London's long goodbye and Murray magic serves up sumptuous end to Summer of Sporting Love
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UPDATED:
08:22 GMT, 11 September 2012
Anyone who has ever witnessed Soul Brother No 1 James Brown in action will know there was one thing The Hardest Working Man in Showbusiness was no good at – finishing a show.
Of course, he DID know how to, but he just didn’t know how to finish it once.
Jump cut to London 2012, and just like the end of The Godfather of Soul's gigs, we got not one, not two, but three finales – a trio of thrilling celebrations of what has surely been an unprecedented Summer of Sporting Love.
Jolly good show: An unforgettable summer of sport came to a close outside Buckingham Palace
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And of course, if a series of big finishes was good enough for Mr Please Please himself…
While we're on a musical note: Coldplay. Now at this point in the proceedings I must declare an interest – Coldplay are not really my bag, daddio. But that is not the point.
As far as I’m concerned, whoever it had been up there on stage for the Paralympic closing ceremony (Channel 4) for that long, it would have been too much.
Perhaps they set the stadium alight for those who were there, but for me, from the perspective of a telly-watching experience, there was just too much band, not enough of the sheer scope of what was happening in the clearly brilliantly-conceived Festival of Flames.
In saying that, their last two songs really did hit the spot – just after a rather injudicious ad break nearly caused us to miss the lowering of the Paralympic flag. Close!
And particularly so when it was
accompanied for us at home with an epic montage of sporting prowess
delivered, unapologetically (as was all the channel’s coverage) 'stumps
'n' all'.
That moment really brought home what the previous eleven days had been all about.
With all that sense of togetherness
that both Games had generated across the last seven weeks, I think it
was therefore a shame that come Monday and the third big Finale – the
Our Greatest Team Parade – that it could not have been brought to our
homes as a co-production between BBC1 and Channel 4.
Given the fact that this was all about a
nation sharing, I’d have loved to have seen Gary Lineker, Gaby Logan,
Clare Balding and Ade Adepitan together on a stage in The Mall to
exchange some of their Games tales much in the way that Olympian and
Paralympian were doing on the series of floats that crawled through the
Capital on a wave of public affection.
Rousing words: Boris raised a smile as the athletes took a deserved final bow
Channel 4's Jon Snow may also have been quietly grateful for the day off at times, as the poor man found himself doing his bit from what must have felt like the VIP balcony at Ministry Of Sound, so loud was the PA.
However, it did help him hear what was his favourite moment – and judging from the background laughter and subsequent reaction, many others, too – from Boris Johnson.
The Mayor, managing to upstage a Princess and a Prime Minister by suggesting that through the excitement and emotion the telly audience at home had witnessed, the Games had 'inspired a generation, and probably helped to create one' on the sofas of Britain.
As you read this, that quote is being slotted in there alongside the likes of 'we will fight them on the beaches', 'annus horribilis' and not forgetting, of course, Gary Neville’s Champions League Final 'aaaaaeeeeeeeey'.
However, it should not overshadow the words of 51-year-old quad tennis medallist Peter Norfolk. In an interview on one of the floats, he said: 'It's disabled sport. But it’s not. It's elite sport. I'd sit down and pay to watch that on TV.'
If nothing else, surely a much more appropriate use for your settee
During her BBC commentary Hazel Irving
described the drama of Monday in London as 'the last hurrah', but she
seemed to be forgetting that a fellow Scot, and Gold medal Olympian, was
in a position to really put the cherry on the cake with victory at the
US Open as Andy Murray went for his first Grand Slam against defending
champion Novak Djokovic.
Take a bow: The likes of Hoy and Ennis delivered a raft of magic moments this summer
Not like Sky Sports was laying the pressure on heavily with their live coverage on Monday evening, or anything. What with an opening sequence featuring heroic winners such as Ali, Michael Jordan and Bobby Moore coupled with the cascading tears of loss of Oliver McCall and Gazza!
Nevertheless, the signs in the build-up to the game were good. Host Marcus Buckland said Murray 'cut a relaxed figure throughout the fortnight', and Andy himself told Mark Petchey in interview that he’d prepared for the game by ‘watching Wedding Crashers – a favourite – and playing a bit of Scrabble’.
Frankly, anyone who can sit through Wedding Crashers more than once should be ready for anything.
Sir Alex Ferguson was also on hand to tell Sky he's 'brought a lot pride to the Scottish people'. Fair enough, he was no longer in a Team GB kit. In fact, he rather looked like he’d just been playing a lunchtime five-a-side.
While Boris Becker – second only to John
McEnroe in the pundit's chair nowadays, surely – felt this was the
Scotsman's 'destiny'.
Cut to nigh on five hours later, and
after an epic contest, the incredibly becalmed young Scot (perhaps
rerunning a scene or two from Wedding Crashers in his head) waited for
Djokovic to eventually emerge from a liberally booed time-out to beat
him in five sets to add a first Grand Slam to Olympic gold.
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Destiny: After four near misses, Murray finally broke his Grand Slam duck in New York
