Thursday, January 1, 2009
E.K. NATION'S 2008 AWARDS
I don't really have a name for these awards. Maybe that's because I haven't given out too many of them. Usually it's been just "Man of the Year" but I'm expanding it a bit this time. The Ekies? Meh. I dunno. Maybe a name will stick.
MAN OF THE YEAR: It would be obvious to say Barack Obama, but we’ll cover that elsewhere here. Tina Fey has that great show, 30 Rock, and once she returned to Saturday Night Live with the Sarah Palin thing, which is one of the greatest takes on a celebrity any SNL performer has ever undertaken, she pretty much wrapped this award up. (I know, she’s not a man, but “Man of the Year” what the award is called on this blog, and I shall insist that “man” in this case now refers to “a member, or members, of mankind.”)
GAME OF THE YEAR: I’m gonna have to go with Super Bowl XLII. The Patriots were trying to finish off the first 19-0 season in NFL history, but the upstart Giants, who finished the regular season at 10-6, pulled off the 17-14 upset in the closing seconds.
ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Michael Phelps takes this one, not just for winning all those gold medals but because swimming is hard. Sounds silly to say, right? Well, a bunch of friends and I went to Lake Shasta for a week a few years back, and we all jumped in the water and swam around, and after about 30 seconds of swimming, I was dead tired. It’s not an easy thing to do. Michael Phelps is amazing.
TEAM OF THE YEAR: What say we give this one to the Tampa Bay Rays? This once sad franchise turned it all around with a young cast and surprised everyone with a trip to the World Series. I liked the story of these guys.
PLAY OF THE YEAR: Getting back to the Super Bowl for a moment. The Giants were nearly dead in the water late in the game, but Eli Manning’s amazing escape from a possible sack and then his toss downfield where David Tyree clutched the ball against his helmet as he fell sprawling to the turf, on fourth down no less, turned the game around and became the most important play in Super Bowl history. That was a long sentence and might be a little convoluted; I apologize.
TV SHOW OF THE YEAR: Arrested Development, hands down. I mean, it’s still a TV show, right? It was cancelled in 2005, but it’s still a show that exists, and it’s the best show ever created by human beings. So it counts.
All right, all right, if we’re talking about shows that actually were in production in 2008, for me it has to be Jeopardy!. I know, I know, it’s a game show. But I found myself watching iepisode after episode, as I usually do. It’s a simple yet classy show.
FOOD OF THE YEAR: Pizza. Mmmmmmmm. Always good.
STORY OF THE YEAR: Here’s where we refer to Obama. A black man was elected president of the United States. Even if you don’t agree with his politics, as an American you pretty much have to feel good about this turning point in history.
MAN OF THE YEAR: It would be obvious to say Barack Obama, but we’ll cover that elsewhere here. Tina Fey has that great show, 30 Rock, and once she returned to Saturday Night Live with the Sarah Palin thing, which is one of the greatest takes on a celebrity any SNL performer has ever undertaken, she pretty much wrapped this award up. (I know, she’s not a man, but “Man of the Year” what the award is called on this blog, and I shall insist that “man” in this case now refers to “a member, or members, of mankind.”)
GAME OF THE YEAR: I’m gonna have to go with Super Bowl XLII. The Patriots were trying to finish off the first 19-0 season in NFL history, but the upstart Giants, who finished the regular season at 10-6, pulled off the 17-14 upset in the closing seconds.
ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Michael Phelps takes this one, not just for winning all those gold medals but because swimming is hard. Sounds silly to say, right? Well, a bunch of friends and I went to Lake Shasta for a week a few years back, and we all jumped in the water and swam around, and after about 30 seconds of swimming, I was dead tired. It’s not an easy thing to do. Michael Phelps is amazing.
TEAM OF THE YEAR: What say we give this one to the Tampa Bay Rays? This once sad franchise turned it all around with a young cast and surprised everyone with a trip to the World Series. I liked the story of these guys.
PLAY OF THE YEAR: Getting back to the Super Bowl for a moment. The Giants were nearly dead in the water late in the game, but Eli Manning’s amazing escape from a possible sack and then his toss downfield where David Tyree clutched the ball against his helmet as he fell sprawling to the turf, on fourth down no less, turned the game around and became the most important play in Super Bowl history. That was a long sentence and might be a little convoluted; I apologize.
TV SHOW OF THE YEAR: Arrested Development, hands down. I mean, it’s still a TV show, right? It was cancelled in 2005, but it’s still a show that exists, and it’s the best show ever created by human beings. So it counts.
All right, all right, if we’re talking about shows that actually were in production in 2008, for me it has to be Jeopardy!. I know, I know, it’s a game show. But I found myself watching iepisode after episode, as I usually do. It’s a simple yet classy show.
FOOD OF THE YEAR: Pizza. Mmmmmmmm. Always good.
STORY OF THE YEAR: Here’s where we refer to Obama. A black man was elected president of the United States. Even if you don’t agree with his politics, as an American you pretty much have to feel good about this turning point in history.
