As the sports world gathered in Los Angeles for the 2016 ESPY Awards, two Pacers players were not only in attendance but also sitting in primo seats.
Mr. Hollywood himself, Paul George plus his “youngin” and former rookie Myles Turner got dressed up for the annual event. Neither participated nor won an award, but they were front and center for a special evening with their peers.
— Myles Turner (@Original_Turner) July 14, 2016
https://www.instagram.com/p/BH07_FyBpgC/
There were five highlights of the night, if you ask me.
1. Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, and LeBron James opening the program on stage asking to stop the violence. James: “And most importantly, go back to our communities, invest our time, our resources, help rebuild them, help strengthen them, help change them. We all have to do better.” Well done. Now, let’s hope it works.
2. Letters from Peyton. Remember the really well done Gatorade commercial put out two months ago, shortly after Manning announced that he would be retiring. Peyton is famous — now — for hand-written notes he sends to other players, other athletes, and to family members. This was a fun SNL-like spoof off of that, and included Tom Brady.
3. At this annual award show, they remember all of the athletes who have passed in the last year. During this “In Memoriam” segment, Pacers great Mel Daniels was included — rightfully so. [VIDEOS: Pacers, family celebrate Mel Daniels at memorial service]
Mel Daniels … In Memoriam. #ESPYS pic.twitter.com/jfaI79DZAa
— Scott Agness (@ScottAgness) July 14, 2016
4. Peyton Manning, Abby Wambach, and Kobe Bryant … all icons of their sport and to the sports community. They all retired this year, and thus were recipients of the Icon Award. (This award should include Tamika Catchings next year.)
5. Craig Sager was the recipient of the Jimmy V Award for perseverance. In addition to a great feature on what Sager goes through just to continue to work on TNT broadcasts of NBA Games.