What You Need To Know About Sports Most Fashionable Night - The ESPYs
Athletes ditch their uniforms for couture this Wednesday, July 20.
The ESPYs are like the Golden Globes – you get the best of both worlds. It's the one night of the year when athletes and celebrities gather to celebrate their achievements in the world of sports while giving us the summer red carpet we've all been missing.
Here for the championship-level fashion,
The Last Night's Game Team
1. Typically, the awards show takes place on a Wednesday in July after the MLB (Major League Baseball) All-Star Game, referred to as "Black Wednesday." That's the one day a year where there are no live sports, although as sports have evolved over the year, that's not entirely true, but close. There is one morning WNBA game on the day of the ESPYs, Wednesday, July 20, but all other major professional sports are off. SO CLOSE
2. Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors (NBA - National Basketball Association) is the host of this year's ESPYs in Los Angeles. Presenters include Lindsey Vonn, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Jon Hamm, Ciara and Billie Jean King.
3. The list of nominees includes household names like Olympic swimmer Katie Ledecky, NFL (National Football League) quarterback Joe Burrow, Olympic figure skater Nathan Chen, MLB (Major League Baseball) star Aaron Judge, WNBA (Women's National Basketball Association) star Candace Parker, Olympic track and field veteran Allyson Felix and international soccer superstar Kylian Mbappé, among many others. After upsetting fans by not inviting best college player nominee Aliyah Boston to the event (and others), ESPN said the new, smaller venue and COVID-19 healthy restrictions impacted invites, which only went out to the athletes who will receive awards during the main broadcast. BIG NIGHT OUT
4. Although the ESPYs are always hosted by ESPN, the name actually stands for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award. Unlike the Oscars, where you've never heard of most of the movies, the fans get a say in who receives some of the awards like the best athlete in women's sports, best game and best team. EVERY VOTE COUNTS
5. ESPN can put together a video package that'll pull at your heartstrings while leaving you inspired, and the awards at the ESPYs are no different. Here's a quick summary of each of the major awards:
The Jimmy V Award for Perseverance will go to Dick Vitale, the ESPN college basketball broadcaster now recovering from cancer.
The Arthur Ashe Courage Award will go to Vitali Klitschko, former boxing champ and currently mayor of Kyiv, Ukraine's embattled capital city. (Also ex of actress Hayden Panettiere).
The 2022 Pat Tillman Award for Service will be presented to author, athlete, and retired Army Command Sergeant Major Gretchen Evans.
Heard It Through The Grapevine
The Olympic Opening ceremonies are tonight, Simone Biles gets hits another milestone and the NFL is laying the smackdown on unvaccinated players.
Rumor has it, it's going to be an epic weekend.
It's all you,
The Last Night's Game Team
Olympics
The Olympics kick off tonight with the Opening Ceremonies. Team U.S.A. will be led by flagbearers five-time Olympian Sue Bird (women’s basketball) and Eddy Alvarez from the baseball team. (Alvarez also won a silver medal in the 2014 Winter Olympics in speedskating). The highlight of the evening is the lighting of the torch, which will be powered by hydrogen, promoting a carbon-free future. No word who will light the torch but rumor has it is that it’s the Masters winner Hideki Matsuyama. LET THE GAMES BEGIN
Overtime
We all know that Simone Biles is the G.O.A.T., and now Twitter is on board. If you write a tweet with #SimoneBiles or even #Simone a goat in a leotard, doing a split leap on the balance beam will appear. AS IT SHOULD
Sideline stat
How does one celebrate an NBA (National Basketball Association) Championship and being selected as the MVP? With a fast food run, of course. NBA. Finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo ordered 50 nuggets at Chick-Fil-A to match the 50 points he scored in game six win. WHAT’S FOR DINNER
Coaches’ corner
The NFL (National Football League) is laying the smackdown when it comes to vaccinated players. They added extra incentives for players to get vaccinated, threatening forfeits and losing paychecks if an outbreak amongst unvaccinated players disrupts the regular-season schedule. The new rules, amongst other things, call for the team that causes the forfeit to pay the other team’s expenses. MAKING THEIR STANCE CLEAR
What to watch
Everyone’s favorite football coach turned soccer coach Ted Lasso is back today with season two. TUNE IN
Sports Love Stories Destined For The Hallmark Channel
The meet-cutes that led to love. Cue the snowfall.
