Admittedly, I’m not the biggest sports fan that you might encounter out there. In the past ten years I’ve seen two baseball games and maybe three hockey games. I don’t watch the traditional seasons of anything and usually record the Super Bowl so I can zip through the game play to make note of any of the commercials that I might need to speak about here or on PiercingMetal.com – That being said, I didn’t want our readers to miss out on the recent nominations for the ESPY Awards which were just announced a couple of days ago. ESPY stands for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award in case you didn’t know. This will be my first year including this awards show in my rundown of these kinds of things. I hope you enjoy it and here are the nominations.

BEST MALE ATHLETE:
Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs
Mookie Betts, Boston Red Sox
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
Brooks Koepka, Golf

BEST FEMALE ATHLETE:
Breanna Stewart, Seattle Storm
Simone Biles, Gymnast
Alex Morgan, USWNT
Mikaela Shiffrin, US Skiing
Simone Biles
Noushad Thekkayil/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

BEST BREAKTHROUGH ATHLETE:
Saquon Barkley, New York Giants
Christian Yelich, Milwaukee Brewers
Trae Young, Atlanta Hawks
Naomi Osaka – US Open, Australian Open

BEST INTERNATIONAL MEN’S SOCCER PLAYER:
Lionel Messi
Cristiano Ronaldo
Kylian Mbappe
Virgil Van Dyke

BEST INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S SOCCER PLAYER:
Pernille Harder, Denmark
Ada Hegerberg, Norway
Sam Kerr, Australia
Lucy Bronze, England

BEST NFL PLAYER:
Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs
Aaron Donald, Los Angeles Rams
Todd Gurley, Los Angeles Rams
Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints

BEST MLB PLAYER:
Mookie Betts, Red Sox
Christian Yelich, Milwaukee Brewers
Jacob DeGrom, New York Mets
Blake Snell, Tampa Bays Rays

BEST NHL PLAYER:
Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning
Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals

BEST DRIVER:
Lewis Hamilton, F1
Steve Torrence, NHRA
Scott Dixon, Indy
Kyle Busch, NASCAR

BEST NBA PLAYER:
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
James Harden, Houston Rockets
Kevin Durant, Golden State Warriors
Paul George, OKC Thunder

BEST WNBA PLAYER:
Breanna Stewart, Seattle Storm
Diana Taurasi, Phoenix Mercury
Elena Delle Donne, Washington Mystics
Candace Parker, Los Angeles Sparks

BEST BOXER:
Canelo Alvarez
Vasily Lomachenko
Oleksandr Usyk
Terence Crawford

BEST MMA FIGHTER:
Israel Adesanya
Daniel Cormier
Henry Cejudo
Amanda Nunes

BEST MALE GOLFER:
Brooks Koepka
Tiger Woods
Justin Rose
Francesco Molinari

BEST FEMALE GOLFER:
Ariya Jutanugarn
Brooke Henderson
Jin-Young Ko
Sung Hyun Park

BEST MALE TENNIS PLAYER:
Novak Djokovic
Rafael Nadal
Roger Federer
Stefanos Tsitsipas

BEST FEMALE TENNIS PLAYER:
Naomi Osaka
Simona Halep
Serena Williams
Petra Kvitová

BEST MALE ACTION SPORTS ATHLETE:
Nyjah Huston (USA), skateboard
Scotty James (AUS), snowboard
Tom Pages (FRA), freestyle motocross
Gabriel Medina (BRA), surf

BEST FEMALE ACTION SPORTS ATHLETE:
Kelly Sildaru (EST), ski
Chloe Kim (USA), snowboard
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (NZL), snowboard
Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), surf

BEST JOCKEY:
Irad Ortiz Jr.
Mike Smith
Florent Geroux
Jose Ortiz

BEST MALE ATHLETE WITH A DISABILITY:
Mark Barr – Triathalon
Declan Farmer – Hockey
Daniel Romanchuk – Marathon Racing
Oz Sanchez – Cycling

BEST FEMALE ATHLETE WITH A DISABILITY:
Oksana Masters, Nordic Skiing
Tatyana McFadden, Marathon Racing
Shawn Morelli, Cycling
Allysa Seely, Triathalon

BEST BOWLER:
Jason Belmonte
Norm Duke
Anthony Simonsen
Jakob Butturff

BEST MLS PLAYER:
Josef Martinez, Atlanta United
Wayne Rooney, DC United
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, LA Galaxy
Aaron Long, NY Red Bulls

BEST NWSL PLAYER:
Lindsey Horan, Portland Thorns
Adrianna Franch, Portland Thorns
Sam Kerr, Chicago Red Stars
Abby Erceg, North Carolina Courage

BEST GAME:
NCAAF – LSU vs. Texas A&M: Aggies win seven-overtime 74-72 thriller in highest scoring game in FBS history
NFL Week 11 – LA Rams (54) vs. Kansas City Chiefs (51) – Monday Night Football
NCAAW Final Four – Notre Dame (81) vs. UConn (76) – 26 lead changes

