There are plenty of very legitimate reasons not to like the ESPYs, but there's one thing they do well: provide a platform for smart people to say meaningful things. The smart people were in short supply last night, but two of them - Stuart Scott and Michael Sam - made the most of the opportunity.
Michael Sam, as you've probably heard, became the first openly gay NFL player this year. His emotional speech (after winning the Arthur Ashe Courage Award) is worth watching:
[embed]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbvaBB78lkU[/embed]
Stuart Scott was diagnosed with cancer in 2011. It entered remission early in 2012, but Scott was diagnosed again in January 2013. His speech on his ongoing battle - and the importance of living a full life - was exceptional.
[embed]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl_0ieqSi7Q[/embed]
ESPN has one of the largest platforms in the world when it comes to reaching people, and they deserve props for these speeches and the promotional work they do for the V foundation for cancer research.We'd love to live in a world where the ESPYs were three hours of this instead of 2.75 hours of Drake...but it's better than nothing.
