Fang's Bites

ESPN Airs National Spelling Bee

In another case of ESPN taking another event from ABC, the Alleged Worldwide Leader will air the semifinals and finals of the National Spelling Bee. ESPN3.com will have coverage of the preliminary rounds including a channel without graphics so viewers can test their knowledge and spell along with the fourth graders. The finals were on ABC until last year. SportsCenter’s Sage Steele will host. Rob Stone will be the reporter.

Here are your D-E-T-A-I-L-S of the N-A-T-I-O-N-A-L  S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G  B-E-E.

ESPN and ESPN3.com to Present 2011 National Spelling Bee Finals

ESPN will present live coverage of the 2011 National Spelling Bee Finals from Washington, D.C., beginning with the preliminary rounds Wednesday, June 1, at 8 a.m. ET, on ESPN3.com, through the semifinals and finals Thursday, June 2, on ESPN and ESPN3.com.  Every speller on the stage will be featured on an ESPN network.  This is ESPN’s 18^th straight year of televising the Spelling Bee Finals.

SportsCenter anchor Sage Steele returns for the second straight year as host of the Spelling Bee Finals on ESPN. Paul A. Loeffler, a former Bee finalist who represented the Merced (Calif.) Sun-Star in the 1990 National Spelling Bee finals and made it up to the top 13 spellers, returns as the word analyst.  Rob Stone, who has worked a variety of ESPN events such as the FIFA World Cup, college sports, bowling and Major League Soccer, will serve as reporter. Steele, Loeffler and Stone will provide television commentary for the Spelling Bee Finals Thursday at 10 a.m., during the semifinal rounds, and the finals at 8:30 p.m.

The preliminary rounds will be featured exclusively on ESPN3.com, ESPN’s sports broadband network available in 70 million homes, on Wednesday, June 1.  Throughout the entire competition, ESPN3.com will carry a second “play along” version, featuring the option to view its coverage without graphics for fans at home to test their knowledge against the champion spellers.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL SPELLING BEE FINALS

The National Spelling Bee, the nation’s largest and longest running educational promotion, is administered on a not-for-profit basis by the E.W. Scripps Company and 270 local sponsors. The majority of local spelling bee sponsors are daily and weekly newspapers. The purpose of the National Spelling Bee is to help students improve spelling, increase vocabularies, learn concepts and develop correct English usage that will help them all of their lives.

The 2011 Spelling Bee Finals will feature 275 champion spellers, ranging in age from 8 to 15. Spellers participating in the national competition qualify by winning locally sponsored spelling bees in their home communities representing the 50 U.S. states, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Department of Defense Schools in Europe; and the Bahamas, Canada, China, Ghana, Jamaica, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.

For more information and real-time results for all segments of competition are provided via the Internet at the Bee’s official website, www.spellingbee.com.

Inside the 2011 National Spelling Bee numbers . . .

• 1 – eight-year-old in the Finals, youngest in the competition: Ethan Cullen Ruggeri, Fredericksburg, Va.
• 2 – 2010 championship finalists – Laura Newcombe of Toronto, Ontario, and Joanna Ye, Harrisburg, Pa. – are among the 275 finalists this year
• 3 – four-year repeaters: Rahul Malayappan, Danbury, Conn.; Nicholas B. Rushlow, Pickerington, Ohio; and Julianna M. Canabal-Rodríguez, San Juan, Puerto Rico
• 6 – fourth graders in the finals
• 7 – finalists who have twins10 – finalists who attend charter schools
• 16 – finalists who attend parochial schools
• 17 – three-year repeaters
• 51 – two-year repeaters
• 138 – boys in the finals (137 girls)
• 179 – finalists who attend public schools
• 230 – finalists coached by parents and family members

There you have it.

Your Thursday Linkage

As I hunt down a decent computer to work on, I give you your links today.

Newsday’s Neil Best notes that SNY’s Keith Hernandez sat behind home plate for Tuesday’s game adding another wrinkle for the network. And Neil breaks news about one of the corporate sponsors for the new Jets/Giants stadium in New Jersey.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell looks forward to the National Spelling Bee.

Awful Announcing has the ESPN announcers for the Euro 2008 soccer tournament which begins next month.

Via the Big Lead, Tony Barnhart of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes that the SEC has to decide now whether to bring its games in-house or to keep its current TV model of syndicating games through Raycom.

David Whitley of the Orlando Sentinel has some tongue-in-cheek programming ideas for an SEC Network.

Chris Togneri of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review says former sports radio talk show host Mark Madden is keeping mum about his removal by ESPN for comments made last week about Senator Ted Kennedy. Leonard Shapiro of the Washington Post opines that ESPN made the right move, but it should have been done sooner.

The Los Angeles Daily News’ Tom Hoffarth says a local sports radio station is reuniting a long time pair.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun says MASN’s Amber Theoharis really had to earn her keep last night.

Some ratings news from the Sports Media Watch. First, the final weekend ratings. Next, having the 2nd largest media market deep in the playoffs will help any league and this is true for the NBA’s Western Conference Finals which are drawing very well as the Lakers and Spurs battle tonight.

