AS quickly as it all started, it’s over. Stomachs distended from the unnecessary calories, heads a little fuzzy from the surfeit of booze and turkey leftovers creating that familiar post-yule odour around the house – I do hope your Christmas was everything you wished for.
Now we must move on. The calendar is set to change, transporting us, extra poundage and all, into a new year and, indeed, a new decade.
But not quite yet. First let’s look back at 2009 and consider, fellow sporting fans, what will we remember, years down the line, about the past 12 months.
Without doubt 2009, was the year of the cheat. On a scale that we had never previously considered. With gates all over the shop.
Let’s see. We had rugby’s bloodgate, Formula One’s crashgate and football’s, er, Thierry Henry handball-gate. And that was just to name a few.
All of which were a little deflating. I don’t know about you, but the cumulative effect dented my faith in sport a tad. We do like to believe that what we hold so dear is real and incorruptible, after all.
Which made our last, and perhaps most earth-shattering cheat, a breath of fresh air.
Tiger, you’ve been a bad boy. But hell, you’re undoubtedly the athlete of the decade, unquestionably one of the greatest ever.
And none of the aforementioned cheating occurred on the links. Which, in a perverse way, made me feel a little better about things.
Linked to Tiger’s ‘transgessions’ in a roundabout way comes the rise, and rise, of social media in the sporting world.
Twitter – which was dripping with Woods rumours before the story even broke and still contains a few interesting and as yet unaired claims – played a huge part.
The number of actual, verifiable, sports stars tweeting at all hours of the day makes Twitter a vital part of the sports fan’s – and journalist’s – daily routine. It will only continue to grow in the coming months and years ahead.
Let’s not forget Facebook either. Ryan Giggs won BBC Sports Personality on the back of an FB campaign. Still vexed by that as I am, I’ll leave that discussion there.
Suffice to say though, there is much more to come from social media in the sporting world – and 2009 will be remembered as the year it all took off.
Finally, the sportsman of the year was surely a 6ft 6ins Jamaican who breaks world records fuelled by chicken nuggets, dances on the starting line and obliterates his competition with a sense of playfulness which would be most off-putting were it not so damn endearing.
Usain Bolt is, as I have written before, a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon. In years to come, you will tell your children and grandchildren that you saw him run.
You will recount how he forced you to suspend your ideas about the limits of human achievement, how watching him run made you feel like a child again, when anything seemed possible.
For me, two times – 9.58 and 19.19 – will forever evoke memories of 2009. I have no idea what may happen in 2010, but I’m already excited to find out.
- I CAN’T finish this week’s ramble without mentioning Gareth Thomas.
It must have taken considerable courage for the Wales and Lions captain to come out as gay, and I’m pleased to say that the reaction seems to have been overwhelmingly positive.
The fact that there are those who suggested it may not have been, and that it was reported as such a major issue, was a reminder that all is not as it should be.
One can only echo Gareth’s wish that, in ten years’ time – although hopefully much sooner – no-one will care about an athlete’s sexuality.
It seems strange to be saying that on the cusp of 2010 – but sadly there is still much progress to be made.
- How will you remember 2009? Let me know by posting a comment below....
