We on Award Tour: 2007 ESPY Nominations

The ESPY’s are quickly becoming even more entertaining than the MTV Awards season granted half of the readers here may not even know what they are, and that half most likely like dudes (ESPY’s are awards given out by ESPN, just don’t ask me what they stand for). This year we get the tag team tandem of hosts in LeBron James and Jimmy Kimmel. Should be intesting. No Arthur Ashe Award winner has been announced yet but the segment always ranks as the one of the most emotional moments of the year and enough reason to watch. Now, much like the Grammy’s, there are way too many categories to list here, plus I have no desire to pick who is the dude who can turn left for five hours the best, so check out all the nominees and vote on the ESPY’s page at ESPN.com and be sure to check out the awards on July 15th at 9PM ET on ESPN. Now on to my predictions:


Best Male Athlete
Roger Federer, Tennis Pro
LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers
Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts
LaDainian Tomlinson, San Diego Chargers
Tiger Woods, Pro Golfer

Who Will Win: Peyton Manning
Who I Voted For: Roger Federer

When it comes to the best across all sports, you have to instantly throw out the two that didn’t win anything over the last two months and I have said this every time I’ve done and ESPY’s nomination post but golfers are not athletes. And if you take away clay, Ferderer doesn’t lose. Ever.


Best Team
Florida Gators Basketball - Final Four Champs
Florida Gators Football - BCS Champs
Indianapolis Colts - Super Bowl Champs
San Antonio Spurs - NBA Champs
St. Louis Cardinals - World Series Champs
Tennessee Lady Vols Basketball - Final Four Champs

Who Will Win: Indianapolis Colts
Who I Voted For: Indianapolis Colts

No one even remembers that the Cards won and by the time the awards are handed out everyone will have forgotten the Spurs. It is laughable that college teams are even included here and they should really split this into two different categories, pro and college.

Best Coach/Manager
Billy Donovan, Florida Gators
Tony Dungy, Indianapolis Colts
Jim Leyland, Detroit Tigers
Gregg Popovich, San Antonio Spurs
Pat Summitt, Tennessee Lady Vols Basketball

Who Will Win: Tony Dungy
Who I Voted For: Tony Dungy

Pretty much see above.

Best Moment
Tiger Woods, British Open - Tears of Joy
New Orleans, Monday Night Football - Saints Return, Beat the Falcons
Tony Dungy vs. Lovie Smith - Super Bowl's First African American Coaches
Derek Fisher - Father First, Utah Jazz Second

Who Will Win: New Orleans
Who I Voted For: Derek Fisher

I am not sure if anyone cared that two black coaches when head-to-head and I cannot even remember why Tiger cried. Now the Saints were a great moment even with all the over the top celebration, remember U2 performed, but the Fisher story made me tear up a little.


Best Championship Performance
LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers
Jimmie Johnson, Nascar Driver
Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts
Serena Williams, Tennis Pro

Who Will Win: Peyton Manning
Who I Voted For: Peyton Manning

Um, didn’t James get swept? How does that qualify for a best of anything? He was the fourth best player on the floor at that. Williams was forgettable and Johnson just turned left for hours so Manning is the easy choice here.


Best Record-Breaking Performance
Bobby Knight, Coach, Texas Tech Red Raiders
Michael Phelps, U.S. Swimmer
Kelly Slater, Pro Surfer
LaDainian Tomlinson, San Diego Chargers

Who Will Win: Bobby Knight
Who I Voted For: LaDainian Tomlinson

There must not have been many records broken if there is a surfer in the category. Since there were no Olympics this year no on will care about Phelps, myself included. In the end I’ll take a player over a coach.


Best Breakthrough Athlete
Kevin Durant, Texas Longhorns
Devin Hester, Chicago Bears
Ryan Howard, Philadelphia Phillies
Morgan Pressel, Women's Golf Pro

Who Will Win: Kevin Durant
Who I Voted For: Morgan Pressel

I was less than impressed than the athletes here so I went with Pressel because, well, she’s moderately attractive. Hey I’m shallow.