Photo credit: Instagram.com/instyle and instagram.com/julieertz, BigStock
Holiday love stories are bringing home the bacon for the Hallmark Channel and Netflix this holiday season, so it’s only a matter of time before ESPN jumps on board.
You heard it here first,
The Last Night’s Game Team
1. Timing is everything. A few divorces and a handful of years couldn’t keep these two star-crossed lovers apart. Jennifer Lopez and former MLB (Major League Baseball) player and broadcaster Alex Rodriguez had been friends for years. They dated, married and divorced other people and then they were both single. Then there was the text that changed everything. ARod was nervous during a dinner together so he excused himself and went to the bathroom to readjust his thoughts. Then and there he sent his dinner date JLo a text that said “You look sexy AF” and the rest is history. WHY HAS HALLMARK NOT MADE THIS MOVIE?
2. We’ve all heard it before, a girl falls in love with a bad boy and then the bad boy breaks the girl’s heart. That and one bad pickup line bring us to our next couple. After a very public relationship with golfer Tiger Woods, skier Lindsey Vonn was introduced to NHL (National Hockey League) player P.K. Subban at the ESPYs. It was at that event that he told a reporter "It's hotter outside than Lindsey Vonn looks today, which is pretty hot." Well, the line worked. The two, who started dating in 2018 and were engaged in the summer of 2019. The wedding is on hold thanks to COVID. The couple’s passion for each other and their charitable efforts are something to admire. HEART EMOJI
3. Do you know that plotline where two members of royalty happen to run into each other at a coffee shop? This is the same but different. Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe are the unofficial first couple of women’s sports. The two have been dating since meeting at the 2016 Summer Olympics and are a fixture in the Seattle sports scene. They’ve been featured on the cover of InStyle Magazine and were the first same-sex couple to grace the cover of ESPN’s Body Issue. The outspoken and seriously fashionable duo seem to have it all including a plethora of championships and safety deposit boxes for all their gold medals. The two, who were engaged in 2020, also have each other’s backs. During the Women’s World Cup, Bird, who plays for the Seattle Storm (WNBA - Women’s National Basketball Association), came to Rapinoe’s defense in her battle with President Trump, penning an essay titled “So the President F—ing Hates My Girlfriend.” ROM-COM WRITTEN ALL OVER IT
4. The love story that started with an awkward first dance. Tennis greats Steffi Graff and Andre Agassi started dating after the French Open in 1999 but their story goes back years before that. In 1992 both Graff and Agassi (who tried to pick up Graff the year before at the French Open) were winners at Wimbledon. It used to be a tradition for the two winners of Wimbledon to dance with each other at the Wimbledon Champions’ Ball. But as luck would have it, that was the year they decided to cancel the dance due to “lukewarm receptions from modern players.” It all worked out in the end as the two married in 2001 and are still together. FATE WORKS IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS
5. Our final story is a modern storyline of a virtual, long-distance relationship. Together Julie and Zach Ertz have a Super Bowl championship, two World Cup victories and what do they have to prove it? A Visa commercial. The Philadelphia Eagles tight end (NFL - National Football League) and the soccer star met at a Stanford baseball game in 2012 when he offered her sunflower seeds. They had their first date at Chipotle and the rest is history. Married since 2017, together they too have bared it all for ESPN’s Body Issue. With both of them being at the pinnacles of their careers, they live the saying “absence makes the heart grow fonder.” They say they’re lucky to have three months a year in the same city. WHEN FACETIME IS YOUR FRIEND