Drew Brees Wins ESPY Award For 'Record-Breaking Performance Of The Year'

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees won the 2012 ESPY award for Record-Breaking Performance of the Year at ESPN's 20th-annual awards ceremony Wednesday night.

Brees won the award for his amazing performance in the 2011 NFL season, during which he demolished the all-time NFL regular-season passing yards record by throwing for 46 touchdowns on 5,476 passing yards.

He beat Dan Marino's previous record, set with the Miami Dolphins in 1984, of 5,084 passing yards in one regular season. Oddly, Tom Brady of the New England Patriots also broke Marino's record this year by notching 5,235 passing yards this past regular season. When it rains it pours.

Either way, it was a rare spot of good news for Drew Brees this off-season. Brees has been in an ongoing dispute with the New Orleans Saints for most of the summer, and according to the Associated Press, the Saints are about $10 million shy of reaching a deal with their franchise star.

A deal that would satisfy Drew Brees would likely be worth about $100 million over five years, but the Saints have yet to be willing to make Brees such an offer. And the deadline for them to do so is Monday. Meanwhile, Brees still may not even show up at the start of training camp if a deal is not signed.

So while Drew Brees, 33, will surely treasure getting his name in the record books for a major accomplishment in his 11th NFL season, and winning an ESPY award from ESPN for the effort, his life is still a complicated one indeed.

The 20th annual ESPYs began at 9 p.m. EDT Wednesday night at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, and there will be more than 30 awards presented over the course of the night. The show is being simultaneously broadcast live on ESPN and as online.

Follow along with all the on-stage action by keeping track of tweets related to the event posted on Twitter by follow the account @ESPYS and the hashtags #ESPY, #ESPYAwards and #ESPYS.

For a full list of this year's nominees, as well as ESPN writers' predictions of who will win, simply click this link.

You can also read other sports fans' ESPY Awards 2012 predictions and musings by visiting the ESPYS Fantasy Ballot Forum.

For more information about the ESPYs, including where you can live stream them online, click this link.