Best Game
Oklahoma State over Texas - College Hoops Triple Overtime
AFC Championship - Colts over Patriots - Remarkable Playoff Comeback
Fiesta Bowl - Boise State over Oklahoma - David vs. Traditional Goliath

Who Will Win: AFC Championship
Who I Voted For: AFC Championship

I can’t say I watched the whole AFC Championship because I turned off the game early when the Colts went into the big hole. I doubt I was the only one. But when you can come back from three touchdowns in a playoff game, especially against the thorn in your side, it is the easy choice.


Best Finish
Dodgers over Padres - Back to Back to Back to Back
Harwick's Daytona 500 - Nothing Closer, Ever
Division II Men's Basketball Championship - 57 Game Win Streak, Broken
Preakness - Triple Crown Spoiler

Who Will Win: Dodgers over Padres
Who I Voted For: Dodgers over Padres

Way too many nominees about dudes turning left. It has been fifty years since a team hit four bombs in a row and the Dodgers did it in the ninth to tie the game. Then hit another round triper in the tenth to win.


Best Play
Boise State 2 Pt Conversion vs. Oklahoma - The Statue of Liberty Play
Darrelle Revis' Return - One Thunderous Block
Dwyane Wade Shot - Crazy Shot off the Glass
Endy Chavez Catch - Home Run Thief
Travis Pastrana - X12 - Moto X Double Backflip

Who Will Win: Boise State
Who I Voted For: Boise State

College football’s overtime rules are pretty lame but that doesn’t take away from Boise State’s ballsy play against a team most thought didn’t deserve playing against.


Best Upset
Detroit Tigers vs. New York Yankees - AL Division Series
Golden State Warriors vs. Dallas Mavericks - NBA Playoffs
Florida Gators vs. Ohio State Buckeyes - BCS National Championships
Rutgers Scarlet Knights vs. Duke Blue Devils - NCAA Women's Sweet 16

Who Will Win: Florida Gators
Who I Voted For: Golden State Warriors

This one is pretty easy for me because eights never beat one seeds in any sport. And they did it in six games to win.


Best NFL Player
Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints
Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts
Larry Johnson, Kansas City Chiefs
Jason Taylor, Miami Dolphins
LaDainian Tomlinson, San Diego Chargers
Brian Urlacher, Chicago Bears

Who Will Win: Peyton Manning
Who I Voted For: Brian Urlacher


Best NBA Player
Carmelo Anthony, Denver Nuggets
Kobe Bryant, Los Angles Lakers
Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurs
LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers
Steve Nash, Phoenix Suns
Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas Mavericks

Who Will Win: LeBron James
Who I Voted For: Steve Nash


Best Baseball Player
Ryan Howard, Philadelphia Phillies
Derek Jeter, New York Yankees
Justin Morneau, Minnesota Twins
Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals
Johan Santana, Minnesota Twins

Who Will Win: Albert Pujols
Who I Voted For: Johan Santana


Under Armour Undeniable Award
Arizona Wildcat Softball
Nebraska Cornhusker Volleyball
North Carolina Tar Heels Soccer
Northwestern Wildcats Lacrosse
Tennessee Lady Vols Basketball
Wisconsin Badgers Hockey

Who Will Win: Tennessee Lady Vols Basketball
Who I Voted For: North Carolina Tar Heels Soccer

Gotta love the ambiguous categories that are just shameful product placement. But considering that all the nominees are female college teams, that this is their category. I don’t think that this award was given out to the same thing last year though. Just odd.


Hummer Liker Nothing Else Award
LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers
Michael Phelps, US Swimmer
Kendric Smith, Hughes High School
Diana Taurasi, Phoenix Mercury
LaDainian Tomlinson, San Diego Chargers

Who Will Win: LeBron James
Who I Voted For: LeBron James

I am glad LeBron is nominated in this category because I can bring up my “LeBron’s Mom Gave Me a Hummer” t-shirt. Other than that there really isn’t much more to say about these mixed bag of random athletes.