The 2023 ESPY Awards are in the books, with ESPN having concluded its celebration of the best of the best in sports.
The night belonged to Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who came away with three awards: best athlete among men, best NFL player, and best team alongside the rest of the Chiefs.
BENDER: Mahomes opens up about next phase of NFL superstardom
Outside of Mahomes, ESPN placed a heavy emphasis on the humanitarian awards. The U.S. women’s national soccer team was honored with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award; the Bills’ training staff received the Pat Tillman Award for Service from Damar Hamlin; and White Sox pitcher Liam Hendriks received the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance for coming back to pitch after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Surrogate host Pat McAfee did a monologue at the start of the show, but he didn’t have the traditional ESPYS duty of appearing in skits throughout the night and showed up just once more. Instead, presenters carried the burden of entertaining, some more successfully than others.
There was a brief moment where it seemed like the crowd might be treated to a historic moment, when LeBron James began to talk about retirement. He quickly quashed that, however, instead confirming he still has plenty to offer the NBA.
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