When it comes to winning the ESPY award for best male or female athlete, a championship helps but the hardware is not necessarily required.
Jose Altuve of the World Series champion Houston Astros and Alex Ovechkin of the Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals are both nominees for the award. But so are New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and Houston Rockets guard James Harden.
Brady, a three-time ESPYS best male athlete nominee, lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII. Harden, who is a first-time nominee along with Altuve and Ovechkin, extended the champion Golden State Warriors to seven games before being eliminated in the Western Conference finals.
Olympic skier Mikaela Shiffrin will contend for the ESPY for best female athlete for a second time. Her competition includes three first-time nominees — Sylvia Fowles of the WNBA champion Minnesota Lynx, Olympic snowboarder Chloe Kim and soccer player Julie Ertz.
Family members of Stoneman Douglas High School heroes Aaron Feis, Scott Beigel and Chris Hixon will receive a posthumous Best Coach ESPY award.
The women who spoke out against former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State team doctor Larry Nassar will receive the Arthur Ashe Courage Award.
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The ESPYS, which honor the past year’s top sports achievements and moments, will be hosted by newly retired race car driver Danica Patrick when the show airs July 18 from Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.
The Warriors’ Kevin Durant, who won last year, again received a nod for best championship performance. He goes against Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles, World Series MVP George Springer and Villanova Wildcats guard Donte DiVincenzo, who was the most outstanding player of the men’s Final Four.
Brady also is nominated for record-breaking performance, along with tennis star Roger Federer, New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge and Diana Taurasi of the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury.
Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James earned his 14th consecutive nomination for best NBA player and will be going for his third straight trophy. He is up against Harden, Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Anthony Davis of the Pelicans.
The nominees for breakthrough athlete are Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers, Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell, New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara and tennis player Sloane Stephens.
Winners of most categories will be determined by online fan voting that ends before the show airs.
EAGAN, Minn. — After a whirlwind three months that required Kirk Cousins to move his family across the country, learn a new offense and develop relationships with new coaches and teammates after signing a three-year, $84 million contract in free agency, the Minnesota Vikings quarterback can finally exhale.
All of the changes that Cousins experienced came with the territory — moving on to the next chapter of his career after six years with the Washington Redskins. That didn’t mean the transition would always appear seamless.
Cousins felt the spring offseason was “a bit like drinking through a fire hose,” given the amount of new information he had to process and execute in expedited fashion. At the forefront of learning a scheme designed around his strengths, Cousins’ first few months in the Twin Cities centered on building continuity with his offensive line and skill players.
Cementing that connection is a drawn-out process that takes longer to perfect than several weeks of OTAs and minicamp. Finding a common ground between the way his receivers like to run routes and the way Cousins has executed throws to his offensive weapons in the past was where it all started when the quarterback invited Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs down to Atlanta for an impromptu throwing session in early April. Those conversations continued to evolve during the spring as Cousins was able to expand upon that chemistry in full practices and leave feeling all parties were on the same page.
“It’s a process of saying, ‘Hey, this is the way I’ve done if for six years. You’ve done it a different way for five years. Let’s try to talk about why you’ve had success, why I’ve had success. Let’s find some middle ground, let’s decide whether I’m going to learn your way, you’re going to learn my way,'” Cousins said. “That’s the process I’m talking about. Every route, every concept, really we could talk about each individual one. The best part of the whole thing is you know you have a chance when the communication is as healthy as it is.
“[Thielen is] receptive to listening; I can understand what he’s getting at. It’s the same with Stef. That’s where when I say I’m really excited about the locker room and the players I work with, it’s moments like that, where I feel really good about the communication, that they’re hearing you and you’re hearing them.”
During the six weeks until the Vikings report back for training camp at the end of July, Cousins will work to perfect the balance between relaxing and staying mentally prepared. Though he doesn’t have any concrete plans in place to work with his receivers in the summer, he will dedicate his efforts to the areas of the offense he didn’t grasp the first time around.
“I think the more important level of communication will be between me and the coaches, talking about some philosophy things and how I want plays to be designed,” Cousins said. “I’ll have my iPad with me as I go home, and I’ll spend time every day going back.
“All the stuff I didn’t catch, go back through and see that I had starred this, I had checkmarked this as something to go back to when we had time rather than take time when we were so busy.”
“I’m going to go back, I’ll make a list,” he continued, “probably get on the phone with [offensive coordinator] Coach [John] DeFilippo or [quarterbacks] Coach [Kevin] Stefanski and email and just go through it all to get each question answered over the summer.”
Because he feels like he’s “a little behind the eight ball,” Cousins’ summer plans include ample time in the playbook each day to prevent losing the knowledge and muscle memory he has built up in a short amount of time. But if there’s anything his first six years in the NFL have taught him, it’s the importance of pushing back at this time of year to prevent burnout.
