David Foot: Plenty to ponder over the festive period

This is the time of the year when we put on silly paper hats, sink into our armchairs and settle too willingly for the easy option of watching what now passes as TV's passive Christmas pleasures.

But it is also the moment for some sporting contemplation and for a few questions, none of them earth-shattering, to be asked.

For instance, did the viewers get it right in their choice for the Sports Personality of the Year? Has Bradley Orr overplayed his hand at Ashton Gate? And is there a way back for stylish, almost forgotten Michael Vaughan, England's captain not long ago?

The BBC's annual spectacular was as usual a production triumph. Famous faces were featured in every row, many of them caught sneaking a glance at the monitors.

For some of us, the event has over the years been laden with rather too much self congratulation, whipped-up showbiz glitz in a world which doesn't need it, and a surfeit of hackneyed phrases in the linking commentary.

This year there were Olympic triumphs rightly to incorporate. Lesser sports earned their extended profiles. New names emerged. That was a refreshing trend.

Lewis Hamilton, who had looked the undisputed favourite at one stage, finished the runner-up and not the winner. This was in spite of his own gracious manner and a career still ahead of unimaginable riches and success. We have every reason to be proud of his skills.

Was he overhauled however by Chris Hoy in a nation's affections because of the fact that his advisors had told him to pay his demanding taxes elsewhere. I think the true reason is more fundamental. In his triumphs, including those odd last-lap manoeuvres, he was partnered by a machine.

He was one man with a very sophisticated engine. Did it diminish in some small way the human muscle power, of the kind in which the Olympic Games were idealistically launched and evolved?

Another of the Christmas-time discussion points is surely the case of Bradley Orr, a naturally tough, talented and now cussed Liverpudlian who appears to have indulged in a mind game with his manager. He certainly can't win in the short-term. It is now his move and we aren't privy to the direction his agent will now be leading him. The fans, who admired his endeavour on the field, are disappointed in his seemingly adamant attitude and they want to know whether it's simply a matter of money. The club for their part could discreetly mention that City worked tirelessly on his behalf in their social-worker mode when he infamously got himself into trouble with the law.

Orr, whose future is now seen as away from the West Country – barring any late sweeping changes of stance – is not apparently going to regain his first-team status at Ashton Gate. His absence has led to enforced defensive changes and City could lose serious money if he eventually leaves without any question of a fee. So what, if anything, is going to happen in January?

And finally, a few stray lingering thoughts to ponder over the Christmas. Surely Paul Ince has demonstrated once again that novice managers, however promising, just can't walk into Premiership No 1 jobs. Of the bottom six positions in League One, four of the teams – Swindon, Yeovil, Cheltenham and Hereford – are from our region. How many of them are going down? Stand by for a Michael Vaughan comeback – he lacks nothing in Yorkshire resolve.

Sad to note the death of Dickie Dyke, the lad from the St John's bible class who stepped in at the last minute for Yeovil in their historic 2-1 cup win over Sunderland.

I was one of the first to break the news to him in the solicitor's office where he worked. "Exciting, isn't it?" said the unfazed Dickie.