All The Feels: The ESPYs
Award shows can be about so much more than competition and glamour, despite those being in high abundance. Last night’s ESPY awards had much of the sports world, the celebrity scene, and the internet talking…and not just about the times Drake took his jokes a step too far or Maria Sharapova and Floyd Mayweather recreated the famously hilarious height disparity of Taylor Swift and Bruno Mars.
Minor award categories were glossed over to allot time to tell the stories of veteran and Paralympic Josh Sweeney, NFL draftee Michael Sam, and announcer Stuart Scott, and there was not a dry eye in the Nokia Theatre.
Josh Sweeney’s life story was told from the moment he stepped on an explosive at battle, blowing off both of his legs. The presentation took us through his rehabilitative training and his incredible return to the sport of hockey as a veteran, concluding with the statement that a purple heart now shares the space around his neck with an Olympic medal.
Michael Sam’s story of becoming the first openly gay football player was in the media quite a bit this past year, though that didn’t stop its ESPY moment from melting everyone’s hearts. We finally got to see it from Sam’s perspective, from the moment he met his boyfriend to when first came out to his Mizzou team, and then months later to the world. More touching was watching him and his family wait in agony through the long NFL draft to see if he would even get picked, despite a stellar year. The moment the phone finally rang led to a rush of tears, as did Sam’s beautiful and encouraging acceptance speech.
Last but not least, the program honored anchor Stuart Scott, who is still surviving a long battle with cancer. Watching Scott fight through medically and with his family, social life, and travel-heavy job was almost as inspiring as the speech that followed. Scott claimed that dying is not losing to cancer, but can rather be beating to cancer by choosing to live a certain way while you can; this was only second to the conclusion when he called his 14-year-old daughter on stage for a hug.
Article by: Elizabeth Potash > Twitter
