2008 ESPY Awards Nominees

I've said this for the past few years and I'm still surprised that I'm actally dead serious...if I could go to any major awards show, I'd go to the ESPYs. The show is always fun, everyone looks like they're happy to be there, it's not as stuffy or super fancy as other shows...and it's all about sports.

How does it get better than that?

The official list of nominees was released today, and is available for viewing and voting at the official 2008 ESPYs Website.

Below, some of the more itneresting categories (and my choice is italicized):

Best Male Athlete

Tiger Woods
Tom Brady
Kobe Bryant
Alex Rodriguez

Best Female Athlete
Lorena Ochoa
Candace Parker
Danica Patrick
Lindsey Vonn (skiing)

Go Danica!

Best Moment
H.S. Softball Sportsmanship (This was the actualization of everything they teach you sports SHOULD be about when you're a kid, and that beats everything else in my book)
Lester's No-Hitter
Danica Patrick's first win

Best Championship Performance
Venus Williams at Wimbledon 2007
Josh Beckett in the MLB Playoffs
Rafael Nadal at 2008 French Open
Tiger Woods at 2008 US Open

Prepare for total domination.

Best Game
Super Bowl XLII: Giants over Patriots
NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship: Kansas over Memphis
NBA Finals Game 4: Celtics over Lakers (I'm not a huge basketball fan, but this game was amazing)

Best Team

Red Sox
NY Giants
Celtics
Kansas Jayhawks
Tennessee Vols Women's BBall
Red Wings

Best Play
Trinity Laterals (this was one of the most jaw-dropping things I have ever seen...and they did it for the win)
Manning to Tyree
Minnesota's Buzzer Beater (Hoffarber)
Rick Nash Goal

Best Upset
Appalachian State over UM in Week 1 of College Football (I LOVED this when it happened, not realizing that it would set thesage for one of the strangest, most upset-filled seasons of college football in recent memory)
Da'Tara wins the Belmont Stakes
NY Giants defeat the Patriots in the Super Bowl
Fresno State wins the College World Series over Georgia

Record-Breaking Performance
Barry Bonds
Tom Brady and Randy Moss
Brett Favre (broke the career touchdown record and the career interception record in conecutive weeks...but he's one of the best there ever was)
Usain Bolt

Brett Favre: All kinds of awesome.

Best Coach/Manager
Tom Coughlin, NY Giants (Even though he beat my beloved Packers in the NFC Championship game, what he did with that team was nothing short of astonishing)
Doc Rivers, Boston Celtics
Terry Francona, Boston Red Sox
Pat Summitt, Tenessee Lady Vols

The ESPYs, hosted by Justin Timberlake, will be broadcast on ESPN on Sunday, July 20 at 9pm EST.