A lot went down at this year’s ESPY awards – the annual television event honoring the best in athletic achievement and sports-related performance. It’s an awards show for basically anything and everything that gets mentioned on ESPN, the cable sports channel that originally created and aired the awards show, which went down last night on ABC (its first time on a broadcast network).

The ESPY Awards usually features two main things for fans, memorable moments that pull at the heart strings (like Stuart Scott’s acceptance speech last year) and top of the line cracks at the expense of everyone’s favorite pro-athletes (like when then-host Norm MacDonald joked that recent Heisman-winner Charles Woodson’s achievement could never be taken away from him, unless he “killed his ex-wife and a waiter” – a reference to O.J. Simpson).

But if you forgot to tune in last night, don’t worry. We’ve gone ahead and compiled all the best barbs and emotional moments form the night.

Burn: Joel McHale’s Monologue


Host Joel McHale pulled no punches in his opening monologue, skewering pretty much everyone. Notable burn recipients from The Soup host included Women’s soccer bandwagon fans, Tiger Woods (and Lindsay Vonn, kind of) and Bill Cosby.

Beautiful Moment: Danielle Green Accepting the Pat Tillman Award for Service


If viewers weren’t already touched by the introductory video detailing former Notre Dame women’s Basketball player Danielle Green’s story of service and injury in Iraq, which caused the loss of her left arm – her acceptance speech, in which she told of her comrades going back to the site of the attack to find her wedding rings and called on others to serve their community, surely left them teary eyed.

Burn: Joel McHale’s 30 for 30 Doc


After essentially insulting everyone in attendance, McHale turned his comedic attention inwards on himself. And the best part was that he did in the style of ESPN’s renown (and addicting) 30 for 30 documentary film, a perfect setup for lampooning if we’ve ever seen one.

Beautiful Moment: Lauren Hill's Parents Accept Her ESPY Award


Since its inception, the ESPYs have had a connection to cancer-focused charity. Proceeds from tickets go to the V. Foundation, which promotes cancer research, and the evening has always had a sort philanthropic air to it. Still, when the a parents of teenage basketball player Lauren Hill (who fought brain cancer and passed away just after reaching her dream of playing college ball) accepting her award for “Best Moment,” everyone watching couldn’t help but feel the momentousness of the evening.

Burn: Ken Jeong Helps Alex Rodriguez Apologize


Since his full-season suspension for using steroids, Yankee slugger Alex Rodriquez has stayed out of the spotlight. Opting to make his return to professional baseball this year with as little controversy as possible. Last month, he surpassed Roberto Clemente to take the top spot on the all-time MLB hit list. All while preferring to remain quiet on his performance-enhancing drug use. But that all changed at this year’s ESPYs when A-Rod took the stage to apologize with the help of Joel McHale’s Community co-star Ken Jeong, for…a lot of things. Just watch.

Beautiful Moment: Devon Still Honors His Daughter Leah


Cincinnati Bengals player Devon Still’s daughter Leah is only five-years-old, but for the past two years she’s been fighting cancer. It’s a distinction that earned her the ESPY Award for Perseveration. Unfortunately, Leah couldn’t make it to the awards ceremony—she’s still recovering and her doctors recommended that she stay home. But her dad was able to accept the award on her behalf and didn’t leave a dry eye in the house or watching at home.

Burn: Ronda Rousey Takes a Jab at Floyd Mayweather


There’s been a lot of hypothetical chatter about who would win in a bout between female MMA fighter Ronda Rousey and undefeated boxing champ Floyd Mayweather. It’s mainly fueled by the public’s growing love of Rousey and equally mounting disdain for Mayweather. For their parts, the two have brushed off questions, with Rousey saying that they only likely fight if they’d date (a crack about Mayweather’s multiple arrests for domestic violence) and Mayweather acting liked he’d never even heard of Rousey. But the whole seems to have broken out into an outright feud when Rousey beat out Mayweather to take home the ESPY for best fighter, an award he’s taken home every year since 2010, and had this to say…


Beautiful Moment: Caitlyn Jenner Accepts the Arthur Ashe Courage Award


THE moment of the night that everyone was talking about. Caitlyn Jenner, who was an accomplished Olympian before transitioning genders, made her first major public appearance since officially announcing her transition. She accepted the award for courage and killed it.

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ESPYS, Espy awards