Tonight the NHL, NBA, and MLB take a backseat to the biggest sporting event in May - the finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.  While ESPN didn't quite take our advice on fantasy Spelling Bee announcing pairings, they are doing something with the broadcast that could draw in a few more spelling aficionados to the telecast.  Throughout the bee, ESPN's online channel ESPN3 will be airing a "play along" version where viewers can test their own spelling knowledge and the words won't appear until the end of the spelling attempt...

After regulation ended (and before the Red Wings lost in overtime) in Game 7 between the Blackhawks and Red Wings, NBC's Pierre McGuire appears to attempt an on-ice interview with Detroit's Henrik Zetterberg.  (McGuire could just be asking Zetterberg a random question, but he's putting in his earpiece and looking like he's prepping to go on air.)  At that moment, Zetterberg did what many hockey fans around the continent wished they could do - tuned out Pierre McGuire.  This GIF is a much better result then a couple tired cliches about taking the overtime "one shift at a time."

Ain't nobody got time for you, Pierre McGuire.

[GIF via SB Nation]

On a B.S. Report podcast yesterday, Bill Simmons was discussing his trip to Memphis with fellow ESPN NBA pregame show host Jalen Rose for the Western Conference Finals.  The Grizzlies were swept by the Spurs and the pair were discussing their brief time in the city.  Rose and Simmons began discussing the city's history and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and how that event has been sewn into the city's fabric.  When the conversation turned back to the Grizzlies and Simmons tried to tie the two together, that's when things got weird.

Here's the quote via Uproxx:

Last week, Dan Caeser of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that a proposal by Fox Sports Midwest to experiment with the practice of interviewing players during Major League Baseball games had been kiboshed before getting past the discussion stage. 

Not surprising, when you consider that the world of professional baseball is typically less enthusiastic regarding newfangled ideas, zany or not. But as MLB continues to lose market share to the National Football League, you have to wonder if they're only hurting themselves by refusing to embrace technology in order to make game broadcasts more appealing to larger audiences.

In this case, they had a chance to make the players more accessible while adding a new element to a slow game.

All Times Eastern

College Football
College Football Live -- ESPN, 3:30 p.m.

College Softball
Women's College World Series, Oklahoma City, OK
Nebraska vs. Washington -- ESPN2, noon
Tennessee vs. Florida -- ESPN, 2:30 p.m.
Arizona State vs. Texas -- ESPN2, 7 p.m.
Michigan vs. Oklahoma -- ESPN2, 9:30 p.m.

Women's College World Series Postgame Show -- ESPNU, 11:30 p.m.

On today's edition of Joe & Evan on WFAN in New York, Mike Francesa broke into the broadcast to break the story that the New York Rangers had fired coach John Tortorella. ESPN then did what ESPN does when a competitor breaks a big story: credits "sources", and doesn't name the source. I thought that policy was supposed to be changing.

Anyway, after ESPN aired the report, Francesa went on the warpath.

MASN's Bob Carpenter is the play-by-play voice of the Washington Nationals. Carpenter is also not impressed with the local fan base. On Tuesday, he went on 106.7 The Fan to discuss his thoughts.

“Well, I think there are times when we’re sitting up in the booth saying, ‘Everybody get up, get up,’ most notably during the Strasburg game on Sunday. In the seventh inning he struck out the first two guys, and then when Laynce Nix came up to bat, everybody was just sitting on their hands. With one strike a few people started clapping; two strikes some more people started clapping. And maybe by the time that at-bat ended a couple hundred people were standing. There should have been 30,000 people standing.”

AA Translation: The fans have no idea what's going on, so why are they here?

Joining an already crowded field, ESPN Radio has announced it will begin carrying Sunday afternoon NFL games starting this fall. Because the NFL allows teams to sell their out-of-market rights to syndicators, ESPN signed five teams, the Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, New York Giants, New York Jets and Pittsburgh Steelers.

ESPN Radio joins Compass Media Networks, Dial Global and Sports USA in providing national NFL Sunday afternoon radio broadcasts. ESPN's