Let me just start by saying, before you get pissed at me for picking on the youngsters, that I like the national spelling bee. And I really don’t have a problem with it being on ESPN. After all, there are a lot of hours in the day, and new spelling bee coverage is better than running the World Series of Poker for the 1847th time. However, I do have a problem when the spelling bee (again — not a sport) bumps an actual big time sporting event. What am I going on about? Allow me to explain.
Thursday I found myself at work in the IT cave, secure in the knowledge that my DVR was programmed to record Washington vs. Georgia in the opening round of the NCAA Women’s College World Series on ESPN. As game time approached, this message popped up from Michele Smith on twitter:
“we are starting on ESPN Classic … the “Bee” on ESPN is running long!!”
That’s not a regular season game, or even a playoff game. It’s game one of the College World Series! Bumped for round 6 of the spelling bee. Am I the only one who thinks that’s just wrong? Shouldn’t there be some sort of priority there? Well, I assume there is a priority, and my problem is that ESPN has their priorities all bungled up. How is it that the spelling bee has more stroke on the ‘World Wide Leader In Sports’ than an NCAA championship? And ESPN Classic? Not even The Deuce1? I don’t know what your cable lineup looks like, but here you need a Thomas Guide and a miner’s helmet to find Classic.
I haven’t seen the ratings that ESPN had for either of the programs, but the odd popularity of the bee suggests you could at least make the argument that it’s the higher rated program. It’s a reason to justify the move, but even if we take that as a given, I still don’t agree. Certainly, part of that is the fact that I really like Women’s College Softball, and the hometown team was playing. In addition though, at some point, the philosophy behind the channel has to count for something.
Just like I don’t want ECW on SciFi, Cheaters on G4, or Saved By The Bell on adult swim, I don’t want spelling bees trumping actual sports on ESPN. Am I wrong there? I know, it’s not like this is the Heidi Bowl or anything, but man, it drives me nutty. Or maybe it’s just the nagging annoyance of coming home to find 35 minutes of spelling pregame before joining the World Series, already in progress? On a happier note, how about that Danielle Lawrie? And, of course, congratulations to Kavya Shivashankar.
1The Deuce had Tsonga vs Monaco at the French Open, so, real sport, understandable.
Clacked by Brett Love 
on May 29, 2009 @ 12:01 EST5EDT
I think the whole spelling bee is wrong and I have no problem picking on little children and teens.
My favorite was the 10 year old who went “Yeah I don’t really like spelling, it’s just not fun”. In my mind he is the winner.
I was watching something yesterday, I can’t remember what, and the guy was like “So we should be proud of parents making their children spell these worlds that no one has ever heard of and no one will ever use?” That is exactly right.
These children should be outside playing, not being forced to spell by their parents. It’s like the sicko parents who spend god knows how much time and money to get their kids into the best preschool.
IT’S JUST PRESCHOOL! LET THE CHILDREN BE CHILDREN!!!!
Wow, I think we were separated at birth! :-) I totally agree with everything you said. As a former teacher, it kills me to see kids losing more and more play time as things like standardized testing, outrageous amounts of homework, scads of adult organized activities and yes, even spelling bees, take up their free time.
So much depends on the individual child. Some kids obsess about sports, some kids want to code break, write scripts and have political debate parties. They are all so different.
I just don’t want to sit in judgement of the spelling bee kids parents. Good spelling is hardly illicit behaviour.
I’m sure the parents feel they are doing what is best for their families, Oreo. And, I’m sure you’ll do what you feel is best when you have a family of your own.
It’s not really my place to fuss about the parents or the kids, but damn if I wouldn’t rather watch the 1847th airing of the World Series of Poker on ESPN. The degree of attention this Bee thing gets seems out of whack to me either way.
Numbnuts?
Oh, numnah!