Gretchen Bleiler, Shaun White Win ESPYs
July 17, 2008 – 1:43 pm PT by Me
The sports industry held its version of the Golden Globes yesterday as the ESPYs celebrated the top athletes across the glorious United States. While footballers like Brett Favre and billionaires-to-be like Tiger Woods (played by Will Ferrell) made the news, there were a couple of action sports categories that were waiting for. And, surprise surprise, Gretchen Bleiler and Shaun White walked away with honors again this year.
Now, I am not actually going to do any research and see who won what when, but I am pretty sure Bleiler has won before and I would expect White would have won back when he did so well at the Olympics (Sarah Burke and Travis Pastrana won last year).
Who was nominated doesn’t really matter, though Simon Dumont (left) was on the red carpet so he had nothing better to do than show up. No pictures have surfaced of White so I don’t care know if he was there.
Now you know. The ESPYs will actually air this weekend on Sunday at 9 p.m. ET if you are interested. Plus we have all the winners for you below.
Pics by Wireimage
2008 ESPYs WINNERS
SPECIAL AWARDS
ARTHUR ASHE COURAGE AWARD: John Carlos and Tommie Smith, 1968 Olympic medalists
JIMMY V AWARD FOR PERSEVERANCE: Kevin Everett, former Buffalo Bills tight end
COMEBACK: Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers
BEST IN SPORT
FEMALE ATHLETE: Candace Parker, Tennessee Basketball/Los Angeles Sparks
MALE ATHLETE: Tiger Woods, Golf
MOMENT: “Great Sportsmanship” (Central Washington University’s Mallory Holtman and Liz Wallace, Western Oregon University’s Sara Tucholsky)
TEAM: Boston Celtics
COACH/MANAGER: Pat Summitt, Tennessee Women’s Basketball
GAME: New York Giants over New England Patriots at the Super Bowl
CHAMPIONSHIP PERFORMANCE: Tiger Woods, 2008 U.S. Open
PLAY: New York Giants’ Eli Manning’s pass to David Tyree at the Super Bowl
FINISH: Western Kentucky over Drake in the first round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, winning on a buzzer-beater by Ty Rogers
UPSET: New York Giants over New England Patriots at the Super Bowl
BREAKTHROUGH ATHLETE: Adrian Peterson, Minnesota Vikings
RECORD BREAKING PERFORMANCE: Brett Favre, Green Bay Packers
SPORTS MOVIE: “Semi-Pro”
MALE COLLEGE ATHLETE: Tim Tebow, Florida football
FEMALE COLLEGE ATHLETE: Candace Parker, Tennessee basketball
MALE ATHLETE WITH A DISABILITY: Ryan Kocer, wrestling (Wagner, S.D.)
FEMALE ATHLETE WITH A DISABILITY: Shay Oberg, softball (Montana State-Billings)
INTERNATIONAL MALE ATHLETE: Rafael Nadal, tennis
INTERNATIONAL FEMALE ATHLETE: Lorena Ochoa, golf
INDIVIDUAL SPORTS
BASEBALL PLAYER: Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees
NBA PLAYER: Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers
WNBA PLAYER: Lauren Jackson, Seattle Storm
NFL PLAYER: Tom Brady, New England Patriots
NHL PLAYER: Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
MLS PLAYER: David Beckham, Los Angeles Galaxy
MALE ACTION SPORT ATHLETE: Shaun White, skateboarding/snowboarding *
FEMALE ACTION SPORT ATHLETE: Gretchen Bleiler, snowboarding *
BOWLER: Norm Duke
DRIVER: Jimmie Johnson
FIGHTER: Floyd Mayweather Jr., boxing
GOLFER: Tiger Woods
JOCKEY: Kent Desormeaux
OUTDOOR ATHLETE: Captain Scott Smiley, mountain climber
MALE TENNIS PLAYER: Roger Federer
FEMALE TENNIS PLAYER: Maria Sharapova
TRACK AND FIELD ATHLETE: Tyson Gay
SPONSORED AWARDS
HUMMER “LIKE NOTHING ELSE” AWARD: George Martin walks across America
UNDER ARMOUR UNDENIABLE MOMENT: Warner Robins, Ga., beats Tokyo to win the Little League World Series Championship Game with a Dalton Carriker walk-off home run in the bottom of the 8th inning (extra innings)
* Things I care about
