I used to look forward to the BBC Sports Personality of the Year with a passion, mainly because I could catch up with 12 months of action in the space of two hours. All the sports I only had a mild interest in – such as cricket, rugby and motor racing – would be reviewed one by one, with each enjoying a few minutes of highlights. It brought me up to scratch with the sporting year and was an enjoyable and brief jog down memory lane.

But what has happened to the ‘review’ element of the BBC show? This year’s programme revolved around showcasing its 10 main contenders, together with presenting its various other awards. It left me wondering what else has happened during the past sporting year.

There was no such problem back in the day, when Des Lynam, Harry Carpenter and Frank Bough were among the presenters and every sporting achievement of note seemed to be mentioned. Since then, the show has (along with the general media) become celebrity-focused and, worse still, seems slightly smug and full of self-importance.

What other programme, after all, would keep the 10 o’clock news waiting for 10 minutes? Although I think the ‘over-running’ element is something of a tradition that spans back quite some years.

I should have known better. On the eve of the awards, I’d vowed in Athletics Weekly not to watch the programme. Kelly Sotherton even tweeted halfway through, recommending I stick Spurs v Chelsea on instead.

Of course my pre-awards disgruntlement was due to the BBC’s decision to allow ‘lads mags’ on its voting panel. The Beeb defended the choice, explaining that Nuts and Zoo were on the panel because they have “a dedicated sports section which every week covers a range of sports including women’s sport and minority sports”. Never mind the recent study that reveals the public find it hard to differentiate between the language used by convicted sex offenders and the words used in these magazines.

With lads mags as judges, it contributed to no women being included in the shortlist. Although Nuts and Zoo weren’t the only questionable choices. One of the other SPOTY judges, the Manchester Evening News, named retired French footballer Patrick Vieira among others in its top 10. Nuts indeed.

Saying this, you can probably tell that I want ‘SPOTY’ to succeed. Ever since the first show, when Roger Bannister’s mere pacemaker, Chris Chataway, beat the world’s first sub-four-minute miler to the main award courtesy of a thrilling 5000m victory over Vladimir Kuts at White City (crucially, on the eve of the SPOTY show), it has become a national institution. It is great to celebrate sport on prime time telly. Any criticism I give here, of course, is a back-handed compliment.

Some might say my moaning here is merely sour grapes because athletics contenders Mo Farah and Dai Greene did not win. Not at all. Athletics has won the award 17 times, had 13 runners up and come third a total of 15 times – far, far more than any other sport.

Complete with his beaming smile, Farah seemed delighted with ‘bronze’, while Greene made the most of his moment with a great line about X Factor plus an amusing slice of x-rated language.

It was also great to see all the athletes in the audience – some of whom helped with the awards – such as Paula Radcliffe, Jessica Ennis, Tanni Grey-Thompson, Hannah England, Dwain Chambers, Christian Malcolm and others.

It has to be said, Mark Cavendish is also a worthy winner for 2011. The Tour de France is the toughest race on earth and his multiple sprint finish victories are just as hard earned as Farah’s achievements.

Athletics aside, cycling is definitely one of my favourite sports. I’ve stood on Alpe d’Huez and the Champs-Élysées in recent years to watch Le Tour and also did a short face-to-face interview with Cavendish last year (ironically only one hour after interviewing Farah elsewhere in London) and he was, most definitely, full of ‘personality’.

Farah will just have to raise his game in 2012 if he wants to win the accolade in Olympic year. So will the BBC. Or I really am switching off next time.

» Jason Henderson edits AW and tweets at @Jason_AW