JULY 15, 2015
Tonight the world of sports honors its best at the 23rd Annual ESPY Awards in a ceremony to be held in Los Angeles. Among tonight’s honorees is Caitlyn Jenner who will receive the Arthur Ashe Courage Award, given annually “to honor individuals whose contributions transcend sports through courageous action.” One might think that, by any measure, Caitlyn Jenner’s courage embodies the spirit of the Ashe Award.
You might think that, but you would be wrong.
“It strikes me that awarding the Arthur Ashe to Caitlyn Jenner is just a crass exploitation play, a tabloid play. In the broad world of sports—and this is not anything against Caitlyn Jenner—I am pretty sure they could have found someone who was much closer to actively [being] involved in sports who would have been deserving of what that award represents.”
-NBC Sports host Bob Costas on “The Dan Patrick Show” 6/8/15
Costas appeared to be particularly irked by by Jenner’s “tabloid” connection to the Kardashian clan. But if Costas ever saw 5 minutes of “Keep Up with the Kardashians,” he would realize that Bruce was the most withdrawn person in the family, that “exploitation” was the last thing on his mind.
Costas was joined in condemnation by journalists Patrick and Frank Deford, who wrote regarding Jenner’s transition: “I don’t think it rises to the level of courage.” Curiously all of this disapproval is coming from the sports journalist community and not from the athletes themselves.
To Costas’ point that the award should have been given to someone more actively involved in sports, the Ashe award was given in just in 2013 to “Good Morning America” co-host Robin Roberts, in 1999 to tennis great Billie Jean King, who retired from tennis 16 years earlier, and former South African President Nelson Mandela in 2009 for using soccer to help end apartheid.
Is it a ratings ploy? There may be some truth to that — it is an awards show, after all. But to the darker whispers that ABC (which air the ESPYs tonight) had a quid pro quo with Jenner to give her coming out interview to the network’s Diane Sawyer in exchange for the Ashe Award, an ABC spokesman has firmly denied any such connection.
The most heartbreaking part of this debate is the use by its critics to cite athletes whom they feel are more deserving of the award, such as the late Lauren Hill, 19, who sought to fulfill her dream of playing college basketball while battling a brain tumor or Noah Galloway, who lost two limbs fighting in Iraq but competed on “Dancing with the Stars.”
This is not a pissing contest, people, a contest to judge who’s most courageous. It’s an award on a television show, for goodness sakes. The ESPY producers happened to select a trans woman to honor, which is no slight to either Hill or Galloway. (I’d be stunned if both of them are not mentioned from the podium tonight.) If nothing else, this debate proves that courage in sports comes in all shapes and sizes. And genders.
