I know that many people were upset that Miss Hill was not chosen for the Arthur Ashe Award, but she did receive the ESPY for “Best Moment” tonight. Her parents were there to accept the award and they downplayed any thought of controversy: [
](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/f3f0fde133e742e6a6dfd20f6a1af363/espys-honor-former-college-basketball-player-lauren-hill)
What a classy family.
RIP Miss Hill; you done good.
While on the topic…
Speech of the night goes to Devon Still. Holy shit was that a wonderfully poignant speech.
So glad he gave the Bengals their due because their contribution is heavliy underrated
I appreciate that. People are acting like Pat Tillman was passed over for a Purple Heart in favor of Caitlyn Jenner. Its just a fucking Espy. No one cared about the Arthur Ashe Award until a transgender person won it which tells you the secret agenda of anyone complaining tonight.
Just because you didn’t care about the Arthur Ashe Award doesn’t mean no one did. I think any complaints were because people genuinely believed Lauren Hill deserved it more. I heard nothing but praise a year ago when Michael Sam won it. Some people feel Caitlyn is showing the exact opposite of courage by not owning up to her role in causing a death in an auto accident just 5 months ago.
I kinda doubt this.
People don’t like the award going to her simply because she’s trans. They might be using this as an excuse, but they really are just using it as just that: an excuse
I don’t think that’s fair. There are valid reasons to think that others, Lauren Hill in particular, were more deserving. I mean, you can have the debate without being a bigot. Fact is, Caitlyn is denying that the car accident was her fault, despite video evidence that it couldn’t really be anyone else’s fault.
I am sure some people do feel that way, but there are plenty of people who disliked Caitlyn Jenner back when she was Bruce for a host of other reasons, and see nothing particularly honorable about her transition as it related to sports. Even some of her own kids seem to be think she was a terrible father, and that this transition is more about self aggrandizement as far as the media is concerned. Coupled with the recent fatal accident and there are plenty of reasons for people to think such a person doesn’t deserve an award.
Both very good points.
I’m just going off my facebook/twitter feed and stuff super credible websites (read: buzzfeed) have reported. And most of that hate stems from "he didn’t do anything but dress in women’s clothing whereas (other person) did (action) and is way more heroic.
The things Caitlyn did as Bruce have never really come into the equation as far as I can see. That’s what I was going off of when I said my statement
Another reason is Jenner had been out of sports for nearly 40 years.
Although I don’t think being actively involved in sports is listed as criteria, many think it should be a major consideration at least.
This is going to sound terrible, but what did Lauren Hill do that was so courageous?
Jenner came out publicly to a world where he knew there was going to tremendous negative backlash (which there was/is.) Nobody cheers for brain cancer. Lauren Hill risked nothing by playing in a game. Her teammates got her the ball and her opponents backed away allowing her to make an uncontested layup. It was a great moment and she by all accounts deserves the accolades, but heroic it wasn’t.
My daughter tore her ACL in her senior year of High School, forcing her to miss her last year of soccer. She had been a starter and letter-winner all three years prior (which is a very difficult thing to accomplish at a big school.) Her team, in cooperation with the opponent, arranged for her to accomplish her goal of being a four year starter and letter winner. She started the first game, her captain dribbled the ball over to her, made a soft pass, and she passed it back. The captain kicked the ball out of bounds and my daughter was taken out of the game for the last time in her career.
Was it a nice gesture? Yes. Did She deserve it? Yes. Was it emotional for her and the team and the crowd? Yes. Was it heroic? Hell no.
Lamar, I think you are missing the point completely about what was heroic about Lauren Hill. I don’t think any of us, unless we’ve been 18 years old and handed a death sentence, can possibly understand how much courage it takes to live the remainder of your numbered days positively, generously, with unwavering heart and spirit, the way this young woman did. The last few hours of her life she was still fundraising for cancer research. There was no quit in that girl. And that, in my opinion, is what made her so worthy. She rose above her circumstances and played up to the level of her opponent, cancer, in the biggest game of her life. Her courageous and unselfish spirit, her ‘can do’ attitude, her unwavering focus on the goal - those are all things coaches throughout sports history have been trying to instill into young athletes. She deserved the award.
If you made a point, then you’re right, I am definitely missing it. She did the same thing she had been doing for most of her life one more time.
I have worked with several people who got cancer and lost their hair from chemo, lost a ton of weight, and got tremendously sick before dying. They also continued to come into work. Should they have gotten standing ovations every morning when they showed up and won awards for their courage? They’d be giving out awards by the millions every year.
I am not saying that Hill did not deserve her moment in the sun, she did. I’m just saying that what she did was not courageous. Anyone with brain cancer, even someone who had never touched a basketball before, could have done the same thing without a negative peep from anyone.
Lamar might want to review past winners of the Arthur Ashe Courage Award and let us know which ones actually met his criteria for courageous. Many of them were just doing what they always did after some life-threatening diagnosis.
Which ones in particular did the same thing as hitting an uncontested layup in a low level basketball game?
And what great athletic feat did Mr/Ms Jenner perform this year? This being an award for athletes, after all. If an uncontested layup isn’t enough of an athletic feat to qualify, what did Jenner do to best that? Granted, struggling into pantyhose can require some gymnastics at times, but seriously, what athletic feat was performed?
The qualification is heroism, not athletic achievement. Why won’t anyone say directly what heroic act Hill performed. It’s a simple question.
An uncontested layup?
You brought this up twice without elaboration.
Owning up to her role, how?
But she DID get an award.
I bet you dollars to donuts if we went back through every Arthur Ashe Award, and I really don’t feel like doing this and I doubt anyone else does, but you can come up with a list of at least 5-10 candidates each year that were more deserving that the actual recipient.
But this year, its a transgender, so only now are people whining.
Like I said, its a stupid ESPY no one cared about until someone who’s life choices they didn’t like won it.
Arguing over an awards ceremony that gives a player Best Championship Performance without, uh, actually winning a championship is the definition of pointless.