It's that time of year again when all the singing and dancing shows have finished and I get my one night of sport slapping itself on the back with the BBC Sport Personality of the Year.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tv_and_radio/sports_personality_of_the_year/default.stm

I always go into these events thinking of who I would like to win (without actually voting, like I said all those shows are OVER) and who I think will actually win so here is my quick rundown. Each major sport has a feature on what has happened throughout the season and few of the traditional big guns have any nominated sports people which in a World Cup year reflects particularly badly on football and the performance of England. The fact that other sports are featuring in this years list is certainly no reflection on the year gone and British sporting achievement. A number of British golfers proudly won the Ryder Cup as part of the European team and as such two members have been nominated in Graeme McDowell and Lee Westwood. As such they may well take votes off each other and I for one could not pick between their merits: Westwood this year became world No. 1 but has yet to win a major whilst McDowell won the US Open but is obviously ranked lower than the Englishman. A composite of both players would be a shoe in for the prize.
   Personally, if the option is available, I would like the winner of Sport's Personality of the Year to be the best in their sport however well they may have performed as if there is another nationality that is World or Olympic champion in that field it slightly takes the gloss of and so for that reason I'm eliminating Mark Cavendish for not winning the green jersey.
    The question of whether darts is a sport or not has been drowned out by the louder question of why Phil Taylor has been ignored for so long to the effect that the BBC have felt compelled to include him this year and while he will no doubt have some vociferous supporters that may organize themselves well in the vote I believe that the old question will still put off enough of the general public to deny him the prize.
   All the sportspeople on the list are undoubtedly excellent in their sport but I wonder if enough people even know what sport skeleton bob is to nominate Amy Williams as their champion. This is not to undermine her achievements as she brings exactly the right qualifications to the vote: an Olympic Gold medal.
   No matter how good a year you may have had you are always going to be judged on your last performance and in David Haye's case this may hamper his chances, ironic given that he won convincingly, because he was obviously fighting below his class making it less of an achievement.
   To a lesser extent England's poor showing in the 3rd Ashes test may harm Graeme Swann's chances although Australia are a slightly higher calibre of opposition than Audley Harrison. Swann has had a fantastic year and is the No2 bowler in the ICC rankings behind Dale Steyn. My previous comment about being No1 therefore rules him out as my choice even if I am being a little harsh as he is the top spin bowler.
   Tom Daley has won golds this year but there is a feeling that "it was only the Commonwealth Games" so he wasn't up against Europeans and Americans. At 16 he has plenty of time to build on his success so far and will not leave Birmingham empty handed as he is nominated in the young Sport's... and it would be somewhat perverse if he were to be considered good enough for the main top 10 but not as good as his fellow nominees in the younger category.
   That leaves Jessica Ennis and the favourite, Tony McCoy. Both are arguably the best in their field with Ennis adding European gold to her World Heptathlon gold and beating the reigning Olympic champion to do it whilst McCoy's glorious career was finally capped off when he won the Grand National this year on Don't Push It. That is the moment everybody has been waiting for to give him this prize and I suspect they won't let him down. Ennis came third last year and I think that she would make a very worthy winner this year and one that I would like to see but I feel that despite her achievements she may need to wait until 2012 when she can add the Olympic gold to her collection for more people to vote for her. McCoy completed his collection this year and my gut feeling told me to put a couple of quid on him to win the National as it felt like his turn and he did not disappoint and I think that it may be his turn again tomorrow night.
   Incidentally team of the year will probably go to Europe's golfers in lieu of having two players nominated but no winner and despite achieving something that they seem to manage every two years. Either that or coach of the year for Montgomerie but that may be contested by Carlo Ancelotti for winning the double in his first season at Chelsea and will probably be sacked soon after. Overseas player of the year is likely to be a toss up between Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta with the latter getting the nod for scoring the actual winning goal in the World Cup final.