“Last year, we got to like Week 2 and because of how much I was grinding all camp and even in the summer, I felt like we were in Week 12,” Cousins said. “I couldn’t believe that we were only in Week 2 because I had treated July and August like it was game day.”
A change of scenery is part of that plan. Cousins is scheduled to be in his hometown of Holland, Michigan, for his two-day youth football camp June 29-30. Last year, Cousins broke ground on a beach house on Lake Michigan that he told MLive.com he was looking “forward to it being a family gathering spot for many years.” The backdrop of the water and serene western Michigan beaches might provide the perfect space for Cousins to unwind at points over the next two months while poring over the concepts he hopes will have him ready to go when training camp arrives.
“Just keep stacking a brick up every day and believe that by the end of August or early September we’ll be where we need to be,” he said.
PITTSBURGH — Two years from free agency in a robust quarterback market, Ben Roethlisberger isn’t concerned with landing a record-breaking contract.
“I care about record-breaking Super Bowl wins and things like that — that’s more important to me,” the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback told ESPN from his football pro camp Sunday in Pittsburgh.
Roethlisberger taught youth players teamwork for about four hours on Father’s Day, and he didn’t sway from that message when discussing his future.
Entering a 15th season together, Roethlisberger, 36, and the Steelers are poised for one last extension with the franchise he has helped win two Super Bowls. But Roethlisberger is content discussing those matters after the 2018 season.
Roethlisberger’s five-year contract, signed in 2015, averages about $20 million per year, which was the market for top quarterbacks at the time. But several quarterbacks have dwarfed that number, with Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan hitting the $30 million mark and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers to follow.
“It’s important, too, to understand as quarterback of this team, sometimes you almost have to leave a little bit of money behind for other guys,” Ben Roethlisberger said, pointing to members of his offensive line he hopes “get taken care of” in two years. Larry W. Smith/EPA
“I have two years on my contract. I’m not going to be one to sit here and worry about my contract,” said Roethlisberger, who ranks eighth in NFL history with 51,065 passing yards. “That’s not my job. My job is to play football. I’ll let my representation, the Steelers worry about all that stuff. To me, it’s all about going out and playing now. I think there are a lot more, maybe a lot more important people who need to get their deals done now. For me to do it two years out, if it doesn’t make sense for the team, I’m not going to sit here and worry about it.”
And Roethlisberger wants to leave room for teammates to get paid, too.
Asked about the challenges for NFL teams to pay several stars while facing salary-cap hurdles, Roethlisberger said he understands teams are limited and seems willing to help.
“It’s important, too, to understand as quarterback of this team, sometimes you almost have to leave a little bit of money behind for other guys,” Roethlisberger said. “That’s not my job, that’s not my thing to worry about. That’s why I have agents.”
Roethlisberger does have a few ideas for how the Steelers can spend after 2018, though: on his coveted line, which has helped cut Roethlisberger’s sacks in half from his late-2000s pace. Roethlisberger once took 50 sacks in a season but has 58 over the past three seasons.
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — When it comes to Father’s Day, Orlando Brown Jr. doesn’t do anything special since his dad died seven years ago.
Brown will call his mother as well as his brothers and sisters.
“I just take time and remember,” Brown said.
For Brown, he honors his father’s memory beyond one day. Every time Brown steps onto the Baltimore Ravens practice field, he is following his father’s footsteps.
Brown is playing for the same team, lining up at the same right tackle spot and wearing the same No. 78 as the 11-year veteran affectionately known as “Zeus.”
An important piece of that legacy is still hidden on the football field. The biggest symbol of Brown’s emotional bond with his father is a bandanna that’s tucked under his helmet and can be traced back to one of his saddest days.
On Sept. 23, 2011, his father died in his Baltimore home at the age of 40 from diabetic ketoacidosis, a condition that can lead to kidney failure or cause fluid to build up in the brain. When Brown arrived there, he noticed a Ravens equipment bag on the bed that was filled with football gloves and cleats. It also included a white bandanna, which struck a chord with his son.
“He always told me and preached that, ‘You play offensive line; you have to have your own swag. You have to make yourself noticeable, because nobody notices offensive linemen,'” Brown said. “So it was just something [that] I adapted, and from there, it just holds a lot of value.”
Orlando Brown Jr. started wearing a bandanna to honor his father, in whose steps he’ll follow with the Ravens. Jamison Hensley/ESPN.com
Brown remembers his father always wearing that white bandanna, sometimes tying it around his ankle or wrist. To Brown, that piece of cloth represented a piece of his father.
At every practice and game, Brown would wrap a bandanna around his head before strapping on his helmet. This past season, he went with a black one that sported red roses, his father’s favorite flower.
“That became his signature because that was his dad’s, and his dad was a warrior,” Brown’s mother, Mira, told ESPN last year. “He wears that bandanna because this is what my dad would’ve wanted me to do.”
