the espy's were last night (beginning at 9:45 p.m., thus effectively eliminating any hope of my dad waiting up with me to watch our beloved steelers accept the "best team" award close to midnight), and i was overall very entertained and satisfied with the show.  i couldn't believe lance armstrong's opening monlogue, given the fact that he has "changed gears" from cycling to political figure seemlessly.  it was hilarious, and maybe his jokes about male anatomy, homosexual relations, and calling the french @ssholes were meant to show a comical, everyman character similar to dubya (they're both from texas and apparently good friends).  however, i could also see some of those quotes coming back to haunt him with regards to his political aspirations.

i was also pretty pleased with the winners of the awards.  of course, any disdain which i hold against the awards cannot be attributed to the athletes who won nor espn, but rather to the american public, whose votes were the only factor in deciding said winners.  on to (some of) the awards...

best male athlete: lance armstrong - this was no surprise, and i agree with the decision.  even though i'm not a cycling fan and i'm excrutiatingly tired of lance winning this award year after year (this was his fourth in a row) for competing for 3 weeks in a foreign country, this is a good choice.  he had to deal with ongoing doping allegations, health problems, criticism from the brash french public and media, pressure of "the streak," and the maintenance of his image and priorities.  i am happy to see that he has more time to pursue cancer research and spend time with his kids instead of training for another run in le tour.  oh, and he hosted the show. 

best team: pittsburgh steelers - anyone who thinks the white sox, lady terrapins, miami heat, carolina hurricanes, texas longhorns or whoever else was nominated had any chance is a lunatic.  yes, the white sox had to wait 80 years.  yes, the lady terrapins were young and inexperienced.  yes, the longhorns beat a juggernaunt after playing 2nd fiddle all year.  yes, the hurricanes were slipping in the stanley cup finals before making a final push for the title.  and yes, dwade proved he is in the league of nba superstars.  all those stories are nice, feel good tales and they were all great to watch.  think about this: one of the most storied franchises in all of professional sports comes back from a 7-5 record to win 4 straight, clinch a wildcard berth, roll over 3 straight opponents on the road (unprecedented, by the way) to end up in the hometown of its most beloved player and win the biggest sports contest of the year, thus coming home with the elusive "one for the thumb" after 26 years.  it probably also doesn't hurt that they have one of the most dedicated fan bases in all of sports, as this may be the biggest example of stuffing the ballot for an espy in the award's history.     

best moment: jason mcelwain - i would like to see the voting %s for this one.  i absolutely agree with this selection and its an incredilble story, but is this the biggest landslide in espy history?  if i was an oddsmaker, i think the over/under would be 85%, and that includes the fact that there were 3 other candidates.  first of all, this story (i believe narrated by chris connelly or tom rinaldi, that's how many times i saw it) was on sportscenter no fewer than 8 times.  and i mean 8 different versions of sportscenter, not like each one from 6 a.m. - 1 p.m.  second, the anchors, pti and ath personalities, and even local sportscasters congratulated him for weeks.  third, espn followed his team's progress in the state tournament for several games, even though jason went back to being team manager.  he got free tickets to several nba games, and even met billups among others.  fourth, he got props from gp, zo, dwade, and i think reggie bush on his way up to the podium.  and finally, in big ben's first public appearance since the accident, he came out in ceremonial fashion, just to say "jmac, you inspire us all" before he thanked god, his team, fans, etc.  i mean, the kid even has his own recognizable "first initial followed by first syllable of his last name" nickname, akin to dwade, a-rod, etc.  did dakoda have any shot?  when the nominee video was being played, i remember thinking "jmac had his time in the sun, i bet dakoda will get it."  then i remembered the last time i had those futile thoughts, it was everytime the jazz, suns, or sonics made the nba finals and i thought "jordan and the bulls have had their success, now its time that someone (malone/stockton, kevin johnson/barkley, gp/shawn kemp) took them out."  anyway, similar results, we just can't get enough of a good thing...watch for the jmac movie coming this spring.

note: part II of this article was supposed to be posted later in the week.  however, then i realized that my time is much better spent writing something new, rather than judging the fairness of the "best angler" or "best wnba player" awards.