July 1, 2005
The deadline to vote for the ESPY Awards is July 8, so make sure you visit ESPN.com and help the Baylor women's basketball team and Jeremy Wariner take the ESPYs in their respective categories.
Lance Armstrong could capture Best Male Athlete for a third consecutive year but will have stiff competition from the likes of Peyton Manning, Michael Phelps, Vijay Singh and Bode Miller, while Annika Sorenstam takes her third swing at the Best Female Athlete Award versus 2004 Wimbledon champion and tennis sensation Maria Sharapova (also nominated for Best Breakthrough Athlete and Best Women's Tennis Player) at the 13th annual ESPY Awards Co-Presented by GMC and Under Armour.
The two-hour show will be televised from Hollywood's Kodak Theatre on ESPN Sunday, July 17 at 9 p.m. ET. Nominees were announced for all 36 categories on Nomination Friday (June 24) and will be voted on completely by fans. Voting will run from June 24 through July 8 at ESPN.com and ESPNDeportes.com; five million votes have been cast thus far.
The 2005 ESPY Awards will gather sports and entertainment celebrities to recognize top achievements, relive memorable moments and salute the best performers. Actor Matthew Perry will host the show and be joined by musical guest Destiny's Child. The awards include 22 "Best in Sport" categories - which pit athletes from different sports against each other - as well as 12 individual sport categories and two special performance categories.
Also during the ESPY Awards, Oprah Winfrey will present the Arthur Ashe Courage Award to two individuals whose contributions transcend sports. This year's co-recipients are Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah and Jim MacLaren, two disabled athletes who forged a bond while inspiring millions worldwide to achieve beyond their physical limitations.
HISTORIC PERFORMANCES, PLAYS AND BREAKTHROUGHS IN 2005
Manning is also nominated for the award he won last year - Best NFL Player - and for Best Record Breaking Performance for surpassing Dan Marino's single-season record of 49 touchdown passes. Also in the running for that category are Tennessee's 880-plus wins coaching legend Pat Summit, the Seattle Mariners' single-season hits record-breaker Ichiro Suzuki and the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots. Just off the hardwood, the Best NBA Player Award has a stacked nominee roster with Shaquille O'Neal, Steve Nash, LeBron James, Allen Iverson and Dwyane Wade all in contention. Over on the green, Sorenstam, who has won six of nine tournaments entered in 2005 - including the first two majors of the year, is nominated for Best Golfer. She is the sole female in this newly merged category that includes Phil Mickelson, Singh and Tiger Woods, and has won the former category of Best Female Golfer six times.
The relationship between Best Team and Best Coach/Manager is a close one with the Red Sox's Terry Francona, the Patriots' Bill Belichick, USC's Pete Carroll, and San Antonio's Gregg Popovich joining their teams (which were nominated for Best Team) as nominees with UNC Men's Basketball coach Roy Williams rounding out the category. In addition, the Red Sox-Yankees ALCS Game 5 is nominated for Best Game as are the Rose Bowl (Texas 38, Michigan 37) and the NCAA men's basketball tournament's Michigan State vs. Kentucky match-ups. Red Sox ace Curt Schilling and UNC men's basketball player Sean May earned nominations for Best Championship Performance and are joined on the ballot by the Patriots' Deion Branch and USC's Matt Leinart (also nominated for Best College Athlete). Also, Schilling is up for Best MLB Player along with Barry Bonds, Albert Pujols, Vladimir Guerrero, Johan Santana and Roger Clemens. The Patriots' Tom Brady was nominated for Best NFL Player alongside fellow QBs Donovan McNabb, Daunte Culpepper, Manning and Philadelphia Eagles player Terrell Owens.
Hot off her fourth-place finish at the Indianapolis 500, racing upstart Danica Patrick receives her first ESPY nomination for Best Breakthrough Athlete along with the Pittsburgh Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger, Sharapova and the Miami's Wade.
2005 ESPY AWARD NOMINEE DID YOU KNOWS?
First High School Winner?: If Blake Hoffarber's game winning basket from flat on his back during overtime in the Minnesota 4A state title game beats Tiger, Wichita basketball player Matt Brown and X Games star Chuck Caruthers for Best Play, he'd become the first high school athlete to win an ESPY Award.
Don't Mess with Texas? Texas achieved the greatest variety with its 10 nominations: Baylor women's basketball and the San Antonio Spurs for Best Team, Texas softball's Cat Osterman for Best College Female Athlete, the Spurs' Gregg Popovich nominated for Best Coach/Manager, Texas' 38-37 defeat of Michigan in the Rose Bowl for Best Moment, the Houston Comets' Tina Thompson for Best WNBA Player, hometown hero Lance Armstrong for Best Athlete and the GMC Professional Grade Play Award, the Houston Astros' Roger Clemens for Best MLB Player and Eddie Johnson of FC Dallas for Best Soccer Player.
Beantown Supremacy?: The Patriots and Red Sox are tied 5-5 in nominations this year and will go head-to-head in the Best Team category, begging the larger question of how much hardware can one city handle?
Changing of the Guard? Though she's new to the Best WNBA Player category, Phoenix Suns star Diana Taurasi is no stranger to the ESPYs; she has four Awards (three individual, one team) and will look to box out the Seattle Storm's Lauren Jackson from a repeat. But WNBA veterans Lisa Leslie (who won in 2002 and 2003), and the Houston Comets' Thompson might have something to say about it.
Twice as Nice for Shirley?: Paralympic track champion Marlon Shirley could become the first disabled athlete to win the Best Disabled Athlete Award twice, having won it in 2003. Testament to the strength and variety of top disabled athletes in the world today, this year the Award has been split into male and female categories.
Are Four Legs Better than Two?: Two equines are in the Award hunt with 50-1 Kentucky Derby long shot and winner Giacomo nominated for Best Upset, and Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner Afleet Alex up for Best Moment. A horse has yet to win an ESPY Award.
