SPORT is fast becoming all about spin and presentation rather than skill and perspiration.

You only needed to be watching BBC 2 at 7pm on Monday to see just how much sport is more talk than technique.

There was a presenter, pundits, players, managers, fans, clips of great moments from the past. The build-up of excitement was on a par with a World Cup Final or Olympic 100m race for gold.

So what was this great moment of sporting history we were about to witness?

A cup draw. Yes, that’s right, all this televisual planning for a prime-time slot on one of the world’s most famous broadcasting companies to find out who would be playing whom in a football game three weeks hence.

Not a ball kicked, not a bead of sweat dripped, not a puff of breath expended. Is this what sport’s come to?

Well, actually, yes.

What next, televising the release of the Premier League fixtures? Don’t scoff, if people will watch the draw for a cup rated third on most people’s priority list they would definitely tune in to watch that.

Monday night might have been taking a sporting tangent to a new level of overhype, but it was only following the trend of putting presentation high on the priority list.

TV companies spend fortunes each World Cup setting up their studio within sight of either a stadium of an iconic landmark in the host country.

It’s a waste of money when you think the viewer was probably just as happy years ago with the hazy pictures and muffled commentary during the action and then listening to three pundits pick over the action in a London studio at half time.

There is nothing new nor wrong with presentation of sport. Take the FA Cup final coverage in the 1970s which used to start at 9am-ish and include all manner of features, games and interviews non stop until the game kicked off at 3pm.

Then there’s the opening ceremonies of all major events and the Sports Personality of the Year show.

But these are all part of the event or celebrations of achievement not in-one-ear-out-the-other hype.

Like it or not, we live in a sporting world of round-the-clock discussion and analysis broken up by the odd bit of action.

There are radio stations devoted solely to talking about sport, athletes and clubs constantly tweet their every thought and action, and you can chew the sporting fat with like-minded people on website forums any time of day or night.

People might not play but my goodness they love to pontificate. And you can take this column as an example!