hamilton loses out.. but so does alonso!As Britain's best paper, The Guardian, put it today, thats a hat trick! a week of triple woe for british sport. surprised? you shouldnt be! earlier in the week i emailed my friends after england's disasterous KO against Russia in their bid to qualify for next summer's european football cup finals, and i spoke of a desire for a trilogy of pain.. a trilogy of pain for english sports. of course i wanted to see it, after all this was a mega sporting weekend as the boks took on england in the rugby world cup final and lewis hamilton bid to become the first rookie F1 champion, at the expense of my man alonso. well against all odds, the trilogy materialised.. england were rather expectedly outcalssed by the boks but hamilton suffered a disasterous brazilian grand prix to finish 7th, 1 point from title glory! alas my man alonso wasnt destined to bring me riches either, as the ferraris dominated and kimi raikkonen snuck in from nowhere to claim his maiden title. alons finished tie with hamilton on points, also 1 point adrift.. and admittedly its hard to take, but i have to admit there is a sense of relief that mclaren and hamilton got nothing in the end.
but lets just look at that headline again.. "hamilton the latest english sporting loser" .. my god! what an outlook! could the mood be any lower?? sure england lost big time (again).. but it was predictable. englands rugby team were never going to be a match for the boks.. they had suffered a list of humiliating defeats to the boks over the last year and hamilton, lets not forget, was racing in his first season of F1. england rugby and lewis hamilton had both defied all the odds to get sooo close to winning 2 such big titles. but thats not the way things are seen in britain. without wanting to sound critical of my adopted home, i have to be, this is a nation famed for its media machine, one that likes to build unlikely heros and then strike them down at their lowest moment.
the guardians headline, like many other british papers, should have encapsulated how incredibly close their unlikely heros had come to grabbing silverware, but instead they chose to label their heros as 'losers'.
im disappointed alonso didnt win, i backed my man to the last lap, and to lose by one point is just as spectacular as england's disappointing sporting week. but i am different.. i wont dwell in despair.. positive thinking is a big part of making life a success and lets be honest.. i have a lot to be thankful for this year.. ive travelled the world, lived in 2 different cities, worked in 2 different jobs, enjoyed the company of wonderful people, and in 4 weeks i'll be flying out to south africa to see my parents and celebrate a return to good health for my mother :))))
this really has been the best year of my life! til next time..
marc
