Thursday, 14 July 2011

Rafael Nadal - Wins ESPY Award

LOS ANGELES -- The Dallas Mavericks made a haul at the ESPYs on Wednesday night.

The NBA champions won best team, Dirk Nowitzki won Best Male Athlete and Best NBA Player and Rick Carlisle won best Coach/Manager.

"I'm so humbled and honored by this," Nowitzki said. "It's been an unreal year for all of us on the Mavericks."

[+] EnlargeDirk Nowitzki
ESPN.comDirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks continued to celebrate their NBA championship at the ESPYs.

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban added: "We had a great time and are glad we won, but the biggest deal was when my daughter met Selena Gomez."

The Mavericks weren't the only NBA players cleaning up. Blake Griffin won the ESPY for Breakthrough Athlete.

Griffin, the NBA's rookie of the year, filled highlight reels with an assortment of spectacular dunks. He averaged 22.5 points and 12.1 rebounds a game and became the first rookie to appear in an NBA All-Star Game since Yao Ming in 2003.

Saturday Night Live comedian Seth Meyers hosted the show for a second straight year. He opened the telecast by joking about the NFL and NBA lockouts before taking some digs at the Miami Heat. He then cracked some jokes about Giants closer Brian Wilson's unique outfit choice.

The always eccentric Wilson would have won the award for best dressed athlete, had there been one. All eyes were on Wilson as he walked down the red carpet in a full-body spandex tuxedo, complete with black high-tops and a cane.

"Justin Bieber could have set himself on fire and not have had a crazier outfit than Brian Wilson," Meyers told reporters.

Fan voting determined the winner of the ESPY for Best Play. The honor went to Abby Wambach of the U.S. soccer team for her overtime goal that tied Brazil in the quarterfinals of the Women's World Cup. The Americans advanced on penalty kicks and, after Wednesday's win over France, will play Japan in Sunday's final.

The Arthur Ashe Award for Courage was presented to Dewey Bozella, who was sent to prison in 1983 for a murder he did not commit but won his release in 2009.

Other winners at the ESPYs:

• Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas won Best Championship Performance for helping his team to the Stanley Cup championship. Thomas stopped 238 of Vancouver's 246 shots as Boston won in seven games.

"It's been a month, but it still really hasn't sunk in what it means to the city and whole New England area," Thomas said.

• Reigning Olympic downhill champion and three-time overall World Cup ski champion Lindsey Vonn won Best Female Athlete.

Vonn professed to having "Bieber Fever" during her acceptance speech.

"Justin Bieber, will you take a picture of me for my Facebook page?" she asked the pop star as he sat in the audience.

• BYU's Jimmer Fredette, who led the nation in scoring with 28.5 points a game, won Best Male College Athlete. Fredette was drafted ninth by the Charlotte Bobcats, who then traded his rights to the Sacramento Kings.

• Anthony Robles of Arizona State won the NCAA wrestling championship despite being born with one leg. He was the recipient of the Jimmy V Award and the Best Male Athlete with a Disability.

• The Philadelphia Eagles' 38-31 victory over the New York Giants was named Best Game. In a the December game at New Meadowlands Stadium, the Eagles scored 28 points in the final seven minutes, 18 seconds to take first place from the Giants in the NFC East.

• The VCU men's basketball team won Best Upset. VCU defeated heavily favored Kansas 71-61 to reach the Final Four.

• Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers won Best NFL Player.

"I'm very happy to win but I would really like to focus on us as a team," the quarterback said. "I was brought up to be humble and that's how I live my life. I'm glad I won but I didn't do it alone."

• Pitcher Roy Halladay of the Philadelphia Phillies won Best MLB Player. Halladay also won the ESPY for Best Moment.

• Five-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson won Best Driver.

• Diana Taurasi of the Phoenix Mercury won Best WNBA Player.

• Ten-time world title winner Manny Pacquiao won Best Fighter.

• U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy won Best Male Golfer and Best Record-Breaking Performance.

• Two-time major winner Cristie Kerr won Best Female Golfer.

• Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams won Best Male and Best Female Tennis Player, respectively.

• Maya Moore, who helped UConn to two national women's basketball titles, won Best Female College Athlete.

• Snowboarder/skateboarder Shaun White won Best Male Action Sport Athlete.

• Four-time defending world surfing champion Stephanie Gilmore won Best Female Action Sport Athlete.

• Kentucky Derby winner John Velasquez was named Best Jockey.

• Paralympic gold medalist swimmer Mallory Weggemann won Best Female Athlete with a Disability.

• Australia's Jason Belmonte was named Best Bowler.

• Los Angeles Galaxy's Landon Donovan, the all-time leader in scoring and assists leader for Team USA, won Best MLS Player.

• Sprinter Tyson Gay, who holds the U.S. record in the 100 meters (9.69 seconds), won Best Track and Field Athlete.

• Former Boston College linebacker Mark Herzlich, who returned from bone cancer, won Best Comeback.

• Arian Foster of the Houston Texans won the Castrol EDGE NFL Strongest Performance.

• Stanford women's athletics and Florida men's athletics won the Capital One Cup, which recognizes excellence in collegiate athletics.

• "The Fighter" won the Best Sports Movie.


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