Watching the opening of the BBC's annual extravaganza, one is forced to the conclusion that the last year has been a particularly poor one for British sport. Perhaps that is why the staging is so ridiculously flamboyant, to try to direct our attention away from the paucity of talent on display.
The Helen Rollason award to Sir Frank Williams was well deserved and an appropriate tribute to a man of enormous courage and determination.
But who are the 10 nominees for 'Sports Personality of the Year' ? Outside of their own sports, which of them has ever been heard of and which of them has done anything deserving of the award within the last year ?
Tom Daley, a diver whose 'sport' relies on the subjective opinions of a panel of judges; Amy Williams who does something silly on a sledge; Phil Taylor and Tony McCoy who have been incredibly consistent over a period of years but have done nothing extraordinary in the last year; Mark Cavendish, who won some stages in the Tour de France, admittedly something unusual for an Englishman, but hardly world shattering; Lee Westwood, who at least became Golf's no. 1, but only in the absence of Tiger Woods, and still without winning a major trophy; Graeme McDowell, who is a good golfer and won a major tournament, but is he really a contender here ?; Graeme Swann who really isn't fit to lick the boots of his great predecessors in the role of England's 'spin king' ; has anyone actually heard of David Haye, apparently a boxer, but at a time when boxing has died as a really competitive sport ?;
And finally, the only truly world class athlete amongst them, Jessica Ennis. Tiny but extraordinarily talented; a woman who jumps further above her own head than almost anyone else, ever, and also runs, and throws so well as to be the greatest all-round female athlete in the world. Can anyone else, possibly, be considered as the winner ?
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