"Why exactly do we need the ESPY's?"
I understand that it's an awards show celebrating the accomplishments in athletics over the previous year. It seems though that each individual sport handles that on their own. Championship rings, banners, trophies, MVP, Golden Boot, Silver Slugger, Rookie of the Year, POY, team records, individual records, etc. all cover essentially the same ground as the ESPY's but in a more meaningful way. What is possibly to be gained for Drew Brees to win an ESPY? Time to throw away that ring baby, I've got an award named after a TV station!
In addition, these awards are the antithesis of sports. First of all, they are voted on instead of being won through actual achievement. That's why real sports are great and ice skating is more of an artistic endeavor. No ambiguity, just get on the pitch and win. These awards are given out by voting heads trying to put on a show. Brett Favre is making some kind of spectacle tonight, so that shows how meaningful it is.
Secondly, we've already covered how champions who win ESPY's probably don't care as they already have been recognized in their sports. The alternative is even worse though. If non-champions win an ESPY, they are essentially being rewarded for losing. I don't care if Peyton Manning is a great quarterback, he shouldn't even be considered for an award other than Choke of the Year for throwing that pick. I'm sure the pro-award lobby will try and defend this nonsense by explaining that individual achievements get overshadowed in team games and need recognition. I say bullshit. You show me Dan Marino, Cris Carter and Charles Barkley and tell me about their personal records and I'll show you 3 guys with no bling.
It's bad enough that we diminish everyones accomplishments in life by handing out a million participation trophies (which should be called the "Nice Job Getting Out of Bed Award") in amateur sports, do we really need to be handing them out to professionals too?
And how much air time does ESPN need to fill? LeBron gets an hour, the ESPY's gets no less than 11, Colin Cowherd somehow gets on, why can't I have an hour or two? I've got bad calls to discuss, conspiracies against the Raiders, roto league updates, panda watches, the Rick Reilly Insanity Countdown, the Skip Bayless march to murder, etc. Why not give it to me? At least that wouldn't be shameless self promotion by the World Wide Leader.
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