ESPY Awards 2016: Highlights and Bizarre Results from Wednesday's Show

With John Cena hosting the 2016 ESPN Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards, or ESPYs, you may not have expected to tune into ABC Wednesday night and witness such a, at times, moving show. 

But that's in part what the telecast on June 13 delivered, as the show opened with a powerful message by Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James, who took the stage to address the recent tragedies of gun violence in America. 

"We all have to do better,” James said on the broadcast, in a clip later shared on Twitter by ABC's Good Morning America: 

The show later featured a memorable tribute to Zaevion Dobson, the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage winner, who was killed while protecting those around him from shots fired in his Tennessee neighborhood.

Needless to say, this year's broadcast carried some serious weight and asked a lot of its audience—had it not, it would have come across as tone deaf in the wake of recent events in America.

That's not to say that the mood of the show was somber; ESPN did a nice job trying to mix the levity typically associated with the ESPYs and the broader cultural points it wanted to address.  

Cena, who is most certainly not a comedian as past hosts have been, showed off his surprising comedic timing in his monologue, when he roasted the NFL's newest franchise, the Los Angeles Rams. 

"The Rams are here," Cena began. "In L.A., I mean; not at the ESPYs. The ESPYs are for winners!"

That's some serious shade. 

Even megastars Peyton Manning and Kobe Bryant weren't safe from Cena's observations in his monologue. WBIR shared the burn:

Cena also opined that Manning rode off into the sunset with the love of his life: Papa John.

When it came time to start handing out the awards, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and tight end Richard Rodgers, who won the ESPY for Play of the Year for their Hail Mary connection against the Detroit Lions, came prepared with a quip.

HuffPost Sports shared the laugh-out-loud crack:

As for other results, many awards played out exactly as you would expect them to: Eric Berry won Best Comeback Athlete; James won Best NBA Player; Breanna Stewart won Best Female Athlete; Stephen Curry won Best Record-Breaking Performance.

But other results were more bizarre.

To start, even though Rodgers and Rodgers may have won the award for funniest joke of the night, many were not convinced that the Packers duo deserved to win Best Play. 

The Packers play, which happened during a regular-season game, beat out Villanova’s buzzer-beater to win the NCAA championship and James' fourth-quarter block in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. 

CBS Sports analyst Doug Gottlieb took to Twitter to express his incredulity:

"

Um Kris Jenkins won a National Championship as the buzzer sounded and this won? Ok then https://t.co/VIKkazGfVE

— Doug Gottlieb (@GottliebShow) July 14, 2016"

Ryan Arcidiacono, the Villanova guard who assisted Kris Jenkins' game-winner, was also feeling salty:

"

It's alright @BIGEAST @NovaMBB always get disrespected, probably lost that one because we proudly rep @FOXSports and don't play on @espn

— Ryan Arcidiacono (@RyArch15) July 14, 2016"

However, most of the awards of the night went to the expected recipients. There was no big controversy to overshadow what was ultimately a powerful show largely about ending violence in America.