ESPY Picks

My 2009 ESPY Picks:



Best Male Athlete: LEBRON JAMES over Kobe Bryant, Michael Phelps, and Jimmie Johnson (where is Alex Ovechkin?)


Best Female Athlete: NATALIE COUGHLIN over Nastia Liukin, Maya Moore, Candace Parker, and Serena Williams


Best Championship Performance: MICHAEL PHELPS over Kobe Bryant, Cole Hamels, and Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh


Best Breakthrough Athlete: DERRICK ROSE over Shawn Johnson, Evan Longoria, and Matt Ryan


Best Record-Breaking Performance: USAIN BOLT over Michael Phelps, Larry Fitzgerald, and Phil Jackson (almost took Phelps again here)

Best Upset: UNITED STATES DEFEATING SPAIN over Mine That Bird, Oregon State defeating USC, and Tampa Bay Rays winning American League

Best Game: SYRACUSE/UCONN 6OT over Federal/Nadal Wimbledon and Steelers/Cardinals Super Bowl

Best Moment: US SWIM TEAM THRILLING FINISH over Tim Tebow's Speech and Helio Castroneves' Indy 500 Victory

Best Play: ROETHLISBERGER TO HOLMES SUPER BOWL WINNING CATCH over Ovechkin's Goal vs. Rangers, Pacquiao KOing Hatton, and Crabtree's Game-Winning Catch

Best Team: PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES over Uconn Huskies Women's Basketball, North Carolina Tar Heels Men's Basketball, Los Angeles Lakers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Pittsburgh Steelers (homer pick, should probably be UConn women)

Best International Male Athlete: RAFAEL NADAL over Usain Bolt, Pau Gasol, Lionel Messi, and Cristiano Ronaldo

Best International Female Athlete: YELENA ISINBAYEVA (I guess?) over Marta, Lorena Ochoa, Stephanie Rice, and Dinara Safina

Under Armour All-America Moment: DAVID RENFROE over Jake Bernhardt, Tara Glover, Hannah Werth, and Andre Debose/Russel Shepard (stupid category)

Best Sports Movie: THE WRESTLER over Sugar and The Express

Best Coach/Manager: PHIL JACKSON over Geno Auriemma, Dan Bylsma, Joe Maddon, and Mike Tomlin

Best NFL Player: LARRY FITZGERALD over James Harrison, Peyton Manning, Adrian Peterson, and Kurt Warner

Best Baseball Player: RYAN HOWARD over Roy Halladay, Dustin Pedroia, Albert Pujols, Francisco Rodriguez (I don't know how I feel about Manny being kept off this list. Without the allegations he's a clear nominee and probably the winner, but I guess he deserves the snub.)

Best NHL Player: ALEXANDER OVECHKIN over Sidney Crosby, Pavel Datsyuk, and Evgeni Malkin

Best Driver: JIMMIE JOHNSON over Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Lewis Hamilton, and Tony Schumacher

Best NBA Player: KOBE BRYANT over LeBron James, Dwight Howard, and Dwyane Wade (Lebron's the better athlete and more valuable to his team, but Kobe's season was incredible and the championship makes him the best player. How I can possibly pick him as the the NBA's best player and LeBron as the year's best athlete is weird, but it just doesn't feel right snubbing Kobe on three categories.)

Best WNBA Player: Is Lisa Leslie still playing?

Best Fighter: MANNY PACQUIAO over Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida, and Shane Mosley

Best U.S. Male Olympian: MICHAEL PHELPS over Bryan Clay, LaShawn Merritt, and Angelo Taylor

Best U.S. Female Olympian: NATALIE COUGHLIN over Shawn Johnson, Dawn Harper, and Nastia Liukin

Best Male Golfer: TIGER WOODS over Phil Mickelson and Padraig Harrington

Best Female Golfer: LORENA OCHOA over Paula Creamer and Suzann Pettersen

Best Male Tennis Player: RAFAEL NADAL over Roger Federer

Best Female Tennis Player: SERENA WILLIAMS over Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dinara Safina

Best Male College Athlete: STEPHEN STRASBURG over Sam Bradford, Matt Gilroy, Blake Griffin, and Tim Tebow

Best Female College Athlete: MAYA MOORE over Kerri Hanks, Courtney Kupets, Danielle Lawrie, and Dana Vollmer

Best Male Action Sport Athlete: SHAUN WHITE over Ryan Sheckler, Kelly Slater, and James Stewart

Best Female Action Sport Athlete: TORAH BRIGHT over Ashley Fiolek, Maya Gabeira and Sarah Burke

Best Jockey: CALVIN BOREL over Garret Gomez and Mike Smith

Best Female Athlete with Disability: JESSICA LONG over Asya Miller, Maureen McKimmon-Tucker, and Ashley Popovich

Best Male Athlete with Disability: WILL GROULX over Jeremy Campbell, Jason Lester, and Oscar Pistorius

Best Bowler: NORM DUKE over Wes Malott and Chris Barnes

Best MLS Player: LANDON DONOVAN over Juan Pablo Angel, Jon Busch, Kenny Cooper, and Guillermo Barros Schelotto (props to ESPN for keeping Beckham off this list)