The ESPY’s took place last night in Los Angeles, which brought countless figures in sports to Southern California to rub elbows. But that wasn’t the only major sporting event in town over the past couple of days. On Tuesday, the day before the ESPY’s, Gatorade held their annual Athlete of the Year award presentation in Hollywood and was gracious enough to invite The Hoop Doctors along for the ride for the second year in a row.
The Gatorade Athlete of the Year is a phenomenal concept. Throughout the course of the year, Gatorade recognizes state and national High School Players of the Year in 12 sports (six male, six female). In addition to athletic performance, Gatorade Players of the Year must achieve in the classroom and demonstrate strong character. Winners are selected by a panel of nationwide sportswriters and commentators. The nominees for the girls were Krista Vansant (volleyball), Aisling Cuffe (cross country), Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis (basketball), Morgan Brian (soccer), Paige McDuffee (softball) and Amy Weissenback (track & field). Representing the boys were Justin Worley (football), Lukas Verzbicas (cross country), Brad Beal (basketball), Luis Rendon (soccer), Dylan Bundy (baseball) and Gunnar Nixon (track & field). So, those were the Players of the Year, all vying for Athlete of the Year.
Along with Diallo Williams, the one responsible for filming and editing The Hoop Doctors’ interviews, I arrived at the Grand Ballroom of the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel just as the event was set to start, without a minute to spare (Who knew it would take an hour and a half to make the 10 mile trek from LAX to the hotel?). As it turns out, though, we didn’t miss anything at all. We walked in as Stuart Scott, the host for the evening, began introducing the aforementioned nominees for both the boys and girls. But there was no sign of Stuart yet. You could only hear him introducing each nominee while their high school highlights played on the big screen. They would each walk onto the stage as they were announced by Scott.
Once they were all on the stage at once, they were greeted to a warm round of applause from everyone in attendance. They then took their seats with their respective families. Then it was time for Stuart Scott to walk around the room and acknowledge the many athletes in attendance. His first stop was to rookie wide receiver of the Atlanta Falcons, Julio Jones. After a quick Q&A with Jones, Stuart walked away by stating that the Falcons are his pick to win the NFC this year. I tend to agree. He then spotted Lisa Leslie, Kevin Love and Matthew Stafford of the Detroit Lions. All while stopping at their seat to ask them few questions.
Before long, he was back up on stage, briefed the crowd once again before asking, “who’s hungry?” I’m glad he said that, because after the five hour cross-country flight, nearly two hour trip to the hotel, and three hour time difference, I was about four and a half minutes away from eating my tie. So, dinner was served by the prompt and cordial staff and I made quick work of the filet mignon, shrimp, potatoes and spinach. In fact, there was an empty seat to my right and the staff placed a plate at that seat, thinking someone was sitting there. I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t think twice about eating that one too. But I didn’t want to sully The Hoop Doctors brand.
Once dinner was over, Stuart returned to the stage, then called up those who would be presenting the girls winner: Lisa Leslie, Allyson Felix (sprinter for USA) and Jessica Mendoza (outfielder for the women’s national team). After the lights dimmed so that they could show the nominees on the big screen once again, while Beyonce was played in the background, they announced that Morgan Brian was the winner. After Brian came up, accepted her award and posed for photos with Leslie, Felix and Mendoza, it was now time for the boys. Kevin Love and Matthew Stafford were the presenters. Once on stage, and similar to the girls, the lights dimmed so that the highlights on the boys side could run, while we were serenaded by Kanye West. When the music stopped, Love and Stafford announced the winner: Dylan Bundy. That was certainly a change from last year where both winners were basketball players: Chiney Ogwumike and Brandon Knight.
That concluded the 2-hour award presentation and media was asked to make our way to the adjacent room where the interviews would be conducted. These tend to happen quickly, so there wasn’t much time to waste as we got set up right away. About 15 minutes later, a Gatorade rep brought Kevin Love over. We spoke to Love last year at this event, but I think it’s safe to say that there’s alot more going on with him these days. He had alot to share. Immediately following Love was Brad Beal, the boys basketball winner, who will be headed to Florida in the fall. Wait until you hear which NBA player he says his game resembles the most. Next up was Lisa Leslie. She was in rare comedic form and made for a very fun conversation/interview. That all happened within the span of a half hour or so. Be sure to check TheHoopDoctors.com for those interviews, coming soon.
After mingling with the other media outlets in attendance, with some of the remaining athletes still hanging around, the room began to clear out as many headed to the poolside reception area for drinks. That was a good time to finally unwind and relax. Too bad it only went until 11:00. That left it to us to enjoy the rest of the night on our own. But the most puzzling thing of the entire day by far had to be the realization that Michael Jackson’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is only about 20 yards away from Shrek’s. What an injustice.
If you’re looking for your everyday, predictable basketball talk, then you’ve come to the wrong place, because Kevin Burke of The Kevin Burke Project brings provocative, thought provoking content about basketball as only he can. Kevin also hosts The Hoop Doctors weekly podcast show, which you can subscribe to for free on iTunes. Follow Kevin on Twitter and Facebook
