Sprawling, cheesy, gimmicky, full of toe-curlingly embarrassing interviews — but still the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, dammit, lifts the spirits in a way few other events in the sporting calendar manage. Sunday night. Pull up a chair. Grab a drink. It only needs that theme tune to strike up for me to break out in goosebumps.
What is it about the old SPOTY? Well, there’s the dramatically lit auditorium full to bursting with the sporting great and good, all in their finery, this time up in Sheffield. It’s also something to do with the link to a halcyon BBC past, when Peter Dimmock did his establishment thing in front of the mic and even some of the athletes — men like Christopher Chataway, first ever winner in 1954 — looked as if they were just having a bit of fun before entering the upper echelons of government.
These days you can virtually buy the League title, but you’ll never be able to buy the public affection that is the only thing that’ll get you the BBC award.
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