The ESPY Awards is an award function for sports that showcases the year’s nominated athletes, memorable highlights, and individual/team achievements. It brings together all of sport, honoring the best performances, and those whose courage and conviction transcend sport. This has become the prime event for celebration for the years sports cycle. I really enjoy the inspirational stories, and motivational speeches by those who win the awards. The ESPYS is designed to showcase the year’s best sports moments in a sharp, fun and entertaining manner and it does just that.
The nominees for the ESPYs will be reveled later this week on June 27th and voting will also begin. I expect to see our Louisville Cardinals represented in several categories this year. And how awesome is it going to be to see our incredible year acknowledged on that grand stage and in front of the entire sports world. The nominations I expect to see:
-ESPY Award Best Upset 2013 Nominee
I fully expect our University of Louisville women’s basketball team to be nominated in this category for their upset of Baylor in the NCAA Tournament. That was perhaps the biggest upset ever in college sports and one of the biggest ever in any sport. No way our Cards don’t get a nod for this. One could also argue that the Louisville Football teams victory over Florida could also be in the mix here.
-ESPY Award Best Game 2013 Nominee
TV ratings for the 2013 Final Four were higher than the NBA Finals, BCS and World Series. There were a lot of television sets tuned in to see our Cards mens basketball team beat Michigan in that Championship game so I fully expect to see them to be represented in this category.
-ESPY Award Best Coach/Manager 2013 Nominee
Has there ever been a coach have the kind of year our Rick Pitino had? He led his team to a National Championship riding a 16 game win streak along the way and topped it off with a Hall of Fame bid. And he became the only coach to lead two different college basketball teams to a national title. I would be completely shocked to not see coach Pitino’s name in this category.
-ESPY Award Best Male College Athlete 2013 Nominee
Take your pick here Cards fans. I could see a nod being given to Teddy QB, Peyton Siva, Luke Hancock, but who knows. This is a broad range category so its hard to say where the nominees will come from. I know we have several Cardinal athletes that could easily be a part of this category so hopefully one will make the cut.
-ESPY Award Best Team of the Year 2013 Nominee
Our Louisville men’s basketball team had one of the most inspirational runs ever in the NCAA tournament. And the injury to Kevin Ware in that EliteEight game against Duke became a world wide story. I don’t think it’s a very bold prediction to say that our Cards will be front and center for this award and could add another trophy to the case. I really think we could bring this award back to Louisville.
I know I’m very excited to see the nominations come out later this week and hope to see them filled with Cardinal Red. It would just top off our incredible year to see Louisville represented on this special night for the sports world. This year, sports fans will determine the winners in all ESPYS categories, except the Arthur Ashe Courage Award and other special awards.Watch for voting to open for all nominee categories at espn.com/espys on June 27th, continuing up to and including awards night on July 17th. So get to the site this week and get ready to vote for our Louisville cardinals.
The 2013 ESPYS will air live on ESPN on July 17 at 9 p.m. ET from Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. This years host will be Mad Men’s Jon Hamm. Should be a awesome evening. One of my favorite actors and CardNation represented well. Can’t wait!