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New Year's honours list....; Button and Brawn to be honoured
Topic Started: Dec 30 2009, 01:10 AM (272 Views)
John
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Jenson Button, the Formula One champion, and Ross Brawn, his team boss, will be honoured in the New Year's honours list.

hear this but still looking for a link... <think>
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Norbert
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8435197.stm

What is it with the fad for gongs for sportspeople who win a single title/event? Brawn I can understand, but Button's won a single WDC. Tweddle did well at a single Olympics. When England won the Ashes, the whole team got NYHs. I think they're cheapened to the point where they are expected if you win a single title or gold medal in your sport.

Hamilton was in F1 for two years with the best team and got one, Damon Hill has one for a single WDC that he tried very hard not to win. James Hunt won the WDC in times that your first drive could be your last, and what did he get? Nothing. Jackie Stewart very deservedly has one - 57 of his competitors were killed during his relatively brief 99 race career, and he worked very hard to try and improve the safety at the events. Stirling Moss also has one, after a career in zillions of different formulae and numerous times being the runner-up for the WDC. Mike Hawthorn missed out, but that may well have been because of his untimely demise.

What next? OBEs for winning University Challenge?
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Brave_Lee_Flea
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Norbert,Dec 31 2009
09:19 AM
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8435197.stm

What is it with the fad for gongs for sportspeople who win a single title/event?  Brawn I can understand, but Button's won a single WDC.  Tweddle did well at a single Olympics.  When England won the Ashes, the whole team got NYHs.  I think they're cheapened to the point where they are expected if you win a single title or gold medal in your sport.

Hamilton was in F1 for two years with the best team and got one, Damon Hill has one for a single WDC that he tried very hard not to win.  James Hunt won the WDC in times that your first drive could be your last, and what did he get?  Nothing.  Jackie Stewart very deservedly has one - 57 of his competitors were killed during his relatively brief 99 race career, and he worked very hard to try and improve the safety at the events.  Stirling Moss also has one, after a career in zillions of different formulae and numerous times being the runner-up for the WDC.  Mike Hawthorn missed out, but that may well have been because of his untimely demise.

What next?  OBEs for winning University Challenge?

I concur with your whole post except the bit about Damon; the man reached within himself to extract levels of performance under extreme pressure that were beyond his ability and in so doing managed, albeit only once, to beat the man who later became the most successful grand prix racing driver ever. And he did so without ever resorting to underhanded or illegal tactics and without ever losing his dignity.

Damon's achievement, in my opinion, was not winning the WDC but in winning a personal battle with himself. Damon, fairly, will never be remembered as one of the great drivers (although things might look different had 1994 panned out differently) but he is an inspirational figure to me.
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sportsman
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Norbert,Dec 31 2009
09:19 AM
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8435197.stm

What is it with the fad for gongs for sportspeople who win a single title/event? Brawn I can understand, but Button's won a single WDC. Tweddle did well at a single Olympics. When England won the Ashes, the whole team got NYHs. I think they're cheapened to the point where they are expected if you win a single title or gold medal in your sport.

Hamilton was in F1 for two years with the best team and got one, Damon Hill has one for a single WDC that he tried very hard not to win. James Hunt won the WDC in times that your first drive could be your last, and what did he get? Nothing. Jackie Stewart very deservedly has one - 57 of his competitors were killed during his relatively brief 99 race career, and he worked very hard to try and improve the safety at the events. Stirling Moss also has one, after a career in zillions of different formulae and numerous times being the runner-up for the WDC. Mike Hawthorn missed out, but that may well have been because of his untimely demise.

What next? OBEs for winning University Challenge?

Well said.The whole honours farce for sportstars is a joke.Honours should be awarded to people who benefit mankind.
People like Marie Curie, Sister Theresa and Alexander Fleming's modern counterparts.
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Brave_Lee_Flea
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sportsman,Dec 31 2009
10:18 AM

Well said.The whole honours farce for sportstars is a joke.Honours should be awarded to people who benefit mankind.
People like Marie Curie, Sister Theresa and Alexander Fleming's modern counterparts.

Absolutely.

BTW I wasn't arguing that Damon deserved a knighthood, I was arguing only against the accusation that he "tried very hard not to win" the WDC. I have never seen a man try harder to win something.
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Alien_SAP_Fiend
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I am gutted not to get onto the honours list after my hard earned 3rd place in our company Karting event.
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Red Andy
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I said this last year and I'll say it again now - to quote my grandfather, honours shouldn't be awarded for people just doing their jobs. When he said that, he was mostly referring to people like civil servants and so on, who seem to pick up honours just for prolonged service, but I suppose it applies equally to sports stars.
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