How To Be Popular To British Fans Have No Personality Like Panesar and Flintoff

The quickest way to get voted off a reality TV show other than being (relatively) pathetic is to have and show some character. The bland personalities that seem to win these things have no appeal to me and I comfort myself that it is all house wives with no life, bar their kids, voting in. Yet then this would not apply to sports where those same personalities are loved just as much, so much for that theory. What is it about some people and not others that leads to popularity in people who have never met them?

Why is Princess Diana 'allowed' to sleep with every married man in town breaking up marriages and her husband's adultery so unforgivable to some? Why is Rooney behaving like a 2 year old kicking things and being grumpy on substitution so great a sign of competitiveness and a sign of selfishness in others?

Whilst this week I have concerned myself at Monty Panesar's inability to get a false stroke out of a Pakistani batsmen he gets cheered for surviving a ball and any moderate fielding. Sports fandom is not objective. Monty's character seems straight forward and his intentions pure. Indeed certain Sky commentators are always telling us how beautifully he bowls and how hard he works. I just feel inconsiderate for looking at his figures and wondering when he will ever take 5 wickets.

Ditto Wayne Rooney who is loved and commentators laud even obvious passes as visionary. Even his tantrums and losing his temper are merely excused like one would a Puppy not responding to commands. Beckham must realise when he got the looks he also got less excuses from the public. After all despite Rooney getting himself sent off in his first world cup he skates with not a word of criticism: indeed people blaming opponents for naturally rushing over after one of their number is assaulted: the manager for not picking the team around him despite him being unfit and playing poorly and having 2 and 3 from Euro player of the year to fit in. Beckham despite actually being provoked in 1998 got little of that rationalising. Indeed Rooney has gone further and not accepted that behaving like a impotent bull will get you sent off regardless of whether you considered your assault prior to carrying it out.

Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff has become popular with a nickname like the big child at school. Unlike the other two here he at least has some form and has acheived something. Nonetheless I have not seen a word of critique or complaint about him being sighted the worse for wear at a lot of sporting events and getting injured a fair amount. Personally I think he should ditch the Freddie BS. It is not his name and now he is a senior pro not let himself be labelled as some copy of a cartoon character. He is the man now, not part of some chummy public school sect where everyone has silly names.

The point is not to damn these guys but to wonder at a perspective that lauds such non threatening personalities. People who never make bold predictions or seem to raise a target for themselves. People who put perspiration before thinking even when it is at the expense of the team. People who never say anything remotely interesting.

In the end I cannot explain why people love the simple so much. Maybe it's easy to understand in that maybe the majority are attracted to performers they can feel superior to in every sense of the word bar their sporting acumen. Maybe this is harmless and I will never get it, but to me it just seems sad if nothing else. It has elements of being patronising and leads to not making demands that our most talented go on improving - Tiger Woods in the US is expected to beat Nicklaus and to die trying. Yet Flintoff is not being asked to take the next step and be better.