ESPYs 2008: Who Brings Home Gold?

By Gary Lloyd
Love of Sports Correspondent

The 2008 ESPY Awards is right around the corner, scheduled for July 20th. The host of the event will be wardrobe-malfunctioning pop star, and actor, Justin Timberlake, who takes over for last year’s emcee, LeBron James.

The event’s had a variety of tremendous moments over the years, and hopefully this version will be no different.

The nominees were just recently announced, so why don’t I just jump right in with my winners.

2008 ESPY PREDICTIONS

Best Male Athlete Nominees: Tom Brady, Kobe Bryant, Alex Rodriguez, Tiger Woods

Who Should Win: Brady led the New England Patriots to the Super Bowl (and the team’s lone loss), all the while breaking records as he went. Bryant was the NBA’s Most Valuable Player without much of a challenge. Rodriguez was the American League MVP by a landslide. However, all three of those athletes came up short when it mattered most. Tiger just won the U.S. Open while needing reconstructive surgery on his ACL. He should take the award.

Best Female Athlete Nominees: Lorena Ochoa, Candace Parker, Danica Patrick, Lindsey Vonn

Who Should Win: It has to be Ochoa. In 2007, she won eight tournaments. Of the 25 events she played, she finished in the Top 10 an amazing 21 times. In 2008, she’s already won six of the 10 tournaments she’s entered. Simply incredible.

Best Moment Nominees: Great Sportsmanship – Central Washington vs. Western Oregon Softball, Jon Lester’s No-Hitter, Danica Patrick Wins First Race

Who Should Win: Nothing against her, but Patrick doesn’t belong with the other two candidates. Sara Tucholsky, a Western Oregon senior, had never hit a home run. But when she finally did, she tore a knee ligament while rounding first base. A couple of Central Washington’s players carried her around the bases so the homer would count. Definitely a great story, but I have to go with Lester’s no-no here. The guy beat cancer, then tossed a gem against the Royals earlier this month.

Best Team Nominees: Boston Celtics, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Red Wings, Kansas Men’s Basketball, New York Giants, Tennessee Women’s Basketball

Who Should Win: It may surprise some, but I’ve got to go with Kansas on this one. KU was the most balanced team in the NCAA tournament and the top defensive team as well. In six tournament games, the Jayhawks only surrendered 60.8 points per contest. Also, in those six games, KU had five different leading scorers. That equals balance.

Best Coach-Manager Nominees: Tom Coughlin, Terry Francona, Doc Rivers, Pat Summitt

Who Should Win: Before last season, he was close to being fired. However, he turned his team around completely, leading the Giants to a Super Bowl win over the heavily-favored Patriots. It has to be Coughlin.

Best Game Nominees: Giants over Patriots in the Super Bowl, Kansas over Memphis in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship, Boston over Los Angeles in the NBA Finals, Game 4

What Should Win: The Jayhawks take another category. Memphis had its early run in the game, and Kansas had their’s late when it counted most. Mario Chalmers’ off balance, fading three-pointer with 2.1 seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime will be remembered forever. What a game.

Best Championship Performance Nominees: Venus Williams at Wimbledon, Josh Beckett in MLB Playoffs, Rafael Nadal in French Open, Tiger Woods in U.S. Open

Who Should Win: Tiger’s struggle to win the U.S. Open was definitely magnificent given his knee issue, but Nadal takes this category. He didn’t drop a set at this year’s French Open and dominated top-ranked Roger Federer 6-1, 6-3 and 6-0 to nab his fourth consecutive French title.

Best Play Nominees: Trinity University’s 15 laterals, Eli Manning to David Tyree in the Super Bowl, Minnesota’s Blake Hoffarber hits buzzer-beater to defeat Indiana in Big Ten Tourney, Blue Jackets’ Rick Nash scores to beat Phoenix Coyotes

Who Should Win: All are worthy candidates for this category, but it’s not even close. Trinity takes it with ease.

Best Finish Nominees: McMurray edges Kyle Busch to win Pepsi 400, Western Kentucky advances against Drake in NCAA first round with desperation three-pointer as time expires, Spurs prevail over Phoenix, Penguins stay alive against Red Wings in 3OT

Who Should Win: If it isn’t clear just yet, I’ll go ahead and tell you – I’m a little biased toward college basketball. That said, Western Kentucky’s near-30-foot dagger to beat Drake in OT has to be the best finish.

Best Upset Nominees: Appalachian State over Michigan in the Big House, Da’Tara wins Belmont Stakes as a 38-1 longshot, Giants over Patriots in Super Bowl, Fresno State over Georgia in College World Series

Who Should Win: In my eyes, the Giants over the Patriots wasn’t that big of an upset. Horse racing is all about longshots winning, and anything can happen in the College World Series. However, preseason No. 5 Michigan isn’t supposed to lose at home to Appalachian State. That happened, and it was easily the best upset.

Best Breakthrough Athlete Nominees: Adrian Peterson, Stephen Curry, Kyle Busch, Ana Ivanovic

Who Should Win: After all the talk about his injuries, Adrian Peterson proved the doubters wrong as a rookie with the Minnesota Vikings. He rushed for over 1,300 yards and 12 touchdowns in only 14 games in his first NFL season.

Best Record-Breaking Performance Nominees: Barry Bonds, Brett Favre, Usain Bolt, Tom Brady and Randy Moss

Who Should Win: I’ve got to go with Favre (career touchdown passes) over Bonds (career home runs). Both accomplishments are superb, but Favre did it with more class and integrity.

Best Sports Movie Nominees: Resurrecting the Champ, The Game Plan, Leatherheads, Semi-Pro

What Should Win: I’ll be honest, I have seen zero of the above movies. However, I’ll go with Resurrecting the Champ since it has somewhat of a serious plot. As long as Will Ferrell isn’t up for some award in a sports movie, I consider the category tainted anyway.

