Voting began and the only connection to Cleveland for any of the nominees is, obviously, LeBron’s chance at taking home the “Best Male Athlete” award.

His competition: Kobe, Michael Phelps, and Jimmie Johnson.

This article appears in Jun 24-30, 2009.

Vince Grzegorek has been with Scene since 2007 and editor-in-chief since 2012. He previously worked at Discount Drug Mart and Texas Roadhouse.