lookupsport

Like thousands of others I set my alarm on Saturday night to listen to the 5 Live commentary of the Mayweather Hatton fight, full of expectation.  It went off at 3:55am and I listened half asleep to somebody going on about Alice in Wonderland for 5 minutes, wondering if it was on digital radio, which would have meant getting out of bed and going downstairs.  Then thankfully they went to Vegas after the 4:00am news (yes they still have news at that time of the morning!).  I then dozed in and out, wondering if it would ever start before waking with a start at the sound of the bell.

I’ve still not seen any highlights, but from what I heard (ignoring the fact that the referee seemed to be helping Mayweather in the early rounds at leat), Hatton was well beaten by a better and stronger opponent.  He seemed unable to hurt the American but keep getting picked off before hitting fresh air.  Nobody can doubt his courage and determination, but unfortuately that only gets you so far and legions of British fans were once again left with that feeling of disappointment in a year of disappointments and near misses (the Ashes series aside of course).

It was satisfiying therefore to see Joe Calzaghe win Sports Personality of the Year - at least he did win something.  It would have been wrong to reward Hamilton or Hatton who have undoubtedly achieved much, but not actually won their ultimate prizes. 

The Team of the year went to the English Rugby Union team - they too failed to reach their ultimate goal but with no competition from cricket or football, it was pretty much a full gone conclusion.  I wonder who might have won it had they been beaten first round…