Best Male College Athlete Nominees: Tim Tebow, Tyler Hansbrough, Michael Beasley

Who Should Win: This category is a very difficult call. After much thought, I have to go with the Heisman Trophy winner, Tim Tebow. Last season, he threw for over 3,200 yards, 32 touchdowns and only six interceptions. He also ran for 895 yards and 23 more scores.

Best Female College Athlete Nominees: Candace Parker, Angela Tincher, Rachel Dawson

Who Should Win: Parker led the Lady Vols to back-to-back national titles, all the while earning Most Outstanding Player both seasons. She wins hands down.

Best Male International Athlete Nominees: Kaka (soccer), Manu Ginobili (basketball), Cristiano Ronaldo (soccer), Rafael Nadal (tennis)

Who Should Win: Gotta give Nadal his second award. He dominated Federer at the French Open, and will be, at some point, the top-ranked tennis player in the world.

Best Female International Athlete Nominees: Marta (soccer), Lorena Ochoa (golf), Lauren Jackson (basketball), Justine Henin (tennis)

Who Should Win: Ochoa’s been entirely too dominant not to win this award.

Best Baseball Player Nominees: Alex Rodriguez, Josh Beckett, Jimmy Rollins, Jake Peavy, C.C. Sabathia

Who Should Win: There’s just a couple too many pitchers in this category. A-Rod should be the winner without a doubt.

Best NBA Player Nominees: LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, Kevin Garnett

Who Should Win: Kobe stuck with the Lakers, bettered his teammates, won the MVP award and led his team to the NBA Finals. He’s the best there is right now.

Best WNBA Player Nominees: Lauren Jackson, Diana Taurasi, Becky Hammon, Seimone Augustus

Who Should Win: Diana Taurasi and Cappie Pondexter led the Phoenix Mercury to a WNBA title last season, and since the former is on the list, she wins by default.

Best NFL Player Nominees: Tom Brady, Randy Moss, LaDainian Tomlinson, Bob Sanders, Brett Favre, Eli Manning

Who Should Win: Brady threw 50 touchdown passes to just eight interceptions during the 2007 undefeated regular season for the Patriots. He’s the easy choice.

Best NHL Player Nominees: Jarome Iginla, Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Pavel Datsyuk, Sidney Crosby

Who Should Win: Ovechkin led the NHL in goals (65) and points (112) last season. Any questions?

Best MLS Player Nominees: Luciano Emilio, Juan Pablo Angel, David Beckham, Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Landon Donovan, Matt Reis

Who Should Win: Donovan’s stats are simply the best – 11 goals and seven assists in just 11 games. He’s the best in the category.

Best Male Action Sports Athlete Nominees: Shaun White, Kevin Robinson, Chad Reed, Kevin Pearce

Who Should Win: White gets it done in both snowboarding and skateboarding. Plus, I want to see his hair on screen again.

Best Female Action Sports Athlete Nominees: Gretchen Bleiler, Jessica Patterson, Stephanie Gilmore, Lindsey Jacobellis

Who Should Win: Four halfpipe wins for Bleiler in 2007 earn her the win.

Best Bowler Nominees: Walter Ray Williams, Jr., Chris Barnes, Norm Duke

Who Should Win: Williams had just over a 228 average in 21 events this last year, so I’ll give him the nod.

Best Driver Nominees: Jimmie Johnson, Dario Franchitti, Lewis Hamilton, Kyle Busch, Scott Dixon, Tony Schumacher

Who Should Win: Johnson won 10 races last year, had 20 Top 5s and 24 Top 10s en route to the Sprint Cup Championship. He was the best all year long.

Best Fighter Nominees: Floyd Mayweather, Joe Calzaghe, Kelly Pavlik, Georges St. Pierre, Holly Holm

Who Should Win: I’ll give it to Mayweather simply because he defeated Oscar De La Hoya in a 12-round split decision back in May 2007.

Best Golfer Nominees: Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Lorena Ochoa, Annika Sorenstam

Who Should Win: It’s so close between Woods and Ochoa, but I’ve got to go with Tiger.

Best Jockey Nominees: Garrett Gomez, Robby Albarado, Kent Desormeaux

Who Should Win: Despite Big Brown’s blunder at the Belmont Stakes, Desormeaux proved to me how smart of a jockey he is. His horse is always a factor in races.

Best Outdoor Athlete Nominees: Skeet Reese, Lance Mackey, Skip Storch, Scott Smiley, Dave Hahn

Who Should Win: I’ve gotten back into fishing as of late, so I’ll go with the best guy in the sport in Reese.

Best Male Tennis Player Nominees: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Bob and Mike Bryan

Who Should Win: Wimbledon is in progress, so it’s not much of a factor in this. I’m actually going to give it to Nadal, who completely dismantled Federer in this year’s French Open.

Best Female Tennis Player Nominees: Justine Henin, Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic

Who Should Win: Ivanovic burst onto the scene in 2007, finishing second in both the French Open and Australian Open. This year, she finally broke through and won the French. She’s the next best thing in women’s tennis.

Best Track and Field Athlete Nominees: Tyson Gay, Allyson Felix, Jeremy Wariner, Usain Bolt

Who Should Win: Gay’s 9.68 100-meter world record was nullified due to the wind factor. However, in May, Bolt set the record with a 9.72 mark, so he takes this category.

”Like Nothing Else” Award Nominees: Manny Ramirez, Sidney Crosby, Ashley Force, George Martin

Who Should Win: Ramirez is the guy I’d vote for. I mean, how often do you see a pro ball player high-five a fan?

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