Vote for Clay Johnson

Now is the time for all loyal readers of Proper Course to show your commitment to the sport of sailing by voting Clay Johnson as the US Olympic Committee's Male Athlete of the Month (for December). Vote here.

This isn't a poll between sailors only; it's for athletes of many sports. Come on people, we can't let the guy from "men's bowling" beat a sailor. Which is not to say that I am being condescending or patronizing about men's bowling. I am sure it is a fine sport and the men's bowling athletes deserve our respect for achieving more in men's bowling than I have or ever will...

Where was I? Oh yes, vote for Clay.

If you think you don't know who Clay Johnson is then you haven't been paying attention to what I have been writing here. In August I wrote about how he won the Laser US Nationals and how he was top USA sailor at the Laser Worlds, in December he was second at Sail Melbourne, and even more impressively Clay is one of my 5 Laser Sailing Bloggers to Watch in 2010.

So vote for Clay. We can't let a sailor be beaten for male athlete of the month by the table tennis male athlete. Which is not to say that I am being condescending or patronizing about table tennis male athletes. I am sure it is a fine sport.... Oh, never mind. Just vote for Clay.

Spread the word. Vote now. Poll closes Jan 18.

Update Sunday 7:00 AM: After I posted this plea for votes for Clay he surged into a lead in the poll but overnight he has been overtaken by the wrestler who has our boy pinned on his back 84 votes to 68. Come on all you sailing fans, help the sailor pull off a reversal and take down the wrestler. Note: the use of the term "boy" does not signify disrespect etc. etc. etc.

Update Sunday 6:45 PM: Today Clay caught a huge gust on the right side of the course on the run and surfed into a commanding lead over the wrestler. As of now he is over 60 votes ahead. But sailors we cannot be complacent. If last night is any guide, all the wrestling fans come out at night and vote for their boy. Spread the word. Tell all your sailing friends. Vote for Clay. Clay currently has 42% of the total vote, so if we can just support him on the final lap of the race we may be able to push him over 50% and crush all the other sports. Take that Tiddlywinks!

Update Monday 7:45 AM: Woohoo! Clay has extended his lead over the wrestler overnight and now has over a 100 point margin. But wait, who is this making a splash? The diver plunged long and deep right into third place and is poised on the springboard to take over second from the wrestler. We cannot relax. Come on sailors we can do it. Vote for Clay. Tell all your friends to vote for Clay. Let's push his vote share over 50% and show the world what is the most popular Olympic sport. Take that Pooh Sticks!

Update Monday 5:00 PM. Uh oh! As I feared there has been a huge surge of votes for the diver today and Clay only has a narrow 80 vote lead over him. I expect some diver blogger is behind all this. Shame on him. So, all you sailors, now is the time to Get Out The Vote. Don't let complacency lose this election for us. Phone all your friends. Tweet all your friends. Tell them to vote for Clay, TODAY. Polls close at.... actually I have no idea when polls close but it says they will close some time today. DON'T DELAY. VOTE FOR CLAY.

Update Monday 11:30 PM. Polls are closed. Clay won! Take that Cheese Rolling.