FanHouse ESPYs

As a fitting recap to the 2009 ESPY awards, FanHouse's own Elie Seckbach works with AOL Video to talk to some of the biggest names in sports live from the red carpet in L.A. And as usual, Elie gets some great stuff. From Landon Donovan dishing on the David Beckham situation, to Samuel L. Jackson talking about which athlete he most wants to meet (hint: she's a female golfer), to Tim Tebow talking about what sports means to the kids, to the Texans' Chester Pitts giving his opinion on FanHouse itself, Seckbach scores some quality time with the stars of the sports world. Check out the full video below.

I didn't watch the ESPYs, but I hear it was a rockin' good time. I have a feeling it might have been a bit better though if they would have let Dwight Howard host the thing. After seeing this video, I think you'll be hard pressed to disagree.


Not a bad Michael Jackson there, but the thing I found most entertaining was Howard's cross-eyed impression of Shaquille O'Neal. Considering the fact that Howard shamelessly ripped the whole Superman thing from Shaq, I'm sure we can expect this little jab to draw some sort of retaliation from the famously egotistical superstar at some point in the very near future.

In lieu of actually watching the ESPYs, I swung by AA and was perusing the list of items that were included in the VIP gift bags. It is an insanely long list of plus spa items, free golf rounds, video games, stakes in racehorses (hellooooo, PETA!) and trips to both the Richard Petty and Rock and Roll fantasy camps. All very cool stuff.

What really stood out to me though, is that ESPN is handing out to its ESPY VIPs -- primarily athletes mind you -- a free breathalyzer from Alcomate.

The AlcoMate Premium combines advanced PRISM (Pre-calibrated Replaceable Intelligent Sensor Module) technology, professional accuracy and modern design into a convenient, easy-to-use device.

Now, perhaps I'm missing the boat on this one, and the AlcoMate Premium is all the new hotness/rage/etc. And I would imagine they are pretty nice gifts ... for people who have the propensity to pound a lot of booze and then get behind the wheel of a car.

And not to hop on a high horse or anything here, but it seems kind of silly to give away a breathalyzer in the same bag as you give away a gift certificate to Margaritaville Cargo. To me, it's essentially like saying, "Hey! Rich athlete! You're going to drive drunk anyway, might as well make sure you're legal!" Or maybe it's not and I'm overreacting.

Yeah, ESPY fans -- all 32 of you! -- sorry about that headline.

But for the rest of the world who more than likely won't be watching the ESPY's on Sunday, ESPN is apologetic of that fact and announced the winners of each award Thursday on their web site. They show gets taped on Wednesday night and then aired Sunday.

And during that show (I don't know if Johnson was on hand for the ceremony or not, I guess you'll have to watch to find out. What suspense!) Jimmie Johnson was awarded "Best Driver". Last season, Jeff Gordon received the same honor, so Johnson is just continuing the dominance of Hendrick Motorsports.

Kyle Busch, who is dominating what really matters on the track, was snubbed for the award along with Dario Franchitti (for winning the Indianapolis 500 in 2007), Lewis Hamilton (for not winning the F1 championship in 2007), and Tony Schumacher (for kicking the rest of the field for a few years now in NHRA Top Fuel competition).

So Cristiano Ronaldo hobbles off to Los Angeles for the ESPY Awards, and what's the first thing he gets asked on the red carpet? When he might move there and play for the Galaxy.

Sure, buddy. A guy who gets paid $240,000 a week and calls himself a slave will play in a second-rate league that gives players $5,300 bonuses for winning a million-dollar tournament and spend his free nights dodging Paris Hilton. Sounds like heaven compared to Madrid -- not that Manchester United will let him move there, either. So says Sir Alex Ferguson, anyway.

I suppose expecting a red carpet interviewer to know these things is probably asking too much. Dude probably doesn't even know that Ronaldo dumped his girlfriend last week. Then again, neither does she.

(H/T: 101 Great Goals)

Future USC Trojan Matt Barkley made history yesterday when he became the first high school junior to take home top honors at the Gatorade High School athlete of the year awards.

