It's only when you think about all the big news stories of 2012 that you realise what a turbulent year its been. Of course the headlines have been dominated by the negatives as per usual. The ongoing conflict in the middle east, hurricane Sandy, the war in Afghanistan, unrest in many African countries, honour killings in Islamic countries, the Greek bailout, the Newtown shooting and many, many more. But for all the bad, there has also been a whole lot of good, and I'd prefer to focus on the positives of 2012 so that's what I'll do.
For me probably the biggest success of 2012 was the Olympic Games in London. It's the only time I'll sit and watch sports like women's beach volleyball (ooosh), tennis, athletics and gymnastics but you know what, I enjoyed watching everyone of them. Even seeing Andy-the most miserable man in the world-Murray win gold was exciting, and I don't even like him. For such a small rock the UK did sensational in comparison with some of the giants like USA and China. The sense of Patriotism amongst the whole of Great Britain was just wonderful.
Of course in joint top spot was our national hero; arise Sir Bradley Wiggins. What a man. What a man. The guy is just the epitome of everything I believe in; his hatred of all that crap on TV these days that makes people famous for achieving absolutely nothing in life, his passion for the sport of cycling, his traditionalism, his wit, everything. He didn't just win the Tour de France and yet another Olympic gold like the BBC had you believing (which alone was enough to SPOTY hands down, which he did), he also won Paris-Nice, Tour de Romadie and the Crierium du Dauphine (yes there are other races in professional cycling than just the bloody Tour de France!). He has been our talisman in 2012, a symbol of everything that's great about Great Britain, and he's ours, and he's untouchable. Oh and he'll win Giro d'Italia 2013, you heard it here first.
Barack-the lad-Obama also won the US election which was a sigh of relief for all us reasoned individuals the world over. Can you imagine if Mitt Romney won? The man actually believes in something called the sacred book of Mormon which was found on ancient gold plates buried in a hill in New Year just outside Rochester and that these plates were translated from Egyptian to English solely by an uneducated 24 year old called Joseph Smith. Furthermore he did this by looking into a hat where his magic peeping stone was sitting on which the English words appeared with the help of god almighty... that's not faith that's insanity, imagine a man who believes in such profanities running the global super power that is the United States of America. Luckily he is not and instead Mr Obama is, a man who openly stated he believes gay couples should be able to get married, it takes balls to say something like that in a country as religiously driven as America.
Lance Armstrong, what a massive douche bag. I know I said I'd focus on the positives but sadly this lying, cheating, doping, bullying, deceitful, untruthful, two-faced, obnoxious, repulsive man just crossed my mind. For 10 long years I watched him race bicycles, I looked up to him, I believed in him and I defended him. What a waste of time that was. And more importantly what a blow for our sport. Right when we're at our cleanest and doing more to fight doping than any other sport on the planet and being successful in doing so, Lance Pharmastrong dominates the headlines for all the wrong reasons and overshadows everything we've done to rid our beautiful sport of people like him. Alas the sport is bigger than one man, but he sure sent us a whole kilometre back in the fight to clear cycling of the outdated prejudice that we're nothing but a dirty sport.
And finally the little things that made this year great; Felix Baumgartner setting a world record for skydiving from 24 miles high. I'm sure I'm not the only one who was a little worried he'd just float away, luckily he didn't, instead he plummeted to earth at mach 1.24 (834mph). Philippe Gilbert's emphatic win at the World Champs in Limburg which I had the privilege of witnessing first hand and screaming to in a drunken and joyful state. Gangnam style was pretty big too although I didn't much care for it. We didn't all die like some idiots predicted after misinterpreting the Mayan Calenders. The Hobbit came out and boy was it exciting, I saw it twice in a week, I'm excited for part 2 already. A new breed of 'hipsters' were born, hopefully they wont be around much longer. (if you're unsure what a hipster is click HERE). Carly Rae Jepson released Call Me Maybe which lets be honest is just one of the best songs ever. It also led to Orica Greenedge's parody at the Vuelta Espana which is just the best thing in procycling since Lance Arm... Oh no waaaaaiiit, he's a prick. Finally a shout out to Matteo Rabottini for his victory in stage 15 of the Giro d'Italia, OK it wasn't exactly 'World News' but it was probably the most exiting thing I've seen since birth. When you keep in mind he'd been away all day, alone, in the wet, he crashed, he got caught by one of the best riders on the planet (Rodriguez) with 400m to go, got onto his wheel and then overtook him in the last corner to take the win you realise what an incredible feat of superhuman strength he pulled off. If I ever meet him I will kiss the ground he walks on.
I hope you've enjoyed my (mostly) positive take on 2012, 2013 is just a few days away, if it's anything like this year I'll be extremely chuffed. Have a great new year, get smashed, celebrate with your family and friends, stay safe and roll on 2013.
TB
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