E.S.P.N./A.B.C. + Spelling Bee= M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

A few hours ago, the Scripps National Spelling Bee just finished up its fourth round of competition, with 43 contestants still remaining. (The morning competition was actually stopped before the end of round four--you know how it goes, Spelling Bees can't take time away from the N.B.A. Playoffs P.G.A. Golf...)The scheduling move aside, (The Bee was actually stopped on E.S.P.N. in order to prepare for tonight's A.B.C. broadcast--during the N.B.A. Playoffs.) It's obvious that Disney's finally paying attention to this spelling-bee trend: two of their TV channels will be covering the Bee--E.S.P.N. has had round-by-round live coverage (no more of that 3 A.M.-broadcast stuff this time) leading up to this morning, and A.B.C. will broadcast live the final rounds of the competition tonight, adding in that necessary dose of interviews, vignettes, etc., of course. It all seems a little too late, though (really, how many movies can you make about spelling before it gets old?).

(For the full story check out this Wired News article.)

UPDATE: And it's in HD, too!

UPDATE to the UPDATE: With this news that gamblers could now bet on the Bee, I'd say spelling has officially become a sport! *oBST will be putting a few of our hard-earned business $$$ on two bets: the last word will have an "e" in it, and the final contestant will not have glasses. We'll be watching to see what happens (or at least 1/3 of us will).


UPDATE to the UPDATE to the UPDATE: Katharine Close of New Jersey wins the Bee by correctly spelling "ursprache"! Wow, what a night for the Germans: first Nowitzki unleashes his 50-point fury on the Suns, and now German words are getting their props (six of the final-round words--including the winning word--were German)! Oh yeah, and hopefully all the loyal *oBST blog readers followed our CAN'T FAIL/GENIUS betting picks (non-glasses-wearing winner; last word to have an "e") because we were a PERFECT 2 for 2!