*By Max Godnick*
Nearly 150 survivors of Dr. Larry Nassar's sexual abuse accepted the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage at the ESPYS on Wednesday night. The women, who call themselves "sister survivors," directly addressed their encounters with the former USA Gymnastics team doctor, who was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison in February.
"To all the survivors out there, don't let anyone rewrite your story," said Aly Raisman, the three-time Olympic gold medalist who was abused by Nassar. "We may suffer alone, but we survive together."
This group of womenー141 in totalーare the latest to inspire the ESPYS' audience. Traditionally, The Ashe Award honors risk-takers and survivors of traumas, which have ranged from illness to social prejudice. Previous winners include Caitlyn Jenner in 2015, Michael Samーthe NFL's first openly gay playerーin 2014, and news anchor and breast cancer survivor Robin Roberts in 2013.
"It was probably one of the biggest ESPY moments that we've ever seen," said Josh Hill, senior editor at FanSided, in an interview with Cheddar on Thursday.
The acceptance speech comes amid criticism that networks and athletes should "stick to sports" and not comment on polarizing social or political issues. In February, Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham told LeBron James to ["shut up and dribble"](https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/19/587097707/laura-ingraham-told-lebron-james-to-shutup-and-dribble-he-went-to-the-hoop) after he criticized President Trump during an interview on ESPN.
The survivors' moment onstage was the most buzz-worthy part of an evening that mostly features awards such as "Best Team" and "Best Championship Performance." Hill said that those prizes, unlike the Arthur Ashe, fail to generate conversation because generally speaking, the ESPYS are "an award show that awards people for already winning awards."
"It's something that I think needed to happen," Hill said. "ESPN and sports in general can't just keep going on pretending like these things aren't issues."
For the full segment, [click here.](https://cheddar.com/videos/nassar-survivors-define-courage-at-the-espys)
Super Bowl Sunday is the ー well ー Super Bowl of building brand awareness, particularly for food and beverage companies. This year, Pepsi and Frito-Lay, both units of PepsiCO ($PEP), are once again among the snack giants planning to use the 100 million-plus members of the expected television audience to launch new products and elevate brands in their respective portfolios. Frito-Lay CMO Jen Saenz spoke to Cheddar Tuesday alongside Greg Lyons, the CMO for Pepsi, which is known for its Super Bowl ads and social media engagement tied to the Big Game.
Apple is planning a subscription service that would function like Netflix for games, according to people familiar with the matter. The iPhone maker has also discussed partnering with developers as a publisher, which could signal ambitions to assume distribution and marketing costs for games.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2019.
Following a 2018 Supreme Court ruling year that cleared the way for sports gambling, fans in seven states can bet on the upcoming Super Bowl for the first time ー and leaders in the budding industry are anticipating the Big Game will deliver their biggest day yet. “We expect the Super Bowl to be our single biggest day in the company’s history,” Mike Raffensperger, the chief marketing officer for betting platform FanDuel, told Cheddar.
FightCamp is a new fitness company that streams boxing classes from top instructors direct to consumers. The classes can be tailored to the needs of boxers at all levels of expertise ー from newbies to punching pros said co-founder Tommy Duquette.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Friday, Jan. 25, 2019.
The New York Knicks and its jersey sponsor, the website-building platform Squarespace, are doling out assists to four local businesses as part of the second annual "Make It Awards." "Partnering with Squarespace to help those entrepreneurs get their businesses to the next level was something we were very interested in doing and it's been a major hit," said MSG Sports' senior vice president of business operations, Kristin Bernert, in an interview on Cheddar.
The Delaware Blue Coats will make their debut Wednesday night at the brand new Philadelphia 76ers Fieldhouse in Wilmington, Del., and the team will share the spotlight with an arena that boasts five stories, can seat 2,500 fans, and includes three NBA-regulation basketball courts. The flashy new arena was designed to promote youth sports in the state of Delaware and the greater Philadelphia region. "It's all geared towards youth," Chris Heck, the president of the Philadelphia 76ers, told Cheddar.
The NBA is transparent about its approval of legalized, regulated sports betting ー but the league is also clearly communicating that it wants a fair share of the money wagered on its games. "It's our view that if state governments are going to be authorizing private entities, in most cases casinos, to generate significant revenue ー billions of dollars of revenue ー off of the NBA competitions, that the NBA participate in some way," said the NBA's head of fantasy and gaming Scott Kaufman-Ross.
Former Green Bay Packer Ahman Green is a four time Pro Bowler, but he's also an avid gamer. When it comes to Halo he's just another fan that looks up to professionals like Proximitty and LethuL for help with his improving his skills.
