2022 Speedyleeway Awards

 The 2022 Speedyleeway Awards are listed below. Between a global pandemic, attempted insurrection, the complete lack of civil discourse and a failing economy, it was a wild year. And all that was just what happened in college football. The rest of the world was even worse off.

          These awards are invented, selected and announced by the legendary SPEEDYLEEWAY AWARDS COMMITTEE once a year, annually, and every dozen months. Two of these Awards are reoccurring, but not annual, awards. They are identified below.

 

NEWS STORY OF THE YEAR: The attempted coup by then-president Donald Trump’s followers in February.

SPECIAL K AWARD: To North Texas softball pitcher Hope Trautwein for pitching a 21-strike out perfect game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on April 11. It was the third time Trautwein struck out 21 batters in a college game but the others did not come in perfect games.

THE ELLA McDONALD GOLDEN BOOT AWARD: To Justin Tucker of the Baltimore Ravens for setting a new NFL record with a 66-yard field goal. This is a reoccurring, but not annual, award. This award is named in honor of Ella McDonald, an Imperial (California) High School kicker in 2019.

THE DAMN GOOD MAN AWARD: To the late Robert David Clark, a World War II veteran who passed away last summer. This is a reoccurring, but not annual, award.

THE WHAT KIND OF A MESS IS THIS AWARD: To college sports in general. Some athletes will get paid for the use of their names, images and likenesses and some will never see a penny. Some coaches will complain about the transfer portal for athletes, then jump from one job to another. Some athletes will graduate from college in two and a half years as a “student” and then transfer to another school to pursue post-graduate education while playing college ball for a few more years. And television networks will push some schools to jump to the conference the network broadcasts.

THE MODEL OF CONSISTENCY AWARD: To Nick Saban and his University of Alabama football program.

THE WALKING MAN AWARD: To LSU football coach Brian Kelly for walking away from the Notre Dame football program when the Irish team was still under consideration for the College Football Playoff tournament.

THE RADIO STATION OF THE YEAR AWARD: To KXO Radio of El Centro, California. KXO broadcasts or live streams coverage of multiple local high school football seasons in Imperial County.

SUGGESTION OF THE YEAR: To the Fox Sports: Fire Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. Hire Mickey Dale and George Grijalva.

THE BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD: A three-way tie between Front Line Talent, Murder Gets A Vote and Sunflowers and Love Notes. All three are available as paperbacks or on Kindle.

THE BOOK SERIES OF THE YEAR: To the Findlay-Webster Thriller Series. Available in paperback or on Kindle.

THE NEVER SEEN A RACE BEFORE AWARD: To the stewards of the final Formula 1 race for the 2021 racing season. Based upon their performance, they hadn’t.

THE RIGGED ELECTION AWARD: Actually, there wasn’t one.

THE HARD TO BELIEVE AWARD: Alabama quarterback Bryce Young won the Heisman Trophy, which in itself is easy to believe. What is hard to believe is that Harry Gilmer, Bart Starr, Joe Namath, Kenny Stabler, Mack Jones, Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts all played at Alabama but Young is the school’s first QB to win the award.