Column: Another socially distanced Newby Awards for 2021

We had hoped the Newby Awards could return to a bit of normalcy this year.

Ohhh, how we'd love to stroll down the imaginary red carpet, pretend to dole out some statuettes, and make-believe we're attending a train wreck of an after-party at Kanye West's new house before he tears it down.

Sadly, thanks to folks such as wannabe game show host-slash- vaccine quack Aaron Rodgers, coronavirus was renewed for a third season as we were winding down 2021.

So, taking a page from Bill Murray in “Groundhog Day,” we're sticking with largely the same routine from a year ago.

Masked up? Check.

Socially distanced? Check.

We now present the ninth annual Newby Awards, a mostly tongue-in-cheek look at a year in which sports tried to carry on despite the pandemic — until everyone went on the COVID list.

COACH OF THE YEAR

Urban Meyer seemed a lock for this prize ... until he hired a strength coach accused of racism, and signed Tim Tebow to play tight end, and skipped a team flight so he could get in some quality family time with a woman who was not his wife, reportedly berated the assistant coaches he hired as “losers," allegedly kicked his kicker in a fit of rage and largely forgot everything he knew about winning football games. Just 13 games into his tenure, Meyer was mercifully fired by the Jacksonville Jaguars. Somewhere, Bobby Petrino is smiling, figuring he's now just the second-worst coaching hire in NFL history.

With Meyer out of the running, and no idea where Petrino ended up, we'll give this trophy to Ted Lasso.

BEST BASERUNNING

In a totally forgettable season for the Chicago Cubs, Javier Baez managed to make his mark with what was either the most dazzling bit of baserunning we've ever seen, or the most boneheaded defensive play in the history of baseball (spoiler alert: take...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Column-Another-socially-distanced-Newby-Awards-16740002.php