Winners All Around 🏆
At Smallball, we love sports.
We love buzzer-beaters and birdies. Comebacks and chaos. Trick plays and trophies.
But more than anything, we love sharing the magic of sports with each of you.
So when the entire sports world takes a night to celebrate its greatest moments and most inspiring stories? You know we’re there for it.
Let’s dive into the 2025 ESPYs, the night sports gave out its shiniest trophies… and shed a few tears, too.
E-S-P-Why? 🤔
It stands for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly… which is just a fancy way of saying the most awesome sports stuff of the year.
The ESPYs are a big celebration hosted each summer by ESPN.
(That’s the main sports TV network. It stands for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network for you spellers.)
The ESPYs are like a giant yearbook for sports. The best players. The wildest moments. The hardest-fought wins. And the most inspiring stories. All in one place. All on one night.
And here’s something even cooler: the ESPYs raise money for something called the V Foundation, which helps doctors find ways to cure cancer.
So when did this whole thing get started? Let’s rewind…
How the ESPYs Began 📬
The first ESPYs aired back in 1993. No iPhones or YouTube. Ask your parents what VHS tapes and fax machines are!
📺 Click here to watch what sports looked like then. (Spoiler alert: everything was blurry!)
Here’s some old-school trivia.
🤔 Need a hint? He was in that video… the basketball star many call “The GOAT.”
Best Female Athlete? Tennis star Monica Seles, who was on an amazing winning streak.
There were only a few awards. Fans mostly voted by mail (yes, really!).
But it worked.
Fast forward to now. Because the 2025 ESPYs? They were stacked.
So Many Awards, So Little Time 👑
You’ve heard of MVPs and championship rings… but the ESPYs hand out trophies for so much more.
They celebrate the game-winners and the heart-warmers. The show-stopping dunks and the quiet comebacks. The superstars we all know and the breakout names we’re just learning to cheer for.
In addition to Best Male and Female Athlete, this year’s categories included:
🌀 Best Play
🏆 Best Team
🔥 Best Championship Performance
💪 Best Comeback
💥 Breakthrough Athlete
And that’s just the beginning.
There were also trophies for athletes across the NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLB, NHL, soccer, tennis, golf, and more… plus a few very special honors for people whose stories moved the entire sports world. 💖
Bottom line? If it was awesome, brave, or jaw-dropping… it probably got an ESPY.
Ready to see some of our favorite moments? 👇
Watch These Winners 👀
We’re saving the surprises. But trust us, these are worth your time.
🎥 Hit play to see who won these three categories.
🌀 Best Play
That reverse hurdle got Saquon an ESPY… and the Madden video game cover.
🏆 Best Team
Best Play? Saquon. Best Team? His squad. Not a bad night for the Eagles.
🔥 Best Championship Performance
That was the greatest gymnast ever, Simone Biles, at the 2024 Paris Olympics. She won gold in the all-around, which means she was amazing at everything: beam, floor, bars, and vault!
💬 Got another category you’re curious about? Ask your grown-up to help you look it up. Or drop your question in the comments and we’ll track it down for you!
Create a New ESPY 🧠
Those are the award winners. But we want you to be the award writers!
Think up a brand-new ESPY category. It could be anything.
Best Dude Perfect-Style Trick Shot. Loudest “Let’s GOOOOO” After a Win. Most Pop-a-Shot Swishes in a Row.
🎨 Then have your grown-up print this worksheet!
🏆 Name your award, draw what the trophy looks like, and choose your winner!
Now, your award for making it through all that ESPY excellence?
Three things to know today… coming in hot below. ⬇️
1️⃣ Let’s Go Second Half ⚽
Euro 2025.
Italy? In the semis.
England? Also in.
Now… who grabs the third ticket: host nation Switzerland or the team experts think will win the whole tournament, Spain?
🎥 Let’s head to the second half highlights, with the match still 0–0.
Spain controlled much of the game but couldn’t break through… until they did.
An amazing assist from Aitana Bonmatí set up the first goal. And just five minutes later? Clàudia Pina scored again to seal the win.
📆 Today? The final quarterfinal: France vs. Germany.
2️⃣ Leaderboard Shuffle ⛳
Yesterday after Round 1 at The Open, we read about five players sharing the lead. And we expected the cut line to land around +2.
Today? One name stands alone.
🎯 Scottie Scheffler stormed to the top with a scorching 64 in Round 2. That’s his best-ever round in a major. Eight birdies. Only one bogey. And total control.
🧮 Here’s what his round looked like on the scorecard. See if you can figure out which is better: a circle or a square.
Rory McIlroy? He’s still lurking. At -3 overall, he’s seven shots behind Scottie heading into Saturday. (Try to say that five times fast.)
And the cut line officially landed at +1. That means the 70 players with that score or better are onto Saturday’s Round 3.
Shane Lowry made the cut. Just barely. A penalty changed his score from 1-under to 1-over… putting him right on the cut line.
Here’s what happened:
He was assessed a two-shot penalty after video showed his ball move slightly during a practice swing in the rough.
He says he never saw it move.
Officials say the ball shifted and wasn’t replaced, so he played it from the wrong spot.
🎥 Watch 20 seconds of this and then hit pause. Do YOU think his practice swing caused the ball to move?
As we roll into the weekend, one thing’s for sure: Royal Portrush is full of surprises. And with more wind in the forecast… Round 3’s gonna be a big one.
3️⃣ Rack ‘Em Up! 🏀
The WNBA 3-Point Contest went down last night. And it didn’t disappoint.
But before we show, let’s tell.
🧠 How does the contest actually work?
Each player gets 1 minute and 10 seconds to shoot 27 balls from five racks around the arc.
Four of those racks have four regular balls (1 point each) and one money ball (2 points).
The fifth rack is all money balls (worth 10 total points)… and the player gets to choose where this rack is placed.
And on top of all that? Two special deep balls, each worth 3 points.
🌟 The max score is 40 points.
👑 The top two from Round 1 shoot again in the final.
In 2023, New York Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu lit the net on fire with a record-setting 37 out of 40. Legendary.
Last year, Atlanta Dream star Allisha Gray took the crown.
This year? They sailed through Round 1 and went head-to-head in the finals.
🎥 Now hit play and enjoy the splash show.
Well, well, well… looks like Ionescu’s on top again.
Today, the action continues with the All-Star Game. We’ll have the story for you tomorrow!
If the ESPYs are sports’ biggest party, Smallball’s the golden ticket… made just for you! 🎟️
We’re here for the trophies and the trick shots. But more than anything, we’re here for the stories.
And we can’t wait to share tomorrow’s with you!
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