Why the 50 most marketable - Aren't so marketable

In May 2012, SportsPro magazine named Neymar, as the world's most marketable athlete, however the list of 50 money -making athletes is flawed, by missing out on some of the biggest names in sport for some that are barely notable within their own nations.

Firstly the list is flawed as it chooses the athletes based on their success in the preceding year, forcing itself to be out of date the moment Wimbledon starts.

The list also appears to focus on competitors in American sports that get little attention outside the states, I counted 10 athletes who competed in NFL, NASCAR, MMA or MLB, and if I counted players in the NBA that figure would be much higher.

The site itself lists its criteria as:

Athletes from across the world have been ranked according to their marketing potential over a three-year period from this summer.

• Value for money
• Age
• Home market
• Charisma
• Willingness
• Crossover appeal

While the writers of SportsPro forgot to factor in the biggest sporting event in the world into "This Summer", and so have missed out stars like Jessica Ennis and Mo Farah from the 50, while Usain Bolt only managed a number 4 place, despite being #1 in 2011.

I was very surprised not to see Jessica Ennis on the list, she is the face of British athletics and the London Olympics; not to mention the fact that she can be spotted in nearly every advert break in the UK and yet SportsPro don't see her as marketable, but Neymar (whom I never heard of before this list), is.

The king of social media, Tom Daley, is also nowhere to be found on the list, despite his army of teenage girls following him on Twitter, as well as his book that is flying off the shelves.

Roger Federer, Wimbledon Champion and Olympic Silver medallist was also invisible to those at SportsPro, while Rafael Nadal who has won next to nothing (The French Open) this year secured the 27 spot, and Novak Djokovic who has had a disappointing season since the Australian Open reached number 7.

Maybe it is a case that competitors in team sports such as Soccer and American football can lounge around all day, sell their image for a ridiculous price while already earning hundreds of thousands a week, yet Olympic athletes should train 24/7, with no media appearances or advertising, while surviving on lottery funding that tops at £25,000 a year.

Some of the undeserving athletes at the top of the list include: Caroline Wozniacki at number 13, who coincidentally has NEVER won a Grand slam, her Boyfriend, Rory McIlroy at number 2 who has appeared on a single advert in the UK, yes, he is a national hero in Northern Ireland, but is he marketable? No.

SportsPro should probably resort to publishing this list in August, especially in Olympic years, to avoid as many mishaps as there were in 2012.

To view SportsPro's 50 Most Marketable Athletes 2012 : http://www.sportspromedia.com/notes_and_insights/the_worlds_50_most_marketable_2012/

Should Lance Armstrong lose his Tour de France titles?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you would know that Lance Armstrong has given up his battle with the US Anti Doping Agency (USADA), and has lost his seven Tour de France titles in the process.

The USADA have accepted his decision as a guilty plea, and are determined to issue him with a lifetime ban.

However is it right that he lost his Yellow Jerseys and his Olympic bronze medal while there is no formal evidence against him?

Armstrong isn’t the first athlete to be banned despite no positive samples, American Track and field star Marion Jones conceded her 5 Olympic medals after admitting to doping in 2007. Similarly, British cyclist David Millar was banned from competing in 2004 when Paris police carried out a drug raid on his apartment; however he has since been cleared to compete.

However unlike Jones and Millar, there is no conclusive evidence that Lance Armstrong did cheat, as he has neither admitted to doping nor has any banned substance been found on his person.

Throughout his career, Armstrong was rigorously tested by anti-doping agencies, as suspicions were rife that the cancer survivor could dominate World Cycling.
 
Throughout the day millions of Sports fans have taken to twitter to comment upon the news of Armstrong’s case.

Some Twitter users like @gordondamer still view him as a hero:
“Since 1997 Lance Armstrong has raised 470 million dollars for cancer research. Like I care that he may have cheated in a bicycle race.”
 
While many others have taken the liberty to mock Armstrong, saying:
“RT if you have as many Tour De France wins as Lance Armstrong.”

While world renowned bullshitter, Piers Morgan tweeted:
“Anyone who thinks Lance Armstrong would quit his doping defence if he wasn't guilty is living in cloud cuckoo land.”