Barkley received the award from former USC Trojan and Gatorade Award winner Matt Leinart at a pre-ESPY reception at West Hollywood's swank Sofitel Hotel.

"I'm amazed," Barkley insightfully told the Los Angeles Times. "It's awesome."

Unlike last year's winner, the one-and-done Kevin Love, Barkley will take his award back to high school for another year--and he was spared a grilling by FanHouse's own Miss Gossip and yours truly. I can only imagine what questions I would have had for Mister Leinart.

It's been a while since I bothered watching the ESPYs. Though I can't exactly remember how long ago it was, I can distinctly recall changing the channel after suffering through yet another lame attempt at humor by one of the WWL's talking heads. Safe to say, I've found something better to do in subsequent years. I hope you have too.

But now that fans of ESPN have bestowed the ESPY for best NHL player on Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby after a season where Washington Capitals winger Alex Ovechkin simply dominated the entire league, I feel compelled to comment. It's only been a few weeks since Ovechkin cleaned up at the NHL Awards, going home with the Hart Trophy as the regular season's most valuable player; the Lester Pearson Trophy for most outstanding player as voted by the league's players; the Art Ross Trophy for most total points; and the Maurice Richard Trophy as the league's leading goal scorer.

When you clean up like that, I like to think that Ovechkin won't miss an ESPY.

But really, it's worse than that, isn't it? After all, Crosby, who was injured for a good chunk of the season, might not have even been the best player on his team during the regular season. That honor would go to Evgeni Malkin, the man who carried the Penguins offensively in Crosby's absence, and earned himself consideration for both the Hart and Pearson all on his own. As for the playoffs, while Crosby led his team in scoring, it was Marian Hossa who stole the show, scoring 12 playoff goals compared to Crosby's six.

In the end, I can't help but think this vote is an incredible indictment of the way ESPN covers all sports, not just the NHL. After all, if you can't figure out who the best athletes in the world really are after watching countless hours of SportsCenter and digesting endless amounts of content online at ESPN.com, it's pretty clear ESPN is falling down on the job. Then again, I'm not the first person to make note of that. It's clear I won't be the last either.

Hard to believe that it has been 15 years since those magical first ESPY awards when former NC State coach Jim Valvano gave his famous "Don't Give Up" speech. Back on March 3, 1993, Jimmy V stood in front of a packed house to accep the Arthur Ashe Courage and Humanitarian Award when he gave his now legendary speech.

"To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And Number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special."

"Cancer can take away all of my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart, and it cannot touch my soul. And those three things are going to carry on forever. I thank you and God bless you all."

Valvano would pass away less than two months later.

The agent for Marc Bulger, Tom Condon, attended the filming of the ESPYs in Los Angeles earlier this week. Rams team president Jay Zygmunt was in L.A. for a reunion of former Rams players. So the two decided to have lunch. The talking point? A new deal for Bulger.

Bulger himself is confident a deal will get done before the Rams begin training camp on July 26th. MDS and I agree. Still, he wouldn't be an NFL player if he didn't at least threaten a holdout if the deal isn't done by the 26th. He has since softened on that stance, saying that his holdout comments were "blown out of proportion."

The talks obviously didn't produce a new deal, but they did narrow the gap. Bulger should be looking at a deal around the $60 million that Tom Brady and Drew Brees are getting paid. Whether or not the deal gets done before training camp remains to be seen, but, regardless, Marc Bulger will not holdout, he will get a deal soon, and it will be with St. Louis.

Kevin Love just enrolled at the University of California Los Angeles, but he cannot escape talk about leaving early to play in the NBA.

The winner of the Gatorade High School All-American Athlete of the Year sat down with the FanHouse to talk about life in Los Angeles, his rivalry with O.J. Mayo and why neither UCLA nor USC hang Final Four banners in the rafters at their schools. He also did not get the dis-invitation to Steve Lavin's wedding, if you were wondering.

Although we attended another Los Angeles school famous for winning National Championships--in football--this FanHouse correspondent was nevertheless impressed with Love's humility, agility and intelligence as he handled even the toughest of our trick questions.

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