long career has been defined by an excellence which spectators, even if expert in rugby, don't really see. And Leigh Halfpenny. I've seen him play a lot of rugby matches now, and I genuinely don't think I've ever seen him make a mistake (oh, about from missing incredibly difficult kicks once in a blue moon). He is astonishing. Man of the Match in the Lions series and now surely a shoe-in for World Player of the Year, the fact that, even though his career has been relatively brief, it has already defined his sport at the highest level. Greatness is, I think, already his.
Right, and Murray. I included him a few days ago, in the respectably 80s, and suggested I didn't think the next few days would necessarily make much difference to his position. But yesterday's victory really has turned out to be a defining moment in British sport - we all realised this was as big as winning the FIFA World Cup, this was the very pinnacle, it was an accomplishment for the ages, and one built on a career of considerable achievement. So, I've revised that assessment. Winning Wimbledon should push Andy Murray a considerable number of places up the list. History, and meaning, and context make it so.
And I want to write a bit more about Andy Murray, while I'm at it. I don't want to be too much like an indie fan who saw them at the Bull and Gate playing to just 7 people, but I have loved Andy Murray since that US Open Junior win in 2004, when he responded to a question about winning Wimbledon being the peak by saying that no, he saw the US Open as the biggest one, when I saw a young man of dry wit and clearness of purpose. I loved him more when I found out about the tragedy in his background, when he regularly changed coaches while seemingly staying on good personal terms with those he dispensed with, when his court persona was built on self-immolation in the name of self-improvement, when he simply never played up to expectation and treated terrible questions with contempt, when he just continued to get better and better.
It would be untrue to say I don't understand the Murray haters or doubters. I understand them perfectly well. There are various reasons people have had for not supporting Murray wholeheartedly - his lack of smiling, his supposed (utterly bullshit) anti-Englishness, his Scottishness in and of itself, his "foul mouth", his lack of heart (yes really), apparently his self-love (I've heard that one too). Well, fair enough, there are sportsmen I hate (sometimes a little irrationally) too. I hate John Terry (who couldn't). And, more pertinently, I used to hate Phil Mickelson. It took an awful lot to get me through that. He smiled too much. And it was only after a long long time that I accepted that he was a genuinely nice man and good sport and dignified character with great panache and imagination. So the Murray doubters have time to come round. But they really ought to come round.
Hopefully there'll be some more who'll make a good case for inclusion or enhancement in the coming months.
First of all, golfer Justin Rose being the first Brit in decades to win the US Open, and doing so with such a display of nerve, and finally coming good on promise he'd held for 15 years, made a case for entry in the lower reaches, but his absence does not feel like an aberration. Not yet.
Also, within a couple of weeks, I'd be very surprised if Kenyan/South African/ but mainly British gentleman of the road Chris Froome didn't deserve a significantly higher placing than the relatively low place I have him so far. Already, this year's Tour de France has seen two days which exceed in drama anything in Bradley and Froomey's magnificent but perfunctory procession to glory last year.
And the Lions! How about that? It is accomplishment at the highest level of sport that counts, and at least a couple of magnificent Welshmen made their case for glory - first of all, the perenially dominant prop Adam Jones, whose long career has been defined by an excellence which spectators, even if expert in rugby, don't really see. And Leigh Halfpenny. I've seen him play a lot of rugby matches now, and I genuinely don't think I've ever seen him make a mistake (oh, about from missing incredibly difficult kicks once in a blue moon). He is astonishing. Man of the Match in the Lions series and now surely a shoe-in for World Player of the Year, the fact that, even though his career has been relatively brief, it has already defined his sport at the highest level. Greatness is, I think, already his.
Right, and Murray. I included him a few days ago, in the respectably 80s, and suggested I didn't think the next few days would necessarily make much difference to his position. But yesterday's victory really has turned out to be a defining moment in British sport - we all realised this was as big as winning the FIFA World Cup, this was the very pinnacle, it was an accomplishment for the ages, and one built on a career of considerable achievement. So, I've revised that assessment. Winning Wimbledon should push Andy Murray a considerable number of places up the list. History, and meaning, and context make it so.
And I want to write a bit more about Andy Murray, while I'm at it. I don't want to be too much like an indie fan who saw them at the Bull and Gate playing to just 7 people, but I have loved Andy Murray since that US Open Junior win in 2004, when he responded to a question about winning Wimbledon being the peak by saying that no, he saw the US Open as the biggest one, when I saw a young man of dry wit and clearness of purpose. I loved him more when I found out about the tragedy in his background, when he regularly changed coaches while seemingly staying on good personal terms with those he dispensed with, when his court persona was built on self-immolation in the name of self-improvement, when he simply never played up to expectation and treated terrible questions with contempt, when he just continued to get better and better.
It would be untrue to say I don't understand the Murray haters or doubters. I understand them perfectly well. There are various reasons people have had for not supporting Murray wholeheartedly - his lack of smiling, his supposed (utterly bullshit) anti-Englishness, his Scottishness in and of itself, his "foul mouth", his lack of heart (yes really), apparently his self-love (I've heard that one too). Well, fair enough, there are sportsmen I hate (sometimes a little irrationally) too. I hate John Terry (who couldn't). And, more pertinently, I used to hate Phil Mickelson. It took an awful lot to get me through that. He smiled too much. And it was only after a long long time that I accepted that he was a genuinely nice man and good sport and dignified character with great panache and imagination. So the Murray doubters have time to come round. But they really ought to come round.
Hopefully there'll be some more who'll make a good case for inclusion or enhancement in the coming months.
Big Phil, I am afraid, talked about leaving California because taxes were too high. My heart bleeds.
ReplyDeletehttp://scottmichaux.drupalgardens.com/content/phil-mickelson-pondering-drastic-changes-pressed-tax-burden
Alexander, I think if we only took sportsmen to our hearts that were not self-interested, into accumulating money and lacking in strong socialist principles, we'd be in real trouble.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't worry, I have only moved from hating Mickelson to tolerating him, admiring him from afar.