Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers wins Best NFL Player award at ESPY Awards
The Green Bay Packers were prominently featured in the 2011 ESPYs on Wednesday night. That was expected of the champions of the country’s most popular sport.
Brett Favre, as often is the case, continued to have a presence, also.
The show began with host Seth Meyers ("Saturday Night Live") and a prolonged monologue. The final joke started with Meyers congratulating Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers on the Super Bowl win and finally stepping out of Favre’s shadow.
Meyers added, “Which, to thanks to cell phone technology, is not as big a shadow as we originally thought.”
That was one of the more humorous moments of the evening.
Linebacker Clay Matthews wasn’t as fortunate during his televised portion. He was a participant in a much-longer-than-necessary skit with Meyers revolving around the couple that was photographed kissing on the ground during the Vancouver riot following the Stanley Cup finals. Matthews had to break up a pair of actors, who mimicked the couple, from kissing on the floor in front of the stage. Matthews didn’t look amused.
Rodgers was the lone Packer to win an award despite several players making the trip. Rodgers, Matthews, Greg Jennings, A.J. Hawk, Desmond Bishop and Tramon Williams were all filmed in the crowd.
Rodgers won the Best NFL Player award, but that was announced during the “pregame” show on the red carpet and was not shown on stage. The Super Bowl MVP was also nominated for Best Male Athlete, but was beaten by Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki.
Rodgers made his lone televised appearance on stage when he and entertainer Justin Timberlake, who made another Favre reference, to present the Best Male Collegiate Athlete award to BYU point guard Jimmer Fredette.
The Packers were also nominated for the Best Team honor, but were beaten out by the NBA champion Dallas Mavericks.
GBPressGazette wrote: