Past heroes downgraded in the daft world of lists
They feed our nostalgia frenzy when it is the present and the future which require our attention
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Your support makes all the difference.We thought it was all over, that the media's obsession with lists of the greatest this or that was a passing symptom of millennial madness. But here we are in 2002 and the obsession goes on, its latest manifestation Channel 4's 100 Greatest Sporting Moments, the second 50 of which were revealed on Saturday night, with the top 50 to follow next Saturday. Here are my top five reasons why this obsession with lists is idiotic.
One: lists of the greatest film/song/television programme/ sporting moment are always heavily skewed in favour of the recent past.
Two: such lists are utterly subjective, yet presented as definitive.
Three: by stimulating debate about whether Casablanca deserves to be ranked higher than Raging Bull, or in Saturday's case whether Jean van de Velde's last-hole collapse at Carnoustie (65th) should really be considered a greater sporting moment than Pat Cash winning Wimbledon (78th), these lists trivialise the very things they aim to celebrate.
Four: they feed our nostalgia frenzy when it is the present and, more particularly, the future that require our attention. Let's not kid ourselves that such lists signify anything more important than an excuse to show lots of admittedly wonderful clips.
Five: such lists rarely, if ever, recognise the achievements of Gordon Lee.
As for this latest project, more than 70,000 people ranked 100 great sporting moments which had been posted on the Channel 4 website. And of the second 50 greatest moments – of all time, don't forget – no fewer than 41 occurred after 1970, from Ronnie Radford's FA Cup goal for Hereford against Newcastle in 1972 (97th) to Denise Lewis winning Olympic gold in 2000 (90th).
Poor old Jack Johnson, arguably the most influential boxer in history, whose achievement in becoming the world's first black heavyweight champion dealt a knock-out blow to notions of white supremacy in the ring, didn't get a look in. And I don't suppose that's because his humiliation of reigning champ Tommy Burns – in Sydney, on Boxing Day 1908 – features in the forthcoming top 50. No, the top 50 will doubtless have the same post-1970 flavour, not because the last 30-odd years have indeed yielded the greatest sporting dramas in the history of the universe, but because they have happily coincided with the advent of colour television. And because they have coincided with us.
The panel of experts who chose 100 moments to sort into an order of preference would not have been thanked, least of all by the programme producer, for dragging into consideration the stirring deeds of WG Grace, say, or Young Tom Morris. Not to mention Ben Hur, apparently a genius through the chicane with a chariot.
So as a credible exercise in fixing history's or even the last century's 100 greatest sporting moments, the list is a nonsense. But as a bit of nonsense, it's fun. And since Channel 4 are guarding their top 10 like Cerberus guarded Hades – or to go with the flow and get contemporary, like JK Rowling's three-headed dog guards the Philosopher's Stone – it's tempting to predict the outcome.
Obviously England's 1966 World Cup win will loom large, probably largest (depending on how many of the 70,000 were Scottish, Welsh or Irish). And Ian Botham's heroic innings at Headingley in 1981 will surely be right up there, ditto Harry Carpenter wetting himself with excitement as Muhammad Ali won the world heavyweight title for the third time.
Otherwise, Borg v McEnroe, Wimbledon 1981? Perhaps Linford Christie winning the 100 metres final in Barcelona? Steve Redgrave winning his fifth Olympic gold, Red Rum his third Grand National? Manchester United's last-gasp defeat of Bayern Munich? Dennis Taylor nicking the 1985 world snooker championship? In the same year, Sam Torrance holing the putt to bring home the Ryder Cup? I would expect most of those to tally with Channel 4's top 10, which is not to identify them as the 10 sporting moments which have propelled me furthest out of my chair. I wouldn't expect everyone to place a goal by Barry Horne in their personal pantheon of great sporting moments, but, as I say, these things are nothing if not subjective, hence the need for a panel of experts to find 100 contenders.
That said, some of the 100 have highly dubious claims to that loaded adjective "great". The sporting moment voted 57th greatest, greater than Bob Beamon smashing the world long jump record, greater than Don Bradman's final Test innings, was "the Tartan Army taking over Wembley, 1977".
Pardon me, but I remember it as an ugly rampage. Memorable, for sure, but hardly great. Oh, and the ski-jumping exploits of Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards were deemed greater than the 1960 European Cup Final, in which the Real Madrid of Di Stefano, Puskas and Gento beat Eintracht Frankfurt 7-3 in front of 130,000 people at Hampden Park to win the hallowed trophy for the fifth year running. For that alone the 70,000 voters need to smack their foreheads and utter a collective "d'oh!" in the manner of the man recently voted greatest TV character of all time, Homer Simpson.
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