This sporting year has been one of the most exciting in recent memory. All of the major champions this year were upsets, or unsuspected winners (Bama, Cardinals, Giants, THE LA KINGS etc). So what a great summer for the ESPY awards to cap off such a greatest years in sports. Just in case you didn't know, the 2012 ESPY Awards air this Wednesday July, 11 at 9 PM ET.
To commemorate such a great year in sports, and to get you amped up for this years ESPY's, we have put together a panel of elite ESPY experts to decipher and breakdown the biggest and most competitive awards. Our panel of Chat Sports ESPY experts have deliberated, debated, and come to a decision on our pick for each ESPY, and who the people will pick. Unfortunately, we are not going to go ever award given out this year (there are are ton) but we are going to discuss the ones that have the most to talk about.
If you think we missed a beat in our predictions, drop us a line in our comments section below.
Chat Sports Pick: Novak Djokovic
Yes, yes we have heard that LeBron finally won a championship and MVP. But we still are not quite ready to crown the king as best male athlete. The Djoker has won three of the last five grand slams and was on a dominant streak of like 50 something matches won in a row. Djokovic is our pick for best male athlete.
2011-2012 Novak Djokovic Highlights
Who Will Win: LeBron James
The people will go with LeBron on this one, in near blowout fashion. The LeBron haters have significantly dwindled and even Cleveland jersey burners now recognize that there is not a whole lot to criticize LeBron on. LeBron will get the ESPY, his first of many to come this year.
2011-2012 LeBron James Highlights
Chat Sports Pick: Brittney Griner
The Chat Sports ESPY expert panel delivered a unanimous selection of Griner here. Possibly, they were scared that Griner would hunt them down if they didn't select her, but also quite possibly she was just the best female athlete this year. Griner dominated the paint and led Baylor to an undefeated championship. We are sold.
Who Will Win: Brittney Griner
The people will get this one right and select Griner. Her talents have been well documented. Her team was champion. There is no reason not to select Griner.
2011-2012 Brittney Griner Highlights
Chat Sports Pick: LeBron James
The panel of experts debated this one meticulously, but all decided that it had to be LeBron. Eli's Super Bowl was good, but not great. David Freese had a great world series, but wasn't dominant like LeBron. Jonathan Quick led a great playoff run, but a goalie can only do so much. LeBron was dominant on the biggest stage with the most pressure. We think it should be LeBron.
Who Will Win: LeBron James
Once again the people will select King James. More people watch the NBA Finals, LeBron is by far the most well known figure, and had by far the most polarizing run through the playoffs. LeBron will get his second ESPY of the night.
2012 LeBron James NBA Championship Highlights
Chat Sports Pick: RGIII
Out of all the close calls, this award might have been the most argued, closest call of them all. The Chat Sports ESPY experts made strong cases for each candidate. Alex Morgan easily won the aesthetics category. Jeremy Lin created Linsanity. Anthony Davis led his team to a championship while bringing back the uni-brow. RGIII won the Heisman with incredible plays in the high scoring Baylor offense. In the end, a strong argument can be made for each athlete, and the Chat Sports experts still are far from agreeing. However a decision had to be made, and the panel went with RGIII.
Who Will Win: RGIII
This was such a highly debated topic that the expert team at Chat Sports could not decide on their own. After deliberating and returning more or less a hung jury, Chat Sports looked to you, the people, to get a sample for who would be voted as Best Breakthrough Athlete. The polls were close all day, but after the votes were tallied up, RGIII prevailed. RGIII will take home the ESPY.
Chat Sports Pick: Coach K
This one really came down to Brees and Coach K. Both broke amazing records that held legendary status. While the panel acknowledged Brees great season, even the Tarheel in the panel had to (grudgingly) vote for Coach K on this one. Becoming the all time leader in wins is something that takes a lifetime to achieve, and may be flat out impossible to top.
Who Will Win: Coach K
Brees will get a fair amount of votes from the fans here, as the NFL nominees always do, but the people will rightly select Coach K.
Coach K Breaks the Record -Video
Chat Sports Pick: Bubba Watson
The Chat Sports panel deliberated for a considerable amount of time on this one. Best moment is something that cannot be quantified with typical sports stats. Its not the best play either, not just an amazing grab or anything. It is hard to describe the best moment, but you know it when you see it. To us, Bubba Watson winning the masters was the best moment among a slew of good options.
Who Will Win: Tim Tebow
The experts had trouble deciding who the people would go with here. Even though we decided that Bubba was deserving, we thought several things could work against Bubba. Tebow is a bigger name in a more popular sport, so the panel decided that these two factors would essentially trump the true best moment. That's alright, because winning the Masters for Bubba was a far better moment than getting an ESPY would be.
Chat Sports Pick: Tom Coughlin
The experts were presented with an arsenal of coaches who had achieved remarkable success in the past year, but quickly narrowed it down to two. Calipari and Coughlin emerged as the leaders. Although Calipari's team won in dominant fashion, we felt that Calipari's success was more about the Jims and Joes than Xs and Os. Coughlin on the other hand led a team through adversity and a grueling NFL season, where parity is king a team can go down any week. We thought that Coughlin had a tougher job than Calipari and had better competition, but still came out on top.
Who Will Win: John Calipari
The people have been doing pretty good so far, but we think that they will miss this one. Blinded by Kentucky's great record and dominant championship performance, the people will select Calipari. This is by no means a terrible pick, and Calipari deserves praise for helping weld individuals into a team. Calipari will take home the ESPY.
