Sportsmen's personalities

[mutt k]

In another thread in the motorsport section, vetteheadracer said of Jenson Button

"Personally, having met the guy I think he is very over-rated and a very rude tw@t."

Now, imho, JB comes over on TV as a reasonably sensible nice bloke. So, is this just an act for the media? Are any F1 drivers, or indeed other top sports stars nice people, or are they all so pressured and, excusing the pun, so driven, that manners go out of the window except when they are promoting themselves and/or their sponsors to the media?

[meeja]

Having met quite a few through work, I would say the split is 50/50.

There are some people who you would imagine to be complete ar$es, who are actually really nice people.

And vice versa!

[dick dastardly]

50/50 is right. I've hung out with a few atheletes & members of the Welsh & Irish rugby teams during the 6 nations. Half of them were really down to earth and just out for a drink and a laugh, the other half were really egotistical and wouldn't even speak to me because I lack fame. Stephen Jones of the Welsh squad is a prime example, comes across as a nice home-town boy on tv but in real life he's a moody fu**ing idiot and doesn't mind who knows it.

[mastiff]

I agree with the 50/50 thing...

On one hand Johnny Herbert is a great bloke to be around..

on the other hand it is only a shame that Eddie Irvine is nicking oxygen from someone else.

[bga]

dick dastardly said:

50/50 is right. I've hung out with a few atheletes & members of the Welsh & Irish rugby teams during the 6 nations. Half of them were really down to earth and just out for a drink and a laugh, the other half were really egotistical and wouldn't even speak to me because I lack fame. Stephen Jones of the Welsh squad is a prime example, comes across as a nice home-town boy on tv but in real life he's a moody fu**ing idiot and doesn't mind who knows it.

Austin Healey is the same.

[Coco H]

But they're like everyone else in life - there are some nice ones and some nasty ones, some down-to earth ones and some arrogant ones.
And some that pinch your bum huff

[JMGS4]

As soon as one gets a hyped-up "star" this seems to go to their heads...... the really good ones don't need to be "inflated" by the media and remain down to earth people... all IMHO of course!

[andy mac]

To be honest, if everyone kept coming up to me for photos, autographs, asking stupid questions, etc, I'd get a bit miffed eventually... A chap can only take so much pestering...

[Nevin]

My Dad was doing some corporate video for an NHS Trust with John Leslie before he became infamous (JL, not my Dad) and my Dad's summary was that the man seemed to be a completely arrogant c34t. Which seems to have been about right.

Sorry, he's not a sportsman though.

[anonymous-user]

I spent many years dealing with sportsmen and women and I found that some of the big stars were also the most accomodating.

Some of the fairly minor footballers that I dealt with were a pain in the arse ( no names, no pack drill) but people like Matt le Tissier, Boris Becker, Pam Shriver, Paul McNamee, Gary Lineker, Frank Bruno, Rudd Gullit and others - all at the top of the tree at the time - could not have been easier to deal with.

The problem is that these days you get a journeyman footballer in the Coca Cola earning £300k and he thinks he's something special.