Shawn Windsor of the Detroit Free Press tried to watch both the Pistons and Red Wings last night. Dave Dye of the Detroit News talks with Versus NHL sideline reporter Christine Simpson who completed her third season with the channel earlier this week.

Paul J. Gough of the Hollywood Reporter writes that NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol feels the earthquake has made Communist China more open. We’ll see about that in the long run, Dick.

Ryan Faller of the National Sports Review has his list of the 12 Sexiest Sideline Reporters.

Lawrence Donegan of the Guardian in the UK writes that golf commentator Peter Alliss whom we know of his work for ABC, may be a dinosaur (Donegan’s words), but his candor is quite refreshing.

Multichannel News says Tennis Channel will celebrate the 80th anniversary of the home of the French Open with a documentary that premieres today. Sergio Ibarra of TV Week says Dish Network viewers will get an interactive look at the French Open, something us DirecTV viewers have had since last year.

Joe Favorito wonders if lacrosse can gain momentum off the good weekend it had with the NCAA Division I Men’s Tournament.

From Brent Hunsberger’s Playbook and Profits blog in the Oregonian, he writes that sales of athletic shoes slowed in 2007.

That’s going to do it for now. It appears that I will be at a jobsite tomorrow so I may not be able to do the Friday megalinks. I just wanted to let you know.

The Return of Your Humble Blogger and Some Links Too

My apologies for not updating the blog on Tuesday. This computer thing is getting out of hand. Yes, I’ll be getting a new computer. Yes, it will be soon. Yes, once I have the computer, the blogging schedule will be back to normal. Just bear with me. I should be back and blogging regularly next week. Just know that when I’m away from this site, I feel rather strange. But I will say that I’ve been doing other things like watching TV or catching up on my DVD’s. And Hell’s Kitchen has been really good this season.

Time to give you some links while I can.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand talks about CBS entering the Mixed Martial Arts forum this Saturday. Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune calls MMA, “human cockfighting”.

Also from the Tribune, Fred Mitchell talks with former Chicago White Sox and current FSN Dodger analyst Steve Lyons who’s still bitter over his firing by Fox Sports over a remark made in the ALCS two years ago.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch says HBO is going to make a movie out of the book “Game of Shadows”, the tome that brought BALCO and its connection to Barry Bonds and other atheletes to light.

Newsday’s Neil Best transcribes some of the best (or worst depending on your opinion) of Yankees radio announcer John Sterling from the Memorial Day weekend. Neil tells his readers to not leave a movie theater when the credits start rolling.

Some ratings news from the Sports Media Watch. First, the ratings for the first two Stanley Cup Finals games on Versus were the highest for an NHL game on the network. Next, the Indy 500 outrated the Coca Cola 600 in the overnights, but NASCAR eventually overtook open wheel racing in the overall ratings. And the NBA’s Eastern Conference Finals did well for ABC/ESPN over the weekend.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says locally, the Indy 500 drew more viewers than the Coke 600.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says the NBA has set the schedule for the Finals.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir says the Pistons outrated the Red Wings in Detroit during the first two times the teams conflicted over the weekend. They will conflict again tonight.

The Baltimore Sun’s Ray Frager says Baseball Tonight’s John Kruk will become a game analyst for the Women’s College World Series. The Daily Oklahoman has more on Kruk and the other ESPN announcers who will call the WCWS.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell doesn’t think that hot tennis chick Ashley Harkleroad’s decision to pose nude in Playboy was a good one from a marketing point of view.

The Steel City is talking about sports radio talk show host Mark Madden who has been fired from his ESPN Radio 1250 show for remarks made about Senator Edward Kennedy. Ryan Wilson of the AOL Fanhouse blog says Madden’s remarks were dumber than usual for a guy who’s been living on borrowed time with ESPN.

Kevin Roderick of the LA Observed blog writes about an ESPN.com reporter who’s in hot water for writing a blog entry about Kobe Bryant’s wife.

Larry Stewart of the Los Angeles Times has some anecdotes from Jim Nantz’s book.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times says the Tampa Bay Rays are finally garnering some national media attention.

Michael Futch of the Fayetteville (NC) Observer laments TBS not carrying the Braves this year.

Scott Rabalais of The Advocate (LA) says the Southeastern Conference has to decide whether to continue syndicating its football games with Raycom or start up a TV channel like the

Jon Show of the Sports Business Journal writes that the LPGA is in negotiations with potential TV partners to broadcast its tournaments for the next five years.

Dave Del Grande of the Oakland Tribune talks with Bay Area natives Ted Robinson and Bob Fitzgerald who will work for NBC during the Olympics in Communist China. And Dave profiles a former TV reporter who has directed a documentary on Barry Bonds.

Good friend, LC over at the 38 Cliches blog wonders who will be with Joe Castiglione in the Red Sox radio booth in Seattle for tonight’s game.

