My ESPY Ballot

Friday ​June 23, 2017
By: Orri Benatar

The 25th ESPYs will be on July 12th and hosted by Peyton Manning.

The 2017 ESPY Awards is the only ESPN program that I will give my attention to. Some of the awards are pointless and have vague criteria, but I always get excited thinking about the awards that cross sports together. I obviously wish their were more soccer nominations and better representation of international sports (for that, look up Laureus World Sport Awards), but for North American sports, the ESPYs is the closest and best thing we have to a sports award show. I will go through the most notable awards and give my personal choice for who should win and who I think the fans will vote to win.

Best Male Athlete

Nominees
Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City Thunder)
Michael Phelps (U.S. Swimming)
Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins)
Kris Bryant (Chicago Cubs)

The first thing that caught my attention was no football player, which is really weird for ESPN not to include Matt Ryan or Tom Brady. This list though is very solid and basically has the eventual NBA and NHL MVP winners, the NL MVP, and if there was one, the Olympic Male MVP. I look at this award as who had the best season and who is the best pound for pound athlete. While Phelps, Crosby, and Bryant are incredible, Russell Westbrook is my hands down choice. He fought through a season where he missed his best teammate and he is the most high energy athlete out of the four. Phelps has set medal records before this year, what Westbrook did hadn’t been done in 50+ years, and that is averaging a triple-double. Since 2011, the ESPY for Best Male Athlete has gone to an NBA Player. That trend continues.
 
My Pick - Russell Westbrook
My Prediction - Russell Westbrook

Best Female Athlete

Nominees
Serena Williams (U.S. Tennis)
Candace Parker (Los Angeles Sparks)
Simone Biles (U.S. Gymnastics)
Katie Ledecky (U.S. Swimming)

Serena Williams and Candace Parker will go down in history as two of the best female athletes ever. Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky are on pace to be greater than any other female athletes. These teenagers stole the Olympics with their joyful, powerful, and dominant performances in Rio. Seeing these two compete was unlike anything the world had ever seen from each athlete's respective sport. The difference is that in swimming, we have seen both men and women win multiple gold medals. In gymnastics, we’ve never seen someone win 5 medals in one Olympics. Biles was already crowned the World Female Athlete of the Year by Laureus and she will add an ESPY to her collection.
 
My Pick - Simone Biles
My Prediction - Simone Biles

​Best Championship Performance

Nominees
Tom Brady (New England Patriots)
Shay Knighten (Oklahoma Softball)
DeShaun Watson (Clemson Football)
Kevin Durant (Golden State Warriors)

These nominees had the firepower to propel their teams to titles in incredible performances. Three of these athletes were consistent throughout and were clutch when they needed to be. One of them engineered the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history after being down 28-3 in the 3rd quarter. While DeShaun Watson brought back memories of Vince Young and Kevin Durant willed his way to a title, Brady did something we have never seen and probably won’t ever see again.
 
My Pick - Tom Brady
My Prediction - Tom Brady

Best Breakthrough Athlete

Nominees
Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks)
Laurie Hernandez (U.S. Gymnastics)
Aaron Judge (New York Yankees)
Christian Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund and U.S. Soccer)
Dak Prescott (Dallas Cowboys)

This award is always the hardest to pick every year and this year is no different. All 5 nominees are incredible stories and could be the future of their teams and their sports. I judge this category based on who made the most surprising breakthrough. Giannis, Hernandez, and Pulisic were destined to be amazing while Prescott and Judge surprised everyone with how well they played. The difference is that Aaron Judge is a rookie and right now, he is the american league most valuable player.

My Pick - Aaron Judge
My Prediction - Dak Prescott

Best Game

Nominees
Cubs vs. Indians (World Series Game 7)
Falcons vs. Patriots (Super Bowl LI)
Roger Federer vs. Rafael Nadal (2017 Australian Open Final)

Clearly, it’s between the World Series and Super Bowl. While Super Bowl LI was the greatest comeback in football history, that world series game was the most edge of your seat sporting event I think I ever saw. I can’t remember a championship in sports that made neutral fans more nervous than that Game 7 in Cleveland, Ohio between the Indians and the Cubs. From Fowler’s leadoff HR to the Cubs celebration in the 10th, this was the greatest baseball game ever. Plus the first 3 quarters of the Super Bowl were trash.
 
My Pick - Cubs vs. Indians
My Prediction - Super Bowl LI
 


Here is the rest of my ESPY ballot

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