Sports Personality of the Year 2005
Well, what a surprise Sunday night's result was! NOT!!
I of course, was delighted and it goes without saying I was part of the masses who voted for Freddie Flintoff. I'm not really sure what impressed me the most - the fact that during this year's test series against Australia he took 24 wickets and scored 400 runs, or his performance after the series - i.e., staying up all night drinking yet still managing to take part in the open-top bus parade before turning up at Number 10 completely paralytic and (allegedly) being sick in the toilet and falling asleep on the swing. Hardly being deferential towards our Prime Minister, was he?!
I'm joking, of course. What I love about Freddie is the entertainment and joy he has given people, this year in particular. Moreover, he has made cricket fashionable. As I have previously written in these pages, a lot of people have enjoyed watching cricket this year who had never done so previously. Even my massage therapist and friend, Louise, who said six months ago she didn't like cricket, is currently borrowing my copy of "Freddie's Fireworks" on DVD.
His performances were spectacular. The over during Australia's second innings in which he dismissed Langer and Ponting was, to my mind, as good as anything you'll see, easily on a par with Jonny Wilkinson's drop goal to win the Rugby world cup or David Beckham's penalty against Greece to put England in the finals of the world cup.
But it wasn't just what he did that made him a truly deserving winner of the prestigious award. It was the way he played the game - always with a smile on his face, and in good spirit. The way he consoled Brett Lee at the end of the Edgbaston test ushered in a new era for the two teams - one of mutual respect and admiration.
Freddie Flintoff is as nice a man as you'll ever meet. Not that I've met him - I hope I do one day. It's just obvious from the way he conducts himself in interviews. And he has more between the ears than you might think - not many people know this, but as a boy he played chess for Lancashire. And he once beat former England captain and cricketing legend Michael Atherton, a Cambridge graduate, in a match.
There is another aspect to Flintoff that explains his popularity: that of the underdog in him. People don't generally like success. We are naturally jealous and find it difficult to give effusive praise of people who have done well for themselves. What people do like, however, is when the underdog comes good - otherwise, why was Rocky such a success at the box office?
Flintoff has a bit of the underdog in him. It certainly hasn't been an easy ride for him. It is well known that he has had problems with his weight and self-denial is not one of his strengths (something I can certainly identify with!).
A lot of people say this all turned around when he received a talking-to from one or two people around him. I like to think it all happened a bit differently. I think the turning point in his life was meeting his wife, Rachael. It's often said that behind every great man is a great woman, and that's certainly true in Freddie's case. She is not only pulchritudinous, to say the least, but extremely driven - when she met Freddie (or Andrew, as she prefers to call him) she was running her own company. I think it's safe to say she has had a lot to do with the turn-around in Freddie's fortunes.
The couple were married a few months before the Ashes series and are now expecting their second child. So you see, the story of Freddie Flintoff is just the same as all the other great stories. In the end, it's just a love story.
Copyright © Jonathan Weedon, December 2005
I of course, was delighted and it goes without saying I was part of the masses who voted for Freddie Flintoff. I'm not really sure what impressed me the most - the fact that during this year's test series against Australia he took 24 wickets and scored 400 runs, or his performance after the series - i.e., staying up all night drinking yet still managing to take part in the open-top bus parade before turning up at Number 10 completely paralytic and (allegedly) being sick in the toilet and falling asleep on the swing. Hardly being deferential towards our Prime Minister, was he?!
I'm joking, of course. What I love about Freddie is the entertainment and joy he has given people, this year in particular. Moreover, he has made cricket fashionable. As I have previously written in these pages, a lot of people have enjoyed watching cricket this year who had never done so previously. Even my massage therapist and friend, Louise, who said six months ago she didn't like cricket, is currently borrowing my copy of "Freddie's Fireworks" on DVD.
His performances were spectacular. The over during Australia's second innings in which he dismissed Langer and Ponting was, to my mind, as good as anything you'll see, easily on a par with Jonny Wilkinson's drop goal to win the Rugby world cup or David Beckham's penalty against Greece to put England in the finals of the world cup.
But it wasn't just what he did that made him a truly deserving winner of the prestigious award. It was the way he played the game - always with a smile on his face, and in good spirit. The way he consoled Brett Lee at the end of the Edgbaston test ushered in a new era for the two teams - one of mutual respect and admiration.
Freddie Flintoff is as nice a man as you'll ever meet. Not that I've met him - I hope I do one day. It's just obvious from the way he conducts himself in interviews. And he has more between the ears than you might think - not many people know this, but as a boy he played chess for Lancashire. And he once beat former England captain and cricketing legend Michael Atherton, a Cambridge graduate, in a match.
There is another aspect to Flintoff that explains his popularity: that of the underdog in him. People don't generally like success. We are naturally jealous and find it difficult to give effusive praise of people who have done well for themselves. What people do like, however, is when the underdog comes good - otherwise, why was Rocky such a success at the box office?
Flintoff has a bit of the underdog in him. It certainly hasn't been an easy ride for him. It is well known that he has had problems with his weight and self-denial is not one of his strengths (something I can certainly identify with!).
A lot of people say this all turned around when he received a talking-to from one or two people around him. I like to think it all happened a bit differently. I think the turning point in his life was meeting his wife, Rachael. It's often said that behind every great man is a great woman, and that's certainly true in Freddie's case. She is not only pulchritudinous, to say the least, but extremely driven - when she met Freddie (or Andrew, as she prefers to call him) she was running her own company. I think it's safe to say she has had a lot to do with the turn-around in Freddie's fortunes.
The couple were married a few months before the Ashes series and are now expecting their second child. So you see, the story of Freddie Flintoff is just the same as all the other great stories. In the end, it's just a love story.
Copyright © Jonathan Weedon, December 2005
posted by Jon | 9:08 pm
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