It's that time of year again. Time for athletes to act like superstars and saunter down the red carpet for ESPN's annual ESPY Awards. The Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award's will be hitting the Nokia Theatre in LA on July 13th. Comedian Seth Meyers returns this year as host and is sure to keep the crowd rolling with his raunchy humor.

Before the big show, ESPN wants you to vote for your favorite athletes. Several X Games athletes have been nominated for these prestigious awards and we think you should show your support for them.

See who's up for what and get on over to ESPYs.com to cast your vote.

Best Female Athlete:

Kelly Clark
- Won SuperPipe gold medal at Winter X, Winter X Europe and Burton U.S. Open.
- Became the first female snowboarder to land a 1080 in competition, at Winter X.

Lindsey Vonn
- Won the Super G, Super-Combined and Downhill titles in 2011.
- Finished the season with eight race wins.

Best Male Action Sports Athlete:

Shaun White
- Won gold in Snowboard SuperPipe at Winter X 2011 and Silver in Skateboard Vert at X Games 2010.
- Won the two Skateboard Vert stops at which he competed on the 2010 Dew Tour.

Kevin Rolland
- Winter X and Winter X Europe repeat gold in Ski SuperPipe.
- Won 2 of 3 Dew Tour events plus the Dew points crown.
- Earned the AFP Superpipe points title by an enormous margin.

Kelly Slater
-Won his 10th ASP World Tour title (most in history) in 2010 at age 38.
-Is now the youngest person to win surfing's top points title (captured at age 20) and the oldest.

Travis Pastrana
-Won Moto X Double gold at X Games 2010 (Freestyle and Speed & Style)

Tucker Hibbert
-Won his 5th straight Winter X SnoCross gold.
-Won 11 of 16 National series contests despite racing the 2nd half of the season with a wrist that needed surgery
-Captured both 2011 National series points titles.

Best Female Action Sports Athlete:

Sarah Burke
-Won Ski SuperPipe gold at both Winter X (her fourth SuperPipe gold at Winter X) and Winter X Europe.
-Also earned victories at a pair of World Cup events

Kelly Clark
-Won Winter X SuperPipe gold medal, Winter X Europe gold medal and Burton U.S. Open.
-Became the first female snowboarder to land a 1080 in competition, at Winter X.

Ashley Fiolek
-Won her second straight Moto X Racing gold at X Games 2010.
-Also finished second in points on the Women's Motocross Association tour in 2010.

Stephanie Gilmore
-At 23, won four of the eight surfing events on the 2010 ASP World Tour on her way to a fourth straight points crown.

Go get your vote on. Do it.

With Quiksilver forking out about 10 million for their ASP event in New York in September (and the huge circus sure to surround it) we can expect front man Kelly Slater to be doing his part to promote it...and the job got off to an early start with Slater appearing on Chelsea Lately last night. With nothing left to prove, the champ seems to be enjoying himself in this role. See for yourself.

The Rip Curl Pro at fabled Bells Beach, Australia, is through three rounds and guess who's in position to post yet another ASP World Tour victory?

That's right, Kelly Slater, the 10-time and defending world champion who is looking to go 2-0 on the season and has a long history of success at Bells, winning the event last year and four times overall.

Though he prevailed in a lackluster third-round heat against Stu Kennedy, that was largely because of inconsistent surf.

"I thought that there would be some sets later in the heat, but nothing came," Slater said. "It was just one of those heats, I've had a whole lot like that out here, sometimes there are long lulls. I can't do much worse than that and make it through a heat. I like to have my bad heats early and get my good ones later."

Slater, 39, will face Bede Durbidge and C.J. Hobgood in the fourth round. His most serious threats to another Bells victory probably are Aussies Durbidge, Mick Fanning and Owen Right, and South Africa's Jordy Smith, who finished second to Slater in the world title race last year.

Going into the Rip Curl Pro, Slater made it clear that he's not yet ready to retire from competitive surfing. "If I wasn't hungry to win an 11th ASP World Title, then I wouldn't be here," he said.


Rip Curl Mens RD4 Highlights from McKinnon Media Productions on Vimeo.

Of the allure of competition at Bells, the Floridian explained, "As a kid in the States I saw a lot of film of this event. I got an idea of what the wave was like and that it was like surfing in an arena. I thought of it like two gladiators battling with fans watching from the cliffs. I remember watching Tom Curren and Occy's [Mark Occhilupo] heats, and I couldn't wait to come here."

-- Pete Thomas

Image of Kelly Slater is courtesy of é ASP 2011 Kirstin Scholtz

This week pro surfing fans have their eyes on Bells Beach, Australia, for the Rip Curl Pro, the longest running professional surfing contest in the world. Fact is, Bells beach is to surfing what Wimbledon is to tennis, and this year marks the 50th anniversary of the renowned surfing tournament, which is the second stop on the ASP World Title race and the culmination of the Australian leg.

But next week all that attention will shift to Southern California as 96 of the world's best surfers, including Kelly Slater, are set to compete at Trestles, one of the most coveted waves in the country. They're coming to do battle in the Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro, a Prime event that kicks off the competitive season in North America.

Prime events are different from World Title events, in that they don't count to ward a world championship. But Prime events are every bit as exciting, if not more so, since they're open to the top 100 ranked surfers in the world. By contrast, the Rip Curl Pro is reserved for only the Top 32.

Put simply, Prime rated events are where everything but a world title is decided. It's where those with precious world title event seeds have to defend their status against a new breed. On the flip side, the young guns threatening to take the sport and performance to new levels get to take their dream shots at the world's best, hoping to earn their shot at the Top 32.

Nike has freshened the pot this year by adding a solid gold railroad spike to the $40,000 first place prize. The value of the 20.39 ounce spike has been climbing steadily since it was completed just a few weeks ago. With the price of gold hitting an all time high yesterday and showing no sign of slowing, this trophy could keep paying off for years to come.

The trophy is just one more indicator of how Nike has been stepping up their efforts to support pro surfing in North America. They Oregon based powerhouse is now the biggest backer of pro surfing events in the United States, playing a huge role in the US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach each August, and the Hurley Pro world title event back at Trestles in September, as Hurley is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nike.

Of course, 10-time world champion Kelly Slater has played a vital role getting surfing in the spotlight, and that may increase if he remains in the hunt for number 11, especially as the ASP world tour makes its first stop ever in New York City in September.

Photo of John Florence in last year's Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro by Hilleman.

Fresh off their finals clash at Snapper Rocks, which saw Kelly taking out Taj yet again, you'd think Taj would be pretty butt-hurt about the whole thing. Burrow has been Kelly's bridesmaid quite a few times over the years, but to his credit, he's a gentleman about the whole thing. Mr. Burrow even invited Kelly to a notoriously localized slab or reef in Sydney known as "Ours". The Bra Boys, now famous after Koby Abberton's documentary of the same name, serve as the enforcers at this particular wave. I think "Theirs" would have been a more fitting name. Here Taj, Kelly, and Bra Boy Mark Mathews trade off in some seriously treacherous tubes.



HIS- SLATER,TAJ & MARK MATHEWS AT OURS (SYDNEY) from JAMIN MCLEAN on Vimeo.