Dan Patrick didn’t hide his disbelief after Indiana football was passed over for best team at the ESPYs, where the New York Knicks walked away with the award on Wednesday night, July 15.
The Hoosiers’ case is a pretty simple one on paper: a 16-0 run to the College Football Playoff championship, a season that ended with Indiana on top of the sport. That made the decision from ESPN all the more jarring for Patrick, the longtime ESPN host who said he had a front-row seat to the early days of the ESPYs.
“People may not realize how bad Indiana football has been. They weren't average.
They were below average for decades,” Patrick said in Thursday's monologue. “It'd be like if you said, 'Rice football is going to win a national title.'
I'd go, 'Not in my lifetime.'”
Indiana did not leave empty-handed. Quarterback Fernando Mendoza won best male college athlete after claiming the Heisman Trophy and throwing the winning touchdown in the national championship game.
Still, the Knicks owned the night. Their title was the franchise’s first since 1973, and the ESPYs reflected that with a haul that included best team, best championship performance, best male athlete and best NBA player for Jalen Brunson, plus best play for former IU player OG Anunoby’s Game 4-winning tip-in.
Patrick also pointed out one obvious wrinkle: the event was held in New York, and plenty of Knicks players were in the building.
“If the ESPYs were held in Bloomington, then Indiana would've won the best team,” Patrick joked.
He also revisited his early involvement with the awards show, saying that when athletes showed up, they were usually the ones going home with hardware.
Show producer Paul Pabst said he still can’t get over Indiana’s football title.
“This is like the Washington Wizards winning 70 games and the NBA title,” he said.
The other best team nominees were the Las Vegas Aces, Los Angeles Dodgers, Carolina Hurricanes, Seattle Seahawks, Texas softball, and the men’s and women’s Team USA hockey teams.
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