The Browns are the 40th known pair of father and son to play for the same NFL team and the fourth current one, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
Brown and his father have similar gargantuan size — 6-foot-8 and 340-plus pounds — and a similar playing style, with a nasty edge. But they’re different players with different pedigrees.
“They thought I was crazy,” Brown told Sports Illustrated in 2003. “Every day [during his rookie season] they asked me to see a psychiatrist.”
Orlando Brown Jr. was a three-year starter for national power Oklahoma and was a unanimous first-team All-America selection. He was selected in the third round this year, and he prides himself on his football IQ.
His father preached to him to play more like his former teammate, Hall of Fame offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden, instead of himself. As Brown Jr. put it, his father wasn’t the most technically sound blocker. So, Brown Jr. broke down film of Ogden, Tony Boselli, Anthony Muñoz and Jackie Slater.
“My dad forced me to learn it more so from a Jonathan Ogden standpoint than [from] him,” Brown Jr. said. “Mentally, I don’t think there’s anyone out there that understands the game or is more instinctual than me. That was my credit to being able to play at such a high level in college, and I look forward to transitioning out to this [level].”
Like his father, Orlando Brown Jr. has a chance to start in the NFL immediately. The Ravens declined to pick up the option on Austin Howard, who started all 16 games at right tackle last season.
The battle to fill that void is between Brown and James Hurst, who started at left guard last season. This offseason, Brown worked his way into lining up at right tackle with the first team and he finished there as the mandatory minicamp wrapped up. It’s the same spot on the Ravens at which his father started 80 games during his two stints in Baltimore (1996-98 and 2003-05).
“I think he’s going to be tremendous,” Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley said of Brown on Adam Schefter’s podcast. “I don’t ever remember going into a game, no matter who we were playing — Auburn, Georgia, Clemson, Ohio State, you name it — and worried about his matchup on that side. He has a love for the game, a hunger and just a true grit about him that you want from all your great offensive linemen. I have a lot of belief in that kid.”
Nightmare path to achieving dream
Brown went from being touted as the best offensive tackle in the draft to the biggest disaster story at the NFL combine.
The numbers that drew the most scrutiny were his 14 repetitions at 225 pounds on the bench press (the fewest of any offensive lineman this year) and his 5.85-second 40-yard dash (the third slowest since 2006).
The social media blitz was merciless, from a derogatory tweet in German to Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger taking a shot at him. Brown said he had to take a break from Twitter because of “so many 12-year-olds telling me they’re stronger than me.”
“It was surprising for me,” Brown said. “My performance at the combine wasn’t even what I expected to do at all — not even close.”
The Ravens weren’t especially bothered by Orlando Brown Jr.’s poor combine showing. Darron Cummings/Associated Press
All of a sudden, it seemed like everyone forgot he was the two-time Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year and didn’t allow a sack last season.
After Brown was the seventh offensive tackle drafted, the Ravens made the point that they focus more on the tape than the numbers at the combine. As assistant general manager Eric DeCosta said, offensive linemen don’t have to run 40 yards very often.
“[He’s] just a very, very good player — physical, tough, mean, nasty, didn’t get beat — just a type of guy that we had success with in the past,” DeCosta said.
Special homecoming
Brown wasn’t selected in the first round, but he couldn’t be happier with where he ended up in the draft.
Born the same year as the Ravens franchise (1996), Brown can recount his memories of watching Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and Jamal Lewis practice. He also remembers the times his father knocked over teammates during practice.
Edwin Mulitalo, a former Ravens guard who played on the same line as “Zeus,” had been previously selected to announce Baltimore’s third-round pick. In the green room, he peeked in the envelope.
“I did a double take looking at his name,” Mulitalo said. “Then it clicked.”
During Brown’s pre-draft visit, he handed general manager Ozzie Newsome a note that included a message about how special it would be if he were to play for the Ravens. One team official said Brown would’ve signed right away if that had been a recruiting trip.
“Knowing Zeus, he would be so proud to have this come full circle,” Mulitalo said.
Training together leading up to the draft, Brown told Andrews how amazing it would be if he was selected by Baltimore.
“It’s almost a dream come true for him,” Andrews said. “It’s really special. It’s one of those cool things that you see in sports. You can’t take that for granted.”
Brown’s father pushed him to be the best in some unusual ways. He told his son that he would leave his games if he didn’t start playing harder. He once made his son promise to be a 10-year NFL veteran and a Hall of Famer.
There was also the time Orlando Brown Sr. used Adam Sandler as motivation. Sitting down his son, he put in the movie “The Waterboy” because he wanted him to play like the angry, underdog linebacker Bobby Boucher.
Brown carries all those memories of his father, along with a bandanna, as he begins his NFL career.
“My biggest wish right now is I wish he could see it,” Brown said. “At the end of the day, that’s my motivation for getting to this point and continuing to make sure I carry on his legacy.”
