Sports' Niche Award Shows
Alison Pegg
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Kids Choice Sports
Big Wheel races, high five challenges, giant bullies, and that iconic slime, the kids choice sports awards were all that and more. Tailor-made for kids' short attention spans (adults, don’t even try keeping up) the award show was an excellent showcase of two aspects of athletes lives we barely get to see 1) their kids and 2) their competitiveness in every day life. NBA golden boy Steph Curry swept three of the awards but was overshadowed by the night’s star, his daughter Riley. Steph’s teammates Draymond Green and Klay Thompson challenged USA golden girls Abby Wambach and Carli Lloyd in a Big Wheel race throw down, resulting in the girls smoking the two NBA champs. And leave it to Derek Jeter to almost get overshadowed by his adorable nephew, all while delivering the best advice to kids of the night:
“To all the kids out there: dream big, set your goals high, work extremely hard at it and surround yourself with positive people.”
ESPN Sports Humanitarian of the Year
Heavily edited for tv - seriously, the entire show was a half-hour with a musical performance - the most important part of Sports Humanitarian of the Year Awards was that they actually aired on tv. First of its kind, this show honored the social impact of sports, from the teams who improve their communities every day, to the athlete pioneers using their platform to improve the lives of others. It was great to see You Can Play honored for the movement that they’ve created, and likewise Chicago Bulls Charities - truly a philanthropy leader for professional team charities around the nation. Cheers to ESPN for recognizing the power of sports as whole away from the actual competition.
The league specific awards
The NHL and NBA each held their own respective awards shows to different levels of success. The NHL’s show continued it’s tradition as a snoozefest, hockey players are too modest for these types of shindigs, with the exception of PK Subban (the NHL’s Mr. Charisma) and Jiri Hudler (who knew?). Still, it was great to see the players cleaned up and off the ice, something we rarely see.
The NBA’s show was produced by the NBAPA and continued to cement NBA players as Hollywood’s newest darlings (see: Steph Curry). BET only enhanced the show with spot-on musical guests, but the most glaring omission was actually by the guy not in the room, LeBron James. Both shows made major strides, but still have a ways to go.