Family Affair at Awards

One month ago I predicted Joe Calzaghe would win the BBC Sports Personality Award, and your votes supported me. Last night he proved us right. But he wasn't the only Calzaghe to scoop a prize.
Joe's father and trainer Enzo won the award of best coach for his efforts in nurturing three world champions, his son Joe, cruiserweight Enzo Maccarinelli and light-welterweight Gavin Rees.

Calzaghe received his award in Vegas where he had been supporting his friend and boxing counterpart Ricky 'The Hitman' Hatton.

Had Hatton beaten pretty boy Floyd he would have given Calzaghe a much closer run for the top award although with two boxers in the top three, it has been a spectacular year for British pugilism.

A Few Surprises

Although Calzaghe's victory was no surprise, the BBC did throw in a few shocks. Firstly, James Toseland playing the piano (badly) and then Mark Ramprakash dancing (badly). Strange interludes to an otherwise impressive review of the sporting year.

The other shock was the England Rugby Team winning the team of the year award. Those that read my blogs regularly (hi mum) will know that I love rugby, but England did not deserve to win this award.

Two decent wins against the Aussies and Les Bleus in the World Cup in an otherwise dismal year. A poor Six Nations, a terrible tour of South Africa and an abysmal group stage of the RWC, should not have won them the award.

Oh well, I guess the memory of a sports fan is short, and that's probably a good thing anyway.

Here are the full results from last night:

1. Joe Calzaghe 177,748 (28.19%)
2. Lewis Hamilton 122,649 (19.45%)
3. Ricky Hatton 85,280 (13.53%)
4. James Toseland 84,570 (13.41%)
5. Jason Robinson 67,061 (10.64%)
6. Paula Radcliffe 34,895 (5.53%)
7. Jonny Wilkinson 30,302 (4.81%)
8. Andy Murray 13,242 (2.1%)
9. Justin Rose 10,227 (1.62%)
10. Christine Ohuruogu 4,481 (0.71%)

Total votes: 630,455