Sports and entertainment converged in Los Angeles on Wednesday when stars took the stage to honor the past year in Sports. Drake hosted the show, and had his fair share of awkward moments, bad jokes, and songs to Donald Sterling. Overall though, he did a good job of moving the show along and providing enough entertainment to make the show interesting.
One of my favorite moments occurred when Drake and Lance Stephenson parodied the “Kiss cam” made famous by stadiums across the United States when they coined the “Lance cam” and Drake and Stephenson blew in the ear of Indiana Pacers star, Paul George.
Two of the more humorous moments of the show came in pre-recorded skits where Drake and Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin impersonated each other in the “Blake vs. Drake” feud. In another sketch, Drake impersonated boxer Manny Pacquiao as he sang the song “Let It Go” from the award winning movie, Frozen.
Latino Athletes took the stage when the United States Men’s National Soccer Team won the ESPY for “Best Moment”. Seattle Sounders, Deandre Yedlin (Dominican), Clint Dempsey (Mexican) and Salt Lakes Nick Rimando (Mexican) all thanked the fans and the United States for purchasing the most tickets than any other country other than Brazil to the World Cup games and for supporting them during their journey in Brazil.
Mexican jockey, Victor Espinoza won the ESPY for “Best Jockey” for his historic ride on board Triple Crown hopeful, California Chrome. Cristiano Ronaldo won the ESPY for “Best International Athlete” as well.
The highlights of the night however were undoubtedly the speeches of ESPN’s SportsCenter anchor Stuart Scott and St. Louis Rams Linebacker, Michael Sam. Scott won the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance and delivered an emotional speech about his seven year battle with cancer. In true Jimmy V fashion, his words were heartfelt and defiant as he discussed how he needed the help of everyone to help him fight this disease and that he would never give up and leave his daughters. In one of the more heartwarming moments of his speech, Scott asked his daughter to join him on stage and give him a hug saying “I need it”.
The first openly gay NFL athlete, Michael Sam, won the Arthur Ashe award for courage and gave a tremendously moving speech discussing his meeting with a young teenager who wanted to kill herself rather than share with her friends and family that she was gay. A teary eyed Sam talked about his own struggles in life, with his family and with his sexuality, and vowed to become the best football player he can be.
All in all it was a great night to honor our sports heroes and the moments that have captivated us over the course of the year. On what was the slowest night in sports on the field, it was the most star studded and enjoyable day of the year for anyone at Nokia Theater and watching on ESPN across the globe.
The full list of ESPY winners is below:
Best Male Golfer: Bubba Watson
Best Male Tennis Player: Rafael Nadal
Best Female Olympian: Jamie Anderson
Best NBA Player: Kevin Durant
Best Breakthrough Athlete: Richard Sherman
Best Team: Seattle Seahawks
Best Female Athlete: Ronda Rousey
Best Coach: Gregg Popovich
Best Upset: Mercer over Duke
Best Driver: Ryan Hunter-Reay
Best Female Athlete with a Disability: Jamie Whitmore
Best MLS Athlete: Tim Cahill
Best Female College Athlete: Breanna Stewart
Best Comeback: Russell Westbrook
Best Play: Auburn’s Chris Davis FG Return against Alabama
Best Male Athlete: Kevin Durant
Best Recording Breaking Performance: Peyton Manning
Best Moment: Team USA Soccer beats Ghana
Best Bowler: Pete Weber
Best Female Tennis Player: Maria Sharapova
Best International Athlete: Cristiano Ronaldo
Best NFL Player: Peyton Manning
Best Male College Athlete: Dough McDermott
Best Jockey: Victor Espinoza
Best Male Athlete with a Disability: Declan Farmer
Best Male Olympian: Sage Kotsenburg
Pat Tillman Award for Service: Josh Sweeney
Best Female Golfer: Michelle Wie
Best Male Action Sports Athlete: Nyjah Houston
Best MLB Player: Miguel Cabrera
Best Championship Performance: Kawhi Leonard
Best Fighter: Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Best Female Action Sports Athlete: Jamie Anderson
Best NHL Athlete: Sidney Crosby
Best WNBA Player: Maya Moore
Best Game: Auburn vs. Alabama
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