It’s been a while since we’ve had an Erin Andrews story and Walt Belcher of the Tampa Tribune gives us one as Erin covers the National Spelling Bee for both ESPN and ABC this week.

That will do it for now. I’ll have the Primetime and Late Night Viewing Picks coming up.

Memorial Day Monday Links

I’m at the office right now so I’ll do some linkage for you. I hope you’re enjoying your holiday and you remember those who served for our country to keep us safe for democracy. Whether you agree or disagree about the cause for this current war, remember those who are serving us while we’re at home and keep them in mind as you have your cookout or gathering today.

I’m going to have another NFL opening for you next Sunday. You can pretty much deduce which one it’s going to be, but you’ll have to wait until then to see which one it’s going to be.

But let’s do some links now. Newsday’s Neil Best has an article today. He has Mets analyst Keith Hernandez ripping former teammate Gary Carter for openly lobbying for the Mets manager position on Sirius Satellite Radio last week.

Shahnaz Mahmud of Adweek says the four major sports leagues are moving towards controlling their own content.

The Sports Media Watch says Versus really scored with Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals on Saturday.

Dusty Saunders of the Rocky Mountain News writes that NBC is really rooting for the Penguins to tie the Stanley Cup Finals tonight.

Chris Bradford of the Beaver County (PA) Times writes that NBC’s NHL voice Mike Emrick began his career covering hockey for the Times.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star says CBC hockey play-by-play man Bob Cole is showing that reports of his demise are greatly exaggerated.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times gives his Two Cents on the sporting weekend on TV.

Eric Benderoff of the Chicago Tribune profiles a reporter who keeps track of baseball games for a number of clients including ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo, CBS Sports.com, the Associated Press and other media outlets.

Joe Lapointe of the New York Times writes about former Phillies pitcher Mitch “Wild Thing” Williams who has transformed himself from World Series goat to fan favorite as a TV analyst and sports radio talk show host.

Jake Trotter of The Oklahoman writes that it’s hard to predict kickoff times for Oklahoma football games in the fall because of the Big 12′s TV contracts with ABC, FSN and ESPN.

Because of my computer problems, I could not do the Friday megalinks as usual, but I will still link over to David Scott of Boston Sports Media Watch who has some leftovers from the John Tomase affair and some other stuff.

Jay Fitzgerald of the Boston Herald writes that the Celtics’ Kevin Garnett has scored in an ad for Verizon Fios internet and TV service.

I’m a litte late on this, but Sirius Satellite Radio is picking up coverage of the Formula 1 racing circuit. It started this past weekend.

Apparently ESPN is in Omaha, Nebraska doing some prep shots for the College World Series next month.

Milan Simonich of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes that when ESPN got involved in the National Spelling Bee, it became a major event.

And lastly, this has nothing to do with the sports media, but the story gives me an excuse to post this picture. This is Ashley Harkleroad. She lost yesterday to Serena Williams in straight sets at the French Open. She has revealed that she has posed nude for the August edition of Playboy. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

That will do it for today. If I can get my computer at home to work, I’ll have an evening update.

The National Spelling Bee

I wasn’t going to write anything tonight. I was just going to let the 100 posts this month lie and start the new month on Friday fresh, but I had to add one more after watching the Spelling Bee tonight on ABC.

First, I wish someone would take the TV rights away from ESPN which treats this like a sporting event. Yes, it’s a competition, but is it right to have Stuart Scott and Mike & Mike of ESPN Radio there? There was Good Morning America‘s Robin Roberts and an analyst whose name escapes me right now. From the way Mike & Mike were talking this week, I thought they were going to the main hosts, but instead, they were just making side comments and I believe they were on just four or five times during the primetime session. I don’t know if they had a bigger role during the afternoon session which whittled down the contestants to 13 finalists. But I don’t think even Mike & Mike thought they deserved to be at the Spelling Bee. What qualifications they have to be there, I’m not quite sure and I know Golic felt he didn’t belong.

Second, there’s no way that the Bee should be going until 10 at night on the East Coast. These kids should not be up late and should be in bed. Many were tired and one kid, Matthew Evans had bags under his eyes. That’s not right for a young kid.

Third, take the mic away from Stuart Scott. The winner, Evan O’Dorney, from California dissed the competition saying he preferred music and math to the Spelling Bee. If you saw the broadcast, or read Darren Rovell’s handicapping of the Bee at CNBC.com, you found out that Evan likes to write piano concertos and solve difficult math problems. Yet, Stu-Stu-Studio kept pressing Evan to say he now liked the Spelling Bee. Evan snapped, “You want me to say I like it because I won?” It made the audience at the Bee laugh, but Evan eventually accommodated Scott with “I guess I like it a little.” Come on, Stuart, give the kid some slack.

It’s nice to see the future of America will be in the hands of these bright kids. Some will become doctors, lawyers, teachers, maybe even the pastor of a church, but let’s not put the pressure of the TV lights on them. I saw a couple of kids mug for the camera. That’s not right. The Bee itself is pressure enough. Allow the kids to be kids, not make them be spectacles for the viewing audience.