Another awards show that has been solid over the last couple years is the ESPY’s put on by ESPN. Granted I, and most like you, have no clue what ESPY stand for, but anyways. With MTV constantly putting on bad award shows (thanks Jimmy Fallon), the ESPY's are poised to overtake the MTV awards as the most entertaining award show of the year. Like the MTV Movie Awards, the awards are picked by us, the audience, so make sure you drop by ESPN.com and vote. Matthew Perry is your host and I feel he should at the very least do a solid job. The best part of the ESPY's, the Arthur Ashe Courage Award, has yet to be anounced. So here is the list of nominees and who I voted for. Keep in mind this is an abridged list as I could care less about awards handed out to Best WNBA Player, Best Outdoor Athlete, or the Best Person Who Can Only Make Left Turns.
Best Female Athlete
Seimone Augustus, LSU Basketball
Natalie Coughlin, U.S. Swimming
Maria Sharapova, WTA
Annika Sorenstam, LPGA
Who I Voted For: Natalie Coughlin.
Who Will Win: Maria Sharapova
First of all you need to eliminate Annika because a golfer should never be named best athlete. Then gold metals trump any other award and Coughlin got two last summer. And her vote has nothing to do with her being on my top 5 list.
Best Male Athlete
Lance Armstrong, cyclist
Payton Manning, Indianapolis Colts
Bode Miller, U.S. Ski Team
Michael Phelps, U.S. Swim Team
Vijay Singh, professional golfer
Who I Voted For: Michael Phelps
Who Will Win: Lance Armstrong
Again, for me, gold medals trump everything and Phelps’ eight tied an Olympic Record. But Armstrong has won the last two tears so I expect a repeat.
Best Team
Baylor Women’s Basketball
Boston Red Sox
New England Patriots
San Antonio Spurs
USC Football
Who I Voted For: San Antonio Spurs
Who Will Win: San Antonio Spurs
No college team has ever won this, and there is a good reason for that, so you can throw out those two teams. Boston/New England will split the vote, so I have a feeling that everyone will vote like me and go for the only team left. Unless Sox Nation makes some pact for New Englander only vote for one team. NC Basketball has to wondering how they got left off in favor of Baylor.
Best Coach
Bill Belichicken, New England Patriots
Pete Carroll, USC Football
Terry Francona, Boston Red Sox
Gregg Popovich
Roy Williams, UNC Men’s Basketball
Who I Voted For: Gregg Popovich
Who Will Win: Gregg Popovich
See Best Team for reasons. Although I think Williams has an outside chance with some pity votes, but he coached college where one coach has won. And surprisingly that was Gary “She’s Awful” Barnett.
Best Championship Performance
Deion Branch, New England Patriots
Matt Leinart, USC Football
Sean May, UNC Men’s Basketball
Curt Schilling, Boston Red Sox
Who I Voted For: Sean May
Who Will Win: Curt Schilling
It’s a same that Schilling will win this award. After a year of crusades against performance enhancing drugs in baseball, an award will go to a guy who uses performance enhancing drugs. And if you don’t think what Shilling shot into his ankle before his games were not performance enhancing, you are naïve.
Best Male Olympic Performance
Michael Phelps, Swimming
Cael Sanderson, Wrestling
Jeremy Wariner, Tack & Field
Who I Voted For: Michael Phelps
Who Will Win: Michael Phelps
Phelps was the golden boy (pun intended) of the Olympics so he will win, and he should because of his record performance.
Best Female Olympic Performance
Natalie Coughlin, Swimming
Carly Patterson, Gymnastics
Team USA Softball
Who I Voted For: Natalie Coughlin
Who Will Win: Team USA Softball
It seems a little unfair to have a whole team in competition, but anyways. And didn’t Patterson choke in the team competition to cost the US the gold?
Best Play
Matt Brown, Wichita State Baseball
Chuck Caruthers
Blake Hoffarber
Tiger Woods at the Masters
Who I Voted For: Blake Hoffarber
Who Will Win: Tiger Woods
Blake, if you remember, is the kid from Minnesota who forced overtime his state championship game by hitting a three-pointer while lying on his back. Sadly, Woods will win by name recognition alone.