BEST COLLEGE ATHLETE:
Kyler Murray, Oklahoma Football – 2018 Heisman Trophy Winner
Zion Williamson, Duke MBB – 2019 Wooden Award Winner
Rachel Garcia, UCLA Softball – USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year
Sabrina Ionescu, Oregon WBB – 2019 Wooden Award Winner

BEST RECORD-BREAKING PERFORMANCE:
Drew Brees (New Orleans Saints) passed Peyton Manning’s 71,940 career passing yards to move into first place on the all-time list; most completions in NFL history, 6,300+ completions passes Brett Favre
Sabrina Ionescu (Oregon Basketball) recorded her 13th triple-double. She now holds the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball record for triple doubles. She surpassed Kyle Collinsworth’s mark of 12 in four seasons at BYU. She also broke the Division I men’s and women’s record in a single season in the Ducks’ 96–78 win over Southern California (7) breaking former BYU guard Kyle Collinsworth
Klay Thompson (Golden State Warriors) broke the NBA 3-point record in a game with 14, passing Stephen Curry’s previous mark
Matthew Boling became the first-ever high schooler to break 10 seconds in the 100-meter dash, dropping a 9.98

BEST PLAY (bracket-style voting):
Miami Miracle: Miami Dolphins Stun the New England Patriots
Kawhi Leonard Drains Game-Winner at Buzzer in Game 7
Derrick Henry’s NFL-record 99-yard run vs. Jaguars
Wayne Rooney Just Single-Handedly Won A Match For D.C. United
UCLA gymnast Katelyn Ohashi scores a perfect 10
Andrew Benintendi calls game
Damian Lillard Sends OKC Home On Buzzer Beater
Manchester QB Brendon Clar throws this ball to Kevin Henderson for the 48 yard TD catch
Texas Tech WR makes one-handed grab that mirrors OBJs best catch
Kinsley Washington singled home Jacqui Prober to win the Bruins’ 12th softball title
Julie Ertz gives the USWNT the lead early in the second half
Texas A&M’s Infinite Tucker goes ALL OUT for the gold
Arike Ogunbowale Behind the Back Pass
Kihei Clark, Mamadi Diakite Save Virginia at the buzzer
Wilmington Charter’s Taylor Gillis with CATCH OF THE YEAR!
“Hail Mary” pass helps Texas high school football team win state title

BEST VIRAL SPORTS MOMENT:
Rudolph “Blaze” Ingram, the 7-year-old running phenom is already faster than you
Texas A&M’s Infinite Tucker goes ALL OUT for the gold
Katelyn Ohashi, UCLA Gymnastics – scores a perfect 10
Don’t Sleep on Sister Mary Jo’s curveball

BEST UPSET:
NCAAF – Old Dominion defeats No. 13 Virginia Tech 49-35, Old Dominion only had a 1.8% chance of winning according to ESPN’s FPI, making it the largest upset by an FBS team in the 14 years of Football Power Index projections
2018 US Open – Naomi Osaka defeating Serena Williams
NHL – Columbus Blue Jackets pulled off what many thought impossible, an upset for the ages after a 7-3 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on in Game 4 of their best-of-7 series.
Boxing – Andy Ruiz Jr. upset win over Anthony Joshua

BEST ESPORTS MOMENT (bracket-style voting):
SonicFox winning Evo after switching sides
Team Liquid upsets defending world champ Invictus Gaming at MSI
Cloud9 wins CS:GO Boston Major
Astralis winning Katowice
Invictus League of Legends World Championship
Spitfire win inaugural Overwatch League championship
Serral winning StarCraft at BlizzCon
Shanghai Dragons end 42-game losing streak
Team OG wins the International and $11 million from qualifiers
Chiquita Evans becoming the first woman in the 2K League
oLarry’s return to the NBA 2K League after the Jacksonville shooting
Leffen finally winning EVO in what could be Melee’s last year at the event
Ninja Fortnite win with Marshmello at E3 ProAM
Chritobin Madden Challenge walk off
G2 wins R6 world championship
Mongausse winning Summer Skirmish from out of nowhere

BEST WWE MOMENT:
Roman Reigns returns to WWE Raw, announces his Leukemia is in remission
Becky Lynch wins both WWE Women’s Championship Titles at Wrestlemania 35
Kofi Kingston wins his first WWE Heavyweight Championship Title at Wrestlemania 35
Ronda Rousey defeats Alexa Bliss at Summerslam 2018 to win her first RAW Women’s Championship Title

*** end of list ***

Piercing Ken Thoughts: So there is the list and it’s a massive one for sure. Are your favorite athletes and sporting moments among the nominations? If not, please chime in down in the comments below with who you felt was left out of the nomination process. I’d be interested in hearing from you. When the winners list is announced I will be back with that post for good measure. See you next time.

Official Website: https://www.espn.com/espys/