Tag Archives: ESPY awards

Take the heat

Sometimes, you just need someone to blame.

And this week…that someone is LeBron James.

A guy in Michigan told the policeman who pulled him over for DUI that LeBron’s decision to go to the Miami Heat was the reason he was drunk.  No lie.

Of course, since he was drunk, he kinda got the facts wrong.  He thought LeBron was with the Boston Celtics — instead of the Cleveland Cavaliers — but it was still upsetting, so that was why he drank too much.

It was clearly LeBron’s fault.

Which got me to thinking — we can all milk this situation for a couple of more weeks.

I mean, LeBron milked his announcement — which should have taken all of 30 seconds — into an hour television special.  And the ESPY Awards were able to milk it yet again into a hilarious sketch on Wednesday night’s show.

Why shouldn’t we all blame LeBron for something this week?

Can’t pay your rent?  It’s LeBron’s fault.  Miss a work deadline?  LeBron made me do it.  Cheat on your wife?  Did you see what LeBron did?  I had to, man.

Use your brain.  Throw the blame.

It’s LeBron’s fault.

The envelope please…

Awards shows?  I’m a fan.

Even though the entertainment value is spotty at best, I still like to watch.  You never know when an overexcited, drunk celebrity is going to say or do something really embarrassing.

Television at its best!

Last night I added a new awards show to my annual must-see list  — the ESPYs, ESPN’s sports awards.  I’ve never watched them before because, well, they’ve never been hosted by Seth Meyers of SNL.  He was the draw.  I thought it would be a fun show.

And it was.  Ya know why?

The awards were almost an afterthought.  The show was all comedy and musical numbers.  When the ESPYs did focus on an award — like the Courage Award, for example — they did these amazing pieces of sports journalism that were beautifully written, photographed and edited.  You couldn’t look away.

It was an awards show, but first and foremost, it was entertainment.

And as an awards show junkie, I just want to say thank you.  And I hope the producers and directors of the Oscars, Emmys and Tonys were watching.  You could learn something.

Oh — and I’d like to highlight my favorite acceptance speech of the night…from the Best Breakthrough Athlete, Chris Johnson of Tennessee, who so clearly defined our priorities in the digital age:

“First of all, I want to thank God, most of all. Without Him it wouldn’t be possible. I want to thank all the fans who voted for me, I want to thank all my friends and family. I want to thank Ustream and I want to thank Twitter most of all. And if you got a Twitter, follow me at ChrisJohnson28.”

Long live the awards show!