San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick led his team to the NFC title after backing up Alex Smith to start the season, earning the ESPY award for Best Breakthrough Athlete. Robin Roberts, a host for Good Morning America and former SportsCenter anchor, won the Arthur Ashe Courage Award for overcoming two bouts with cancer. After accepting their awards, Roberts and Kaepernick stopped by the ESPYs media room, where the following tidbits were gleaned from their interviews.
Robin Roberts
-- If she could swap places with an athlete, it would be LeBron James, and she would like to be called "Queen James."
-- Her advice to people experiencing a serious health struggle is to "surround yourself with positive people. You have to change the way you think and change the way you feel."
She has taken on some of her sister’s qualities since receiving her DNA in a bone marrow transplant.
"I always have a sweet tooth -- I didn’t have a sweet tooth before," she said. "I don’t drink as much anymore, so I have taken on some of her qualities."
-- She's glad that Keith Olbermann is rejoining ESPN, her old network.
"I had the privilege of working with KO. I have kept in touch with him," she said. "He is provocative, he is intelligent, he is all that with a bag of chips. I think he will be terrific. Was it a little rough when he left the first time? Yeah, but it’s all about forgiveness, it’s all about knowing that in his heart of hearts, this is the right fit. And I know people are going to be watching, and I just can’t believe he’s back."
-- She wants to play a judge on Law and Order: "That's on my bucket list."
Colin Kaepernick
-- His favorite moment on the 49ers was his first start in Week 11 against the Chicago Bears. "Especially being on Monday Night Football, that just made it all the better,” he said.
-- He believes the toughest competitor he’s played against is Sean Weatherspoon, a linebacker for the Atlanta Falcons, against whom Kaepernick also played in college: “He’s a maniac out there – he’s strong, he’s agile, he makes plays.”
-- He's approaching this season with the same attitude as he had before last season, despite his skyrocketing national profile: “I’ve been preparing to be a starter since I left college, and that’s not going to change now.”
-- The final play of the 49ers' Super Bowl loss to the Baltimore Ravens was an audible: "We had called a different play that wasn’t going to work, so I audibled to the best thing we could get to."
-- Follow Alex Leichenger on Twitter @AlexLeich.