Despite the fact that I am a strong advocate of Anti-Doping, I believe everyone is innocent until proven guilty, and the USADA lacks the evidence that Armstrong is guilty. In my eyes he will remain the man that overcame cancer to become king of the Tour de France.

UPDATE: Given the release of the shocking evidence released by the USADA, Armstrong is completely guilty and doesn't deserve to keep any of the titles he won in his career and I find it disgusting that he has been allowed to keep his Olympic bronze medal. Despite this, Lance Armstrong has accomplished a lot in his life; he overcame cancer, raised awareness for the disease and then went on to raise millions in the battle to fight cancer.

Photo by Anita Ritenour

My Top Ten Moments of the 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony

Sadly the 2012 Olympics are over, however it is not too late to relive it in all its glory, so let's start with the spectacular Opening Ceremony.

10. Abide With Me
Emeli Sande's rendition of Henry Francis Lyte's poem continued a British sporting tradition honouring our fallen friends and family members. The dance routine to accompany the song was emotional and fitting.

9. 'Pixels' in the Audience
Although this isn't actually a moment of the ceremony, these 70,900 lights created images that illustrated many different segments of the ceremony. These images clearly mesmerised the world and lit up London for the evening.

 
8. NHS & Great Ormond Street Hospital
This lively segment truly paid thanks to the nurses and doctors that work day and night to keep the people of Britain healthy. This section also proved to be charitable with the beds donated to hospitals in Tunisia.

7. Modern technology
A great dance segment forming a love story born out of modern technology. Danny Boyle clearly used this to remind the world that the 2012 Olympics are the social media games. The fast paced party themed show culminated in Tim Berners-Lee (He invented the World Wide Web in case a certain NBC commentator didn't know) revealing the message "This is for everyone."

6. Children's Fiction
Danny Boyle celebrated British literature by bringing 'baddies' like Voldemort to life, while JK Rowling read an extract from JM Barrie's Peter Pan. This truly honoured one of Britain's finest gifts to the world.

5. James Bond and The Queen
An 86 year old jumping out of a plane with 007 - Isn't that what the Olympics are about? This segment demonstrated the affection we show towards our Royal family while it celebrated our film industry and combined the two in a humorous and an ambitious stunt.
Even Her Majesty herself saw the funny side, she was quietly laughing while she uttered the words "Good Evening Mr Bond."

4. Green and Pleasant Land
This segment showcased the beautiful large expanses of the British countryside while
presented internationally lesser known sports such as Cricket. The scene also helped demonstrate London's aim to make the 2012 Olympics a 'Green Games'.

3. Industrial Revolution
This scene formed part of the most extravagant opening segment to grace the Olympic stage since the games began. This fast paced change of scene provided a striking contrast to the large fields preceding this representation of Britain's historical transformation from the 18th century onwards. The climax of the this segment was the formation of the Olympic Rings above the stadium floor. Every moment of this dramatic scene had me captivated, even when they were simply rolling up carpets.

2. Mr Bean
Who says that an Olympic Opening Ceremony can't have a sense of humour? Playing Chariots of Fire created a brilliant link to the Olympics and a fantastic tribute to British film, while Mr Bean had 4 billion people across the world in stitches.
The humour created by Rowan Atkinson and Danny Boyle transcended language and ethnicity, and made it the perfect tool to have the world united in laughter.

1. Lighting of the Cauldron
As ever, the crowning glory of the Olympic Opening Ceremony was the lighting of cauldron that would burn for 17 days. very rarely do the cauldron lighters have as much significance as these 7 young ambassadors for the 2012 Games represented the motto of the 2012 games, 'Inspire a Generation'. All 7 have aims to compete for Britain in the future and are the type of people organisers aimed to inspire. Those hoping for veteran athletes to light the flame also got what they wanted as each individual of the group was nominated by one of Britain's most loved Olympians.

Pictures courtesy of Flickr users: Nick J Webb, shimelle

We Are Blogging!!!

Proud to announce that I have joined blogger and I shall be posting my views on Olympic related matters shortly!