As you may have seen, last night’s ESPY Award show created quite some buzz. So in case you didn’t get a
chance to watch what happened, here’s a quick recap to what all the stir is about and some of the best
moments of the night. And all I got to say in response to the show last night is that women really
showed up the men this year.
Wait what are the ESPYs? It’s short for Excellence In Sports Performance Yearly Awards- pretty self-
First, Caitlyn Jenner wins the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage. This had to be one of the biggest
headliners coming out of the show and all I have to say in response to all the chirping is that courage can
take place in all different kinds of shapes, sizes and forms, and not to be preachy but you can’t judge
someone until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes. Here’s a video of her acceptance speech:
The Best Team Award goes none other to the US Women’s Soccer Team. Coming straight off the win from
the World Cup, this group of ladies beat out the Golden State Warriors, the Chicago Blackhawks, the
New England Patriots, and two other teams to take home the ESPY. Abby Wambach, who spoke for the
team when winning the award, also presented Caitlyn Jenner’s Arthur Ashe Award.
As if current female athletes weren’t cool enough to begin with, Mo’ne Davis won the Best
Breakthrough Athlete Award. In case you don’t remember her, she’s the badass hometown hero repping
our backyard, Philadelphia, who blew everyone away in her 2014 Little League World Series
performance as the first ever girl to earn a win and to pitch a shutout in Little League World Series
history. She beat out Odell Beckham Jr. (you know the guy known for his one handed TD pass).
Other highlights included: Best Record-Breaking Performance Peyton Manning’s 509th TD pass
(predictable), Best Championship Performance (without actually winning the Championship lol) Lebron
James (maybe now he’ll win an Oscar for not actually acting in Trainwreck), Best NBA Player and Best
Male Athlete Steph Curry (no surprise/yawn) but shout out to him becoming the father of his second
daughter Ryan (Riley got some competition now for the spotlight).
What story totally blew my mind was the recipient of the Pat Tillman Award, Danielle Green. If you have
the time I totally recommend you check out the full story of her, which is truly incredible, but long story
short is: Danielle pulled her way out a struggling youth in Chicago with a basketball scholarship to Notre
Dame where she became a superstar point guard. She ended up enlisting to serve our country where
she lost her left arm and elbow in an explosion. She now is a counseling therapist to post-war veterans
(as if she hasn’t given back enough to this country to begin with). Kudos to Danielle, she’s a total boss.
If the story about Danielle Green didn’t touch or inspire you enough, maybe the presenting of the Jimmy
V Award will. Last year’s recipient was the memorable Stuart Scott, who passed away in January of this
year. This year, the award went to Leah Still, the daughter of Cincinnati Bengal defensive tackle Devon
Still, who is fighting against cancer. Seriously, you’re gonna need the tissue box for this video. (If you
want to skip to just Devon’s ESPY speech go to 8:10)
But of course, we couldn’t end an award show without any drama. To finish this recap, I end with my
favorite moment of the night. Ronda Rousey won not only Best Female Athlete but also Best Fighter,
over award contenders Donald Cerrone, Terence Crawford, Gennady Golovkin and Floyd Mayweather.
Now forget the noise about whether Rousey actually deserved the award or not, but the girl for sure has
some fighting words for Mayweather. After Mayweather threw some shade at her once by responding
to a question about her saying “I have no idea who he is,” she accepted her award on the red-carpet by
ripping him a new one. (Also in case you don’t get the reference, Mayweather has been arrested for
domestic violence incidents)