Best Upset
Bucknell Men’s Basketball (vs. Kansas)
Giacomo (vs. the field)
Puerto Rico Men’s Basketball (vs. Team USA)
Vermont Men’s Basketball (vs. Syracuse)
Who I Voted For: Bucknell Men’s Basketball
Who Will Win: Puerto Rico Men’s Basketball
Giacomo is eliminated because he’s not human. Many people had Vermont going deep into the bracket. Puerto Rico was an upset, but no one was that surprised, but on the other hand, Bucknell destroys many, including me, people’s brackets.
Best Comeback
Kayla Burt, Washington Basketball (Suffered Cardiac Arrest)
Mark Fields, Carolina Panthers (Cancer)
Rulon Gardner, Wrestling (Amputated Toes)
Jordon Sigalet, Bowling Green Hockey (Multiple Sclerosis)
Who I Voted For: Mark Fields
Who Will Win: Rulon Gardner
This is the hardest category as all are worthy of an award, but I have to say cancer is a hard thing to comeback from after all the radiation treatments.
Best Breakthrough
Danica Patrick, IRL
Ben Roethlisburger, Pittsburg Steelers
Maria Sharapova, Tennis
Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat
Who I Voted For: Maria Sharapova
Who Will Win: Dwyane Wade
Wow, Danica can turn left 1000 time (sarcasm). And like Wade and Big Ben, didn’t win anything last year. I’ll take a winner.
Best Record Breaking Performance
New England Patriots (21 straight wins)
Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts (49 TD’s)
Pat Summitt, Tennessee Woman’s Basketball (882 career wins)
Ichiro Suzuki (262 hits)
Who I Voted For: Ichiro Suzuki
Who Will Win: Peyton Manning
Summitt gets thrown out for caching Women’s Basketball, NE didn’t do it in a single season, and Manning’s will be broken soon with the new rules in place. So Ichiro should win by default.
Best Sports Movie
I abstained from this category as the best sports movie, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
Under Armour Undeniable Performance Award
Braylon Edwards
Misty May and Kerry Walsh
Terrell Owens
David Pollack
Who I Voted For: Misty May and Kerry Walsh
Who Will Win: Terrell Owens
I have no idea what this award is for, so I just went with the gold metal winners. Of course, this award make about as much sense as:
GMC Professional Grade Play Award
Lance Armstrong, Cycling
Curtis Martin, New York Jets
Steve Nash, Phoenix Suns
Pat Summitt, Tennessee Basketball
Who I Voted For: Lance Armstrong
Who Will Win: Lance Armstrong
Umm, I’ve ran out of something deep to say so I’ll just stop there with the predictions.
On a side note, I want to give a congratulations to my boy Craig Biggio who broke the record for most hit by a pitch in a career. To show just how big those hits are, Biggio scored on a third of his record breaking HBP’s. So I already know who I’ll be voting for next year’s Best Record Breaking Performance for the ESPY’s.
I disagree with quite a few, but it's late so I'm going to pick only one of your choices to argue. Tiger's shot at the Masters couldn't be duplicated in a million tries, if ever. Hitting a three-pointer on your back could... eventually. On top of that, Tiger made that shot with MILLIONS (not a couple hundred) of people watching him live on television. The Masters is just a tiny bit more clutch than a state championship game.
ReplyDeleteI agree that what Natalie Coughlin did in the Olympic games was impressive and I hope she gets some recognition for it. But since this is a popularity contest and ESPN shows Sharapova highlights every 20 seconds cause she's hot, I bet she wins....
ReplyDeleteAnd Pat Summitt has earned this win over anyone else on that list for the last one.
Pat Summit deserves the ahcievement award over the rest of that list--even above Peyton who is a close 2nd.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree on May and Walsh. And why the heck would you put Pollack in there? What were they desparate for choices?
Yeah, Craig Biggio put on an armguard and dived in front of pitches. Record Breaking?? I guess so, but come on Scooter, do you really think that Biggio's plunks were on a par with Don Baylor's. Kudos to him, but I think its a tainted record. Also, until Peyton Manning wins a meaningful game in the postseason, I can't give him a single award. My man, Dan Marino, had the same knock, unfortunately, except Dan the Man never had Edgerrin James running behind him.
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