Rodgers up for two ESPYs

By JASON WILDE

GREEN BAY – It wasn’t that long ago that Aaron Rodgers’ ESPY experience was limited to a consoling hug from Justin Timberlake amid the Brett Favre unretirement madness of 2008.

Things have definitely changed for the Green Bay Packers quarterback when it comes to the Worldwide Leader in Sports’ annual awards show.

When ESPN announced the nominees for its various awards on Monday, the reigning Super Bowl MVP was atop the bill, headlining the official release because he’s up for two of the most coveted awards – as Best Male Athlete and Best NFL Player.

Rodgers is nominated along with NASCAR’s Jimmie Johnson, tennis’ Rafael Nadal and the NBA’s Dirk Nowitzki in the best male athlete category, while in the NFL player category, Rodgers is up against NFL MVP Tom Brady and teammate Clay Matthews, among others.

Only Houston Texans running back Arian Foster, who is up for three individual awards (Best NFL Player, Best Breakthrough Athlete and NFL Strongest Performance Award) is up for more individual honors.

The Super Bowl-champion Packers have also been nominated in the Best Team category, while coach Mike McCarthy has been nominated for Best Coach/Manager.

The complete list of The 2011 ESPYs nominees is available for voters at www.espn.com/espys .

Voting will run through 10:59 p.m. CDT on July 9 for most categories. The winners will be announced during the July 13 live telecast from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on ESPN. Saturday Night Live star Seth Meyers will host.

Fans can also vote via Facebook.com/ESPN and on their mobile devices.

ESPN540 Milwaukee wrote:

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:

Hoped for a better total, but Dallas' NBA win was too recent, getting them best team and best male athlete awards.

Originally Posted by: macbob 

I dont think it was the fact that Dallas won recently it was the fact that they beat the team everyone in America hates

Originally Posted by: Jon305 

I dont think it was the fact that Dallas won recently it was the fact that they beat the team everyone in America hates

Originally Posted by: Jon305