Unfortunately, the daily episodes of the sports world aren’t recognized by the Academy, which announced the nominees for this year’s Emmy Awards Thursday.
We’ve seen reality shows and movies surrounding sports, and the turmoil of athletes’ lives could easily create an athletic soap opera. Terrell Owens has already tried to live out his own show on VH1, while Lamar Odom has become infinitely more popular thanks to his cameos on Keeping up with the Kardashians.
LeBron’s potential jump to Miami to join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh has a spinoff of The Real Housewives of Miami written all over it.
The list goes on and on — but what the list doesn’t have is an award show for this year. So without further ado, I give you the Sports Emmy nominees for the past year.
Outstanding Casting
New York Yankees
New Orleans Saints
Chicago Blackhawks
Los Angeles Lakers
Boston Celtics
Duke men’s basketball
And the winner is …
New York Yankees
After years of frivolous spending on expensive free agents who never seemed to pan out, the Yankees struck gold in the 2009 season, adding CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett for a combined 12 years and $243.5 million. Pocket change for Steinbrenner. Oh right, and don’t forget winning the Mark Teixeira sweepstakes, which put another slugger in their lineup. New York’s three big signings all paid off in huge ways. Teixeira led the team in home runs (39) and RBIs (122). Sabathia finished 19-8 with a 3.37 ERA, while Burnett dialed in for a serviceable 13-9 record and 4.04 ERA. Coupled with mainstays Alex Rodriguez (30 homers, 100 RBIs) and Derek Jeter (.334 average, 30 stolen bases), the boys in pinstripes would not be stopped in the postseason after yet another successful 162-game campaign. A playoff-best 3.26 ERA, led by Sabathia, and 80 runs scored (second to Philadelphia’s 82) netted the Yankees their first World Series since 2000.
It’s hard to slight the other teams' rosters. Drew Brees held a united Saints team together. A young coalition of Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith pushed Chicago to legendary status. The Lakers and Celtics squared off in a star-studded final. A talented Duke team led by Jon Scheyer and Kyle Singler, won March Madness. But nothing compared to the statistical dominance and championship caliber of the Yankees.
Outstanding Costumes
Oklahoma City Thunder
White and Powder Blue
Florida State Football
All Black
Boston Celtics
White with green trim
Oregon football
All Yellows
Seattle Seahawks
Lime Green
Utah Jazz
Purple Throwbacks
And the winner is …
Utah Jazz
Not only did the Jazz adopt the old school logo – exchanging the mountains for the traditional musical note – they brought back the ambitious but perfect purple-with-gold-trim uniforms. Some throwbacks are meant to gather moth balls, but not this one. It harkens back to the days of John Stockton and Karl Malone contending for NBA titles, and it stands out on the court.
Fan favorites like the Thunder’s new threads and the classic Celtics white and green jerseys are hard to pass up. And the wacky but somehow appealing highlighter Oregon and Seahawks lime green jerseys stand out a little too much. The Jazz find a perfect medium of classic and revolutionary.
Outstanding Directing
Doc Rivers
Phil Jackson
Sean Payton
Charlie Manuel
Brad Stevens
Geno Auriemma
And the winner is …
Sean Payton
The head coach of the Saints is arguably the most creative offensive mastermind in the NFL, and it showed throughout the season as New Orleans was flirting with a perfect record until the Cowboys spoiled it in Week 14. Drew Brees threw for 4,388 yards and 34 touchdowns, and a committee of average running backs – Mike Bell, Pierre Thomas and injured Reggie Bush – totaled enough yards to finish sixth in the league in yards per game. Payton also shored up his defense, handing the reins to Gregg Williams and allowing him to install a bend-but-don’t-break scheme that featured talented safeties Darren Sharper (nine INTs) and Roman Harper (102 tackles), as well as sackmaster Will Smith (13 sacks). His leadership and innovation allowed New Orleans to average 35.6 points per game in the playoffs and brought the Lombardi Trophy to the Big Easy.
Outstanding Lead Actor
Kobe Bryant
Drew Brees
Patrick Kane
Ubaldo Jimenez
LeBron James
Tim Tebow
And the winner is …
Kobe Bryant
The guy carried the Lakers and won himself a fifth NBA championship, putting him in contention as one of the greatest players of all time. He averaged 29.2 points in the playoffs, better than his already impressive regular-season average of 27 points per game. Chants of “MVP! MVP!” rained down on him in the Staples Center during Game 7, and justifiably so. He kept the Lakers afloat throughout the entire season, and he is the reason they won the title.
Outstanding Breakthrough Performance
2010 Boston Red Sox
-Battling injuries to remain just 2 1/2 back in the Wild Card, 4 1/2 back in AL East
Kevin Durant
-Averaged 30 points per game (led NBA) and put Oklahoma City in playoffs for first time
Jaime Garcia
-Unsung rookie pitcher for the Cardinals who is 8-4 with a 2.17 ERA
2009-10 Butler basketball
-Finished regular season 30-4 and got to NCAA championship game
Stephen Strasburg
-Set record for strikeouts in first four starts and currently sits at 2-2 with a 2.45 ERA
TCU football
-Reached No. 4 ranking and first-ever BCS bowl game, its first major bowl since 1958
And the winner is …
Butler men’s basketball
No one outside of a few blindly loyal Bulldogs alumni could have predicted Butler’s run to the NCAA championship game. A No. 5 seed, Butler took down top-seeded Syracuse and No. 2 seed Kansas State to reach the Final Four, before disposing of Michigan State to reach the title game. Playing less than 10 miles from campus, Butler nearly pulled off the Cinderella upset of Duke, but fell just a half-court shot short. Led by virtual no-names, Butler entered the tournament on a 20-game win streak and brought the mid-major conferences (the Horizon League especially) a great deal of respect.
Best Show of the Year
New York Yankees
New Orleans Saints
Chicago Blackhawks
Los Angeles Lakers
Duke Blue Devils men’s basketball
Alabama football
And the winner is …
Alabama football
On a list of winners, perhaps the most unheralded deserves the most attention, which is why Alabama takes this category. The Crimson Tide not only won the championship, they also had the toughest journey getting there. They had to go undefeated to reach the BCS National Championship, and they did. They played in the toughest conference. They took care of No. 7 Virginia Tech in the season opener. They downed No. 1 Florida in the SEC Championship, and then dominated No. 2 Texas in the title game. They paved the way for Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram, and they finished second in the NCAA in yards allowed and points allowed per game. In the ultra-competitive realm of college football, Alabama beat the best to become the best.
