Articles by Ryan Berenz

As you probably know, few cable TV networks are independently owned and operated. Most networks are siblings in a larger corporate family — think of ABC, Disney Channel and all the ESPNs as Mickey Mouse’s minions, and NBC, Bravo, USA Network, SCI FI Channel, MSNBC, CNBC, Telemundo and God knows what else all in the NBC Universal posse. It provides lots of opportunities for “multi-platforming,” “cross promoting,” “synergy” and such and such, but it’s becoming a bigger nuisance, especially when it comes to sports. Here are two of the latest examples of what they’re calling “Roadblocks”: From NBC on Tuesday […]

So it turns out while we were heavily into the well-spoken young socialite Evan O’Dorney effortlessly crushing that foreign kid in the spelling bee last night, we missed LeBron James working some serious mojo himself, scoring 25 consecutive points and 29 of the Cavs’ last 30. We made our choice and we’re sticking with it. Here’s some stuff to watch instead of using your love of mathematics to compose your own piano concertos: Tonight College Softball: College World Series Games 5 & 6 from Oklahoma City (ESPN2). Yeah, tonight’s pretty much a throwaway. Go see Knocked Up or something. Saturday […]

Who’s ready to get their bee on? We’re live bee-logging the Scripps National Spelling Bee finals along with the ABC telecast. To get you caught up from today’s earlier rounds, A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago has an outstanding recap of the action. Darren Rovell at CNBC.com handicaps the bee and gives some analysis on the favorites. You can see all the results here at spellingbee.com. Here are the big stories so far: Maithreyi Gopalakrishnan (No. 45) was my favorite to win, but got smoked by “castresian” in Round 5. And Samir Patel (245), considered the favorite to […]

So here’s there’s a heated debate brewing around the office in which Cubicle QB’s cubicle resides: Was a rain-soaked Ashley Judd at the Indy 500 Sexy or Not Sexy? I watched the end of the race and remarked to myself how Not Sexy I thought she looked. Here are some more moistened Ashley Judd Sexy/Not Sexy photos. Johnnysweeptheleg finds a saturated Ashley Judd to be Sexy, but due to his exceedingly low standards (he’s got a thing for Smurfette), I cannot trust his judgment on the matter. A certain female who blogs here seems to think it’s Sexy. But I […]

I know they’ve been scraping for ESPN Classic content lately, and here’s another example: Indianapolis 500 an Instant Classic; ESPN Classic to Re-Air Thursday ESPN Classic will re-air Sunday’s dramatic Indianapolis 500 as an Instant Classic with a two-hour telecast at 4 p.m. ET Thursday. The 91st running of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” won by the popular Dario Franchitti, ranks as one of the best in the storied history of the event. It featured dramatic moments, including several lead changes throughout the rain-delayed race, which ended under caution 34 laps shy of the scheduled distance. Among the highlights was […]

The Indy 500 is one of those events on the calendar that has lost a lot of its luster, but I still feel compelled to watch every year out of pity, or because I suppose I should watch the biggest event in open-wheel racing. Plus, it’s a long weekend and I don’t mind spending a few hours of it in a state of temporary Danicamania. Last year’s race had a sweet finish, with Sam Hornish Jr. nosing .0635 seconds ahead of Marco Andretti, so maybe IRL’s starting to turn this thing around. Here’s a supersized edition of the 4th OT […]

I thought I was borderline insane when I thought it might be fun to live blog the finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, but I see it was done last year. So now I don’t feel so alone in my psychosis. I’m excited/crazy to announce we’re live blogging (bee-logging) the bee finals along with the ABC (and ABC HD!) broadcast. Join us here on May 31 at 8pm ET for lots of temerity and schadenfreude. Perhaps I’ll break out my mad glottochronology skills on all y’all. ESPN’s announcement that Mike Greenburg and Mike Golic are going to join the […]