ESPYs 2016: Predicting Winners for Top Award Categories
On Wednesday night, ESPN will celebrate the annual tradition of realizing there's nothing else going on during the MLB All-Star break. The rare respite represents the best time to pack players and celebrities into Los Angeles' Microsoft Theater for the ESPY awards.
Even if they can't see host John Cena, viewers can tune into the awards ceremony at 8 p.m. ET. Since sport has created an insatiable need for competition, let's predict all the fan-voted winners for each category.
| Best Male Athlete | LeBron James |
| Best Female Athlete | Breanna Stewart |
| Best Championship Performance | LeBron James - NBA Finals |
| Best Breakthrough Athlete | Conor McGregor |
| Best Record-Setting Performance | Stephen Curry - single-season three-pointers |
| Best Upset | Holly Holm knocks out Ronda Rousey |
| Best Game | Warriors vs. Cavs - NBA Finals Game 7 |
| Best Team | UConn Huskies women's basketball |
| Best coach/Manager | Geno Auriemma |
| Best MLB Player | Bryce Harper |
| Best NHL Player | Sidney Crosby |
| Best Fighter | Conor McGregor |
| Best NFL Player | Cam Newton |
| Best NBA Player | LeBron James |
| Best WNBA Player | Elena Delle Donne |
| Best Driver | Kyle Busch |
| Best Jockey | Mario Gutierrez |
| Best Bowler | Jason Belmonte |
| Best MLS Player | Sebastian Giovinco |
| Best International Athlete | Cristiano Ronaldo |
| Best Male Golfer | Jordan Spieth |
| Best Female Golfer | Lydia Ko |
| Best Male Tennis Player | Novak Djokovic |
| Best Female Tennis Player | Serena Williams |
| Best Male College Athlete | Buddy Hield |
| Best Female College Athlete | Breanna Stewart |
| Best Male Athlete with a Disability | Richard Browne |
| Best Female Athlete with a Disability | Tatyana McFadden |
| Best Male Action Sports Athlete | Gus Kenworthy |
| Best Female Action Sports Athlete | Chloe Kim |
| Best Play | Aaron Rodgers Hail Mary |
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Best Team
How does anybody decipher between teams who all reached the apex of their respective sport? It's even tougher since none of the four major professional champions finished the regular season as the best.
The Golden State Warriors would have dominated the field if they beat the Cleveland Cavaliers one more time. Is one series enough to make Cleveland the best despite accruing one more regular-season victory than the Toronto Raptors?
If not for unraveling in the Super Bowl, the 15-1 Carolina Panthers also would have topped the list. The Denver Broncos have the Lombardi Trophy, but they finished the year No. 8 in Football Outsiders' defensive-adjusted value over average (DVOA). Then again, how many voters consult advanced metrics measuring team efficiency?
Before the U.S. women's national soccer team won last year, an NFL or NBA champion took home nine consecutive ESPYs. The Kansas City Royals have a chance if fans transfer their All-Star Game ballot-stuffing fervor to these awards. The Pittsburgh Penguins, Alabama football program and Villanova men's basketball champions are considerable long shots.
None of them dominated like the UConn women's basketball juggernaut, which captured its fourth consecutive championship in an undefeated campaign.
The Huskies didn't just win every time. They annihilated overmatched opponents on a regular basis with a plus-39.7 point differential. They claimed all 38 victories by at least 10 points.
Although he said the study was hindered by a lack of women's basketball advanced stats, FiveThirtyEight's Neil Paine found that the Huskies once again exceeded their own historic efforts under head coach Geno Auriemma and star Breanna Stewart:
"And to the extent we’re able to measure things, the 2015-16 Huskies were the best team of the modern era of women’s college basketball … supplanting the 2014-15 Huskies … who supplanted the 2013-14 Huskies. Each of Stewart’s final three years saw new ground broken in the area of women’s basketball greatness.
"
They won the award 20 years ago, so it's time to honor the Huskies again.
Best Game
There's only three choices for Best Game, yet it's still one of the toughest categories to peg. All three epic playoff contests captivated the fans with climatic conclusions.
Without considering context, the NFC Divisional Round classic between the Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers would take home the hardware. Down seven points, Green Bay faced 4th and 20 on the 4-yard line with 55 seconds left. Cardinals fans probably starting planning ahead to the NFC Championship Game.
Then Aaron Rodgers—enduring another rough game in a subpar season by his MVP standards—converted a 60-yard bomb to wide receiver Jeff Janis. That miraculous play seemed like a footnote in an inevitable loss, until the duo struck again for a 41-yard touchdown as time expired.
Oh yeah, the Packers still lost. Larry Fitzgerald shattered the concept of momentum with a 75-yard reception to open overtime.
"Losing in that fashion, especially with the offense pulling that out, another Hail Mary, is unbelievable," Green Bay linebacker Clay Matthews said after the loss, per ESPN.com.
Traveling the entire field with two desperation heaves to save the season is extraordinary, but it ultimately proved all for naught. Arizona also got clobbered by the Carolina Panthers the following week, so this nail-biter meant less in the long run than the other basketball championship games.
Villanova and North Carolina fought to the very end of the NCAA national title game, which Kris Jenkins seized for the Wildcats with a buzzer-beating jumper. The closing minutes offered everything sports fans could ask for in a championship showdown.
On the professional stage, the Cavaliers closed out a 3-1 comeback over the Warriors in the series-closing contest. Kyrie Irving didn't wait until the final second, but his game-winner during the final minute gave Cleveland a title.
Game 7 of the NBA Finals is fresher in everyone's mind, and James coming home to conquer the 73-9 Warriors pops off the page as too sweet a story for voters to deny. The stakes and narrative push Game 7 over more gripping competitors.
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