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The Best Moment ESPY Award has been conferred annually since 2001 on the moment or series of moments transpiring in a play in a single game or individual match or event, across a single regular season or playoff game, or across a season, irrespective of specific sport, contested, in all cases, professionally under the auspices of one of the four major leagues in the united States and Canada, collegiately under the auspices of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, or internationally under the auspices of a sport federation, adjudged to the most remarkable or best in a given calendar year; the primary participant in the moment is generally regarded as the award's recipient.
Between 2001 and 2004, the award voting panel comprised variously fans; sportswriters and broadcasters, sports executives, and retired sportspersons, termed collectively experts; and ESPN personalities, but balloting thereafter has been exclusively by fans over the Internet from amongst choices selected by the ESPN Select Nominating Committee. In 2001, the ESPY Awards ceremony was conducted in February and awards conferred reflected performance and achievement over the twelve months previous to presentation; since 2002, awards have been presented in July to reflect performance and achievement also over a twelve-month period.[1] There was no voting in 2015, 2016, and 2017, but the 2018 winner was determined by voting. There was no voting in 2019.
| Year of award | Game or event | Date | Competition, governing body, or league | Sport | Location | Moment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 2001 MLB season regular season game between the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers | 6 October 2001 | Major League Baseball (MLB) | Baseball | Pacific Bell Park
San Francisco, United States |
San Francisco Giants left fielder Barry Bonds hits his 71st home run of the 2001 MLB season to break Mark McGwire's single-season home run record. |
| 2003 | 2002 US Open men's singles championship | 8 September 2002 | ATP Tour | Tennis | Arthur Ashe Stadium
New York City, United States |
American Pete Sampras, seeded seventeenth, defeats countrymate Andre Agassi, 6–3, 6–4, 5–7, 6–4, to capture his fourteenth career Grand Slam singles title |
| 2004 | Monday Night Football game in the penultimate week of the 2003 NFL season regular season between the Green Bay Packers and Oakland Raiders | 22 December 2003 | National Football League (NFL) | American football | Network Associates Coliseum
Oakland, California, United States |
Packers quarterback Brett Favre completes 22 of 30 passes attempted for 399 yards and four touchdowns to post a 154.86 quarterback rating one day after the death of his father |
| 2005 | Game six of a conference semifinal between the Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers in the 2005 NBA Playoffs | 19 May 2005 | National Basketball Association (NBA) | Basketball | Conseco Fieldhouse
Indianapolis, United States |
Pacers shooting guard Reggie Miller converts seven two-point and four three-point field goals and one free throw to score 27 points and to post a 68.8 per cent shooting percentage in the final game of his eighteen-season NBA career and receives an extended ovation when Pistons head coach Larry Brown calls a timeout in order that his team might also applaud Miller |
| 2006 | Regular season high school game between the Greece Athena High School Trojans and the Spencerport High School Rangers | 16 February 2006 | New York State Public High School Athletic Association | Basketball | Greece Athena High School
Rochester, New York, United States |
Trojans manager Jason McElwain, an autistic senior, is inserted by coach Jim Johnson into the Trojans' final regular season home game and, having shot an air ball and missed a layup, successfully converts one two-point and six three-point field goals to score twenty points across the game's final four minutes |
| 2007 | Monday Night Football game in the third week of the 2006 NFL season regular season between the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints | 25 September 2006 | National Football League (NFL) | American football | Louisiana Superdome
New Orleans, United States |
The Saints, in their first game in New Orleans and at the Superdome since the structure was damaged by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 and since it underwent a US$185 million renovation, defeat the Falcons 23–3 in a nationally televised game that earns the second-largest-ever cable television audience |
| 2008 | College softball game in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference between the Central Washington University Wildcats and the Western Oregon University Wolves | 26 April 2008 | National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II | Softball | Central Washington University
Ellensburg, Washington, United States |
After Wolves right fielder Sara Tucholsky hits her first career home run in a conference tournament doubleheader but tears her anterior cruciate ligament rounding first base, Wildcats first baseman Mallory Holtman and shortstop Liz Wallace carry Tucholsky around the bases lest her home run should be disallowed upon her receiving assistance from a teammate |
| 2009 | The Men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay event at the 2008 Summer Olympics. | 11 August 2008 | International Olympic Committee (IOC) | Swimming | Beijing National Aquatics Centre
|
Michael Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones and Jason Lezak squeak out a come-from-behind victory in what would be Phelps' second of a record-breaking 8 gold medals at a single Olympics. |
| 2010 | Match at the 2010 FIFA World Cup between the US men's national soccer team and the Algeria men's national soccer team | 23 June 2010 | FIFA | Soccer | Loftus Versfeld Stadium
|
Landon Donovan scored in added time to give the US a 1–0 victory over Algeria, which put the US in the second round of the World Cup. |
| 2011 | Game 1 of the 2010 National League Division Series between the Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies | October 6, 2010 | Major League Baseball (MLB) | Baseball | Citizens Bank Park
|
Roy Halladay threw the first no-hitter in the MLB postseason since Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series. |
| 2012 | Divisional Round game of the 2011–12 NFL playoffs between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Denver Broncos | January 8, 2012 | National Football League (NFL) | American Football | Sports Authority Field at Mile High
|
Tim Tebow threw an 80-yard touchdown pass on the first play of overtime, leading the Broncos to a 29–23 upset victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. The play beat out Derek Jeter's 3000th hit, the Tampa Bay Rays' walk-off win on the final day of the MLB regular season that sent them to the playoffs, and Bubba Watson's win at The Masters.[citation needed] |
| 2013 | Spring football game at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln | April 6, 2013 | NCAA | American Football | Memorial Stadium
|
Jack Hoffman, a seven-year-old Nebraska fan suffering from brain cancer, is given the ball in the third quarter of the Red and White spring football game. He runs the ball 69 yards for a touchdown. |
| 2014 | The U.S. men's soccer team defeating Ghana 2–1 in its opening game of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. | June 16, 2014 | FIFA | Soccer | Arena das Dunas
|
After Ghana tied the game, 21-year-old defender John Brooks headed in a goal off a Graham Zusi corner kick in the 86th minute for the game-winning goal. |
| 2015 | Regular-season women's basketball game between the Hiram College Terriers and Mount St. Joseph University Lions | November 2, 2014 | NCAA Division III | Basketball | Cintas Center
|
Lauren Hill, a Mount St. Joseph freshman battling an inoperable brain tumor that would claim her life five months later, scores the first and last baskets in what became the most-attended Division III women's game in history. |
| 2016 | 2016 NBA Finals | June 2–19, 2016 | NBA | Basketball | Quicken Loans Arena
|
The Cleveland Cavaliers, behind 3–1 to the Golden State Warriors, who had won a record 73 games in the 2015–16 season, come back to win the championship. It was the first title Cleveland had won in a major sport since the 1964 Cleveland Browns. |
| 2017 | 2016 World Series | October 25 – November 2, 2016 | Major League Baseball | Baseball | Wrigley Field
Progressive Field Cleveland, Ohio |
The Chicago Cubs, behind 3–1 to the Cleveland Indians, rallied to win the World Series with by winning Games 5, 6 and 7, capping the comeback with an 8–7 10-inning win in Game 7. It was the Cubs' first World Series since 1908. |
| 2018 | 2017-18 NFL playoffs | January 14, 2018 | National Football League | American football | U.S. Bank Stadium
|
Vikings quarterback Case Keenum threw a 61-yard TD pass to Stefon Diggs on the game's last play to give the Vikings a 29–24 come-from-behind victory over the Saints. The play came to be known as the Minneapolis Miracle.[2] |
| 2019 | Not applicable | Not applicable | National Football League, FIS, National Basketball Association | American football, Alpine skiing, basketball | Instead of a play or a game, Rob Gronkowski, Lindsey Vonn and Dwyane Wade—who announced their retirements in 2019—were honored for their achievements during their careers. |
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