“The Pass” loses to Aaron Rodgers at The ESPYs

Because nothing in life is fair, the true greatest play of the year didn’t win the ESPY for Best Play on Wednesday night.

“The Pass,” AKA Taphorn to Pardon, AKA Anarchy on Ashland, or whatever you want to call it, was nominated for an ESPY a few weeks ago. Thanks to many of you, it progressed through the fan voting process to become one of four finalists.

The other three:

• Aaron Rodgers’ ridiculous throw to Jared Cook in the NFC Divisional Round.
• Morgan William’s buzzer beater to end UConn Women’s Basketball’s 111-game winning streak.
• Julian Edelman’s insane, bobbled catch in the Super Bowl.

Unfortunately, Rodgers won the prize. Yes, a play that sealed a win in a SECOND ROUND game beat out a Final Four game-winner, a Super Bowl-sealing play, and the play that SECURED NORTHWESTERN’S FIRST EVER NCAA TOURNAMENT BERTH. That’s not even bringing into account degree of difficulty, which, while admittedly high in the Rodgers play, was arguably higher in at least two of the other nominated plays, including the one where a basketball player threw a 90-foot DIME to another basketball player, who then managed to put the ball in the hoop with multiple defenders contesting the shot.

Anways, I’m clearly not biased. But even when trying to remove my bias from the equation, I really think the Rodgers pass should’ve finished fourth out of four. The stakes just weren’t nearly as high. This was my reaction last night:

It’s unclear if the winner was decided based entirely on fan voting, or if there was another aspect to the process, but that could explain the questionable outcome.

Oh well. We don’t need a stinking trophy. We’ll always have that memory. And this comment section. And, of course, this video.

Despite not winning the award, it looked like the five players who were on the floor for “The Pass” had a great time in Los Angeles yesterday. Dererk Pardon, Nathan Taphorn, Bryant McIntosh, Scottie Lindsey and Vic Law got to hang out with the likes of Rodgers, Michael Phelps, Stephen Curry and more.

And here’s Taphorn, who we will miss dearly next season, with a classy shoutout to all the Northwestern fans who voted.

So, no, the evening wasn’t a complete loss. And let’s put things into perspective: It certainly wasn’t the worst example of our Wildcats getting robbed in 2017.