January 1st 2008 is nearly upon us and if any extra incentive is needed to toast the New Year, it's the thought here in that it's Olympic year; only 221 days to the start of the .
Planning has been under way since but it's now time to sharpen our focus and hone our plans for coverage of the 'Greatest Show on Earth'.
This is the season for carols, mince pies - and an overload of end-of-year reviews. But not here. I've always believed 91Èȱ¬ Sport is at its best looking forwards, not backwards. So in that spirit, here's a guide to what you can expect from us in the next 12 months and beyond.
The most obvious point is that 2008 is an even year - and we like those! Two major landmarks will be the in Austria and Switzerland in June; and then the in August. , of course, but our coverage will be comprehensive on TV, on radio and online.
There should be some thrilling games along the way, without having to live through the inevitable England defeat in a penalty shoot-out.
| 09:03 UK time, Wednesday, 19 December 2007
It doesn’t take a genius to work out that we love an anniversary at the 91Èȱ¬.
The World Service is turning 75 in December and the start of 2008 will see us celebrate 60 years of the world’s oldest radio sports programme, Sports Report - which is a reminder of the legacy that the pioneers of broadcasting have left for those of us in the modern 91Èȱ¬ to build on.
Exactly half-a-century after that auspicious landmark, came another significant event in the evolution of the 91Èȱ¬ – the official launch of our internet operation. This week marks the 10th birthday for bbc.co.uk – and there has been a fair amount of reminiscing taking place among those of us involved in the early days of the online era.
Sometimes the media can become intoxicated by a single story: just think or the .
The Daily Mirror led their front page with 'canoe-gate' for eight successive days last week and the week before, while I've given up counting how often the London Evening Standard and the Daily Express have led with the Maddie story.
I'm in Shropshire for my in-laws' diamond wedding celebrations this weekend, and while I'm there I'll reach a somewhat less auspicious landmark of my own. Saturday afternoon at for Shrewsbury v Dagenham and Redbridge will mean I've seen games at all 92 current league grounds.
It's taken me almost half a diamond wedding term to get there - was the only ground I went to from age six until my mid-teens when I was first allowed to go further afield (Feethams, Darlington) without adult supervision. That was 1979 and it was only when John Motson was completing his 92 grounds a few years ago that I worked out I'd been to 70 odd myself, mostly watching Boro on away trips up and down the divisions, with a few others collected on various work trips.
We're announcing today that the 91Èȱ¬ will be showing the first free-to-air broadcast of the fight from last weekend. It's being scheduled this coming Sunday lunchtime at 1pm.
This follows the successful showing of a few weeks back, which attracted more than two million viewers – and, yes, we'd already made the arrangements to show the Hatton fight before awards in Birmingham.
The are still more than seven months away but this week we're launching our new on our website.
In the past we might have waited until a month before the Games before launching a dedicated section. But this time we wanted to get in as early as possible.
I'm writing this at too early an hour on the train from Birmingham to London. But - our biggest ever studio audience for Sports Personality of the Year, and some great moments.
I don't think any of us there - or I hope the TV audience - will forget the emotion of . When we moved out of the studio at Television Centre and brought in thousands of members of the public to join the event, this is exactly what we wanted. The audience saluted Sir Bobby with a two-minute standing ovation. It was a world away from the polite applause of the old version of the show.
It never fails to amaze me in this job that something you could not possibly have envisaged when you got up in the morning can end up completely dominating your day.
When I arrived at work this morning with a list as long as your arm of things I needed to do, I certainly didn't anticipate having to sweep aside most of them to investigate whether or not was bungled.
Hi again all,
A few weeks ago we asked you for your favourite bits of Inside Sport from this year and you responded with most votes for Gabby’s interviews with , and . There were also lots of votes for and also , who lost his legs in battle but wanted to become a Paralympic rower. We only had time to show short clips on the programme but you can see all those pieces in full, either from the links on this blog, or together with many other key interviews and great features on the .
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