ESPN Announces ESPY Nominations

ESPN has announced - and opened voting on - the nominees for the 2007 ESPY awards. The annual event seeks to honor the best teams, players, and plays in sports.

This year's ESPY ceremony will take place on July 15th, and will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and LeBron James.

The Best Male Athlete category will be contested by five of the world's most famous athletes: Roger Federer, winner of three Grand Slam tennis events; Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James; Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning; running back LaDainian Tomlinson; and Tiger Woods, the top-ranked golfer in the world.

In the Best Female Athlete category, basketball star Lisa Leslie is pitted against softball pitcher Taryne Mowatt, golf pro Lorena Ochoa, and Women's Final Four MVP Candace Parker.

Florida University is nominated twice for Best Team - for their national championship winning basketball and football squads - as are the San Antonio Spurs, Indianapolis Colts, St. Louis Cardinals and the Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team.

In addition to the expected categories honoring the top players in teams, the ESPYs also feature awards that honor the best memories of the year. For instance, the Best Moment award will honor a standout moment from the past year - such as the Saints' first home game back in New Orleans, or Tiger Woods' tears of joy after winning the British Open.

The Best Game category will be contested between the Fiesta Bowl, the AFC Championship Game, and the triple-overtime basketball thriller between Oklahoma State and Texas. Best Play features nominees such as Boise State's "Statue of Liberty" play, or Endy Chavez's catch for the Mets in Game Seven of the NLCS.

The awards aren't limited to the players on the field. Billy Donovan, Tony Dungy, Jim Leyland, Gregg Popovich and Pat Summitt have been nominated for Best Coach/Manager. There is also an award for Best Sports Movie, with nominations going to Invincible, Pride, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, and We Are Marshall.

According to the Associated Press, the Best Fighter award was renamed from the previous Best Boxer award, to allow mixed martial arts fighters to compete in the category. The AP report also states that there are two special awards that fans do not get the opportunity to vote on: The Arthur Ashe Courage Award, which is given to an athlete whose contributions go far beyond the world of sports, and the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance, a brand new award which will be given to "a person whose performance has evoked emotion and provided inspiration to the sports world."

Sources:

"Indianapolis Colts lead ESPY nominations." Associated Press. URL: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/ESPY_NOMINATIONS?SITE=PAGRE&SECTION=SPORTS&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-06-25-16-43-33

"The 2007 ESPYS." ESPN.com. URL: http://espn.go.com/espy2007/index.html#/vote/