Every year it's the same. Two hours of television with approximately five minutes of actual sporting action shown. Mind numbingly dull interviews with the great and the good conducted by permatan Lineker, an increasingly mumsy Sue and that gangly bloke off the motor racing. A couple of pointless, monumentally unentertaining gimmicks almost totally unconnected to the subject of the show. And at the end, the winner is usually someone who doesn't actually have much of a personality at all.
It all could have been so different had Phil 'The Power' Taylor won. As well as being world champion a staggering 15 times, the darts colossus has the added appeal of being a genuine character, a throwback to an earlier era when sports stars were normal people unsullied by the machinations of PR and willing to remain themselves. Grinning, fist-pumping, cracking gags with friends in the audience - The Power was in his element, and his ample girth is comforting proof to everyone that you don't need the body of a Greek god to reach the top in every sport.
The contrast between Stoke-on-Trent's finest and the recipient of this evening's Lifetime Achievement Award couldn't be more stark. Presumably Mr Beckham was given this award at the tender age of 35 to ensure his high profile attendance - although unlike the rest of the audience he clearly insisted that all his immediate family were invited too before accepting.
I don't dispute that Becks is a fine ambassador for English football, and he was a very, very good, though not great player for many years. But this 'award' smacks of the BBC cynically pandering to the cult of personality rather than focusing on the people who have actually been the most significant sporting achievers of 2010. The ex-England international's Oscar-like acceptance speech played mawkishly to the gallery as usual and was at least 27 times longer than the airtime given to any of the 10 Personality Of The Year nominees.
Even so, the Sage would rather listen to Beckham's platitudinous ramblings continuously for a week than suffer another 30 seconds of James Corden. I came across this monstrously unfunny man stuffing his face in an Italian restaurant recently and nearly asked him how he has managed to build such a successful career when it seems the sum total of his talent is being a lairy fat bloke. A comedy routine based around the less than shocking revelation that darts players like a pint and trying to molest Sue Barker does not justify a slot on primetime television,and I was left hoping that Phil The Power would take exception to Corden's slur upon his profession and proceed to pepper him with perfectly aimed tungsten tipped projectiles until he cried for mercy.
Oh - and well done A.P. McCoy. Who are you again??
Totally agree on Beckham, though more due to his youth than your point about the cult of personality. After all, that is the name of the award. I'd have given the 2010 award to Ennis. She's got the achievements, plus the bigger package, in terms of being a fine poster girl for British sport. Now I don't think you could call Taylor that.
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