I’m not one to watch the ESPYs most years. The last thing I want to watch is a bunch of players I don’t like be honored, plays that involve my team losing being shown, and jokes being made at my team’s expense.
Last year’s edition alone featured both Tyrese Haliburton’s and Freddie Freeman’s career-defining plays, both of which happened at the expense of my Knicks and Yankees. Even slightly unrelated, Saquon Barkley and the Eagles were the talk of the show. Why would I ever want to relive that?
This
year, despite things still not being so hot for anyone else I root for, it was a night of celebration for the talk of the town, the New York Knicks.
In a heavily favorable crowd in Manhattan, everyone knew the show would revolve around the NBA champions. The entire team was there and featured on the broadcast over and over again. I think I saw a Knick in every single shot of the crowd throughout the broadcast.
It felt like everyone still on the team was there (well, except Landry, who’s off getting engaged in Europe):
The first award presented to a Knick at the ESPYs was to the captain, Jalen Brunson, before the show even started. He was awarded “Best NBA Player” that afternoon on NBA Today, the first Knick to ever get that award since the show started in 1993.
But that wasn’t the only hardware he’d bring home. He picked up two awards before anyone else was able to get one on stage, as he beat out incredible performances by Team USA goaltenders Aerin Frankel and Connor Hellebuyck to win “Best Championship Performance” for his 45-point closeout in Game 5 of the NBA Finals:
The presenters for the ESPYs are always funny. Chinese Olympic gold medalist Eileen Gu and Team USA striker Flo Balogun presented an award to Jalen Brunson. Hard to picture until you see it. Screw it, watch the 45-point game again. You know you want to.
As said previously, the Knicks were everywhere during this broadcast. Jokes were made about the Brunsons, Karl-Anthony Towns was featured in an Oz the Mentalist skit, and a third award was presented for “Best Play”.
We all knew who was winning this one, which is probably a shame to everyone else considering how awesome some of the nominees were.
Jack Hughes’ golden goal. Megan Keller’s golden goal for the women’s hockey team. Braylon Mullins’ 35-footer. Caleb Williams’ impossible touchdown. Hell, even the Dodgers’ heroics in the World Series somehow didn’t make it. There are few things less improbable than Miguel Rojas hitting a home run in THAT situation.
One of those things, though, is OG Anunoby, who became the first New York athlete to win “Best Play” since Odell Beckham Jr. in 2015. Watch the play again, then watch his extremely awkward (but classic OG) speech:
Cody Rhodes is presenting the award. There just so happens to be a WWE event that Brunson is already advertised for on Saturday. Will OG be there too? Who knows. If any random role player is there, my money is on Tyler.
The last individual award of the night was “Best Male Athlete”, an award that has gone to:
- Tiger Woods (five times)
- LeBron James (three times)
- Patrick Mahomes
- Tom Brady
- Michael Jordan
- Michael Phelps
- Stephen Curry
- Shohei Ohtani
- Steve Young
- Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Drew Brees
- Ken Griffey Jr.
- Alex Ovechkin
And on and on. No scrub wins this award. Brunson was a nominee alongside the greatest soccer player to ever play the game, the most dynamic baseball player of all time, and the NFL MVP, and it didn’t matter. The power of the Knicks’ first championship in 53 years was too damn much. The first New York athlete to ever win this award, Jalen Brunson.
Before the team awards were handed out, KAT appeared alongside Team USA rugby star Ilona Maher to present Aja Wilson with the “Best Female Athlete” award.
The main event was the award for Best Team.
In terms of dominance all season long, this probably shouldn’t have been the Knicks.
The Seahawks were ridiculously dominant in the NFL. Indiana tore through college football. Both gold medal hockey teams were awesome. One team that didn’t get nominated because of how niche a sport it is was Penn State wrestling, which has broken every record imaginable over the last three years, but at least their best player was nominated for Best College Athlete. Oh well.
Ultimately, we all knew who this was going to. If you have any doubts, just consider that they had the best point differential in NBA playoff history. The 1996 Bulls and 2017 Warriors couldn’t even do this. Speak to the ring.
It’s as dominant of an award show performance as you can ask for. Sports’ version of Titanic at the 1997 Oscars.
Alright, back to not watching this event for a while. Wake me up when the Yankees win the World Series.