Chat Sports Pick: Matt Stafford
This was a tough pick for the Chat Sports experts because well, these athletes didn't really "come back." Yes, Crosby was injured, and returned to the ice, but was then injured again. He played like 10 games this season. Not exactly a comeback. Johan Santana missed an entire season because of throwing arm/shoulder problems, and returned this season to throw a no hitter. Was it storybook? Yes. A good candidate for Best Moment? Yes. But Santana has been average since his no hitter, so we don't exactly consider his comeback complete. While Sharapova dropped in the world rankings and made her way back to number one, she suffered no injury during her fall, and simply didn't play well. We didn't think that was enough of a reason to call it a comeback. Stafford was then our default pick, because he did suffer a severe injury, and did come back from it to play an entire season at an extremely high level. We take Stafford.
Who Will Win: Matt Stafford
We think that the people will be a little torn over who to pick here. Crosby has star power, Sharapova has been dominant lately, and Santana has the glitter and fame of throwing the no hitter. However the power of the NFL will show itself again, and the people will take Stafford.
2011-2012 Matt Stafford Highlights
Chat Sports Pick: Anthony Davis
This was pretty much narrowed down to Davis and RGIII for us, with Luck being a close third. RGIII had an incredible season, put up great numbers, won a Heisman, and represented his school well. That said, he did not win a championship. Davis was equally as dominant, if not more so, and took his team all the way. For that reason, we take Davis.
2011-2012 Anthony Davis Highlights
Who Will Win: RGIII
This will be a really tough one for the people, but we think that once again the power of football influences the ESPY voters. Honestly, picking a winner here is like splitting hairs, and there is no wrong choice between Luck, Griffen, and Davis. We think the people will go with RGIII.
Chat Sports Pick: LA Kings
Another very tough one for the panel of experts to pick, the Chat Sports team came back with a split vote here. The UNC portion of the panel had strong feelings that Lehigh was indeed the best upset of the year, knocking off a two seed as a 15... by the way the two seed was Duke. However the West Coast bias in the panel is evident, as the final vote for best upset went with the Kings.
Who Will Win: Lehigh
The people will (rightly) go with Lehigh here. There is no better place for upsets than the NCAA tournament, and Lehigh's thriller over Duke was up there with the best. CJ McCollum dropped 30 on the Blue Devils and sent the Mountain Hawks to the second round. An NCAA tournament shocker is as good as it gets in any sport, especially when its Duke on the losing end.
Chat Sports Pick: Notre Dame @ Michigan
So maybe some of our Chat Sports panel is a little biased towards Michigan? As you can see, Chat Sports went with a write in here. In all honesty, Notre Dame going in to Ann Arbor and the Big House at night is about as good as it gets, especially when it is capped off with a huge comeback and three scores in the last minute. The video below should remind you why Notre Dame - Michigan was one of, if not the best game of the year.
Who Will Win: 49ers vs. Saints
Chat Sports is campaigning for the Notre Dame vs. Michigan write in, but even we think that our efforts won't be enough to top 49ers vs. Saints. The NFC semi-finals matchup was undoubtedly great. We don't think it was Notre Dame vs. Michigan good, but we can't blame the people for that. 49ers vs. Saints will get the ESPY.
Chat Sports Pick: Brees
Arguments can be made for Gronk, who had the best season ever for a tight end, Megatron, who lit up the highlights with freakish grabs, and Rodgers, who had catchy State Farm commercials, but in the end this was a no brainer. Brees was unbelievably good leading the Saints offense. He ran the high speed attack brilliantly and threw darts from the pocket. Our pick is Brees.
Who Will Win: Brees
The people will get this one right. After a season like Brees had, its hard not to. Now can the Saints just give him a contract already?
2011-2012 Drew Brees Highlights
Chat Sports Pick: Justin Verlander
Several good options here, but Chat Sports decided to go with the AL Writers on this one. Verlander was MVP last season and for good reason. The pitcher was absolutely dominant, owning opposing lineups with fastballs in the triple digits and knee-buckling curves. Verlander was the best in the bigs last year.
Who Will Win: Justin Verlander
When the AP has already decided that Verlander was the best, it is hard to argue with them. Hamilton will garner fan votes for his outlandish home run hitting, but his overall season last year doesn't compare to Verlander's. Verlander gets the ESPY.
2011-2012 Justin Verlander Highlights
Chat Sports Pick: Evgeni Malkin
Throughout the year, Malkin put together the best overall season. All the others played well, made playoff pushes, and Quick even took his team all the way. However the award recognizes the entire season, and for that reason we select Malkin. Malkin led the league in scoring and stepped up big time when Crosby went down. Simply, he was the best player in the league last year.
2011-2012 Evgeni Malkin Highlights
Who Will Win: Jonathan Quick
We think America might be a bit off on this one. Deceived by Quick's great playoff run, the people will go with the what have you done for me lately approach. Quick's team won it all, and he has received more publicity lately. The people go with Quick.
2011-2012 Jonathan Quick Highlights
Chat Sports Pick: LeBron James
Chat Sports quickly narrowed this race down to three players: LeBron, KD, and Love. While Love had a great season, we felt like his lack of team success hurt him too much. And come on, he's just not the best player in the league. With KD and Bron left, you are in a win-win situation. KD led the league in scoring and took his team to the finals. LeBron had a great overall year, and most importantly stepped up big time on the big stage. We thought LeBron was best when it mattered the most, even though KD might have slightly edged him in the regular season.
Who Will Win: LeBron James
America will once again go with LeBron. King James will have too many ESPYs to count by the end of the night, but he deserves (most) of them. LeBron and KD could duel it out for this ESPY for several years to come.
2011-2012 LeBron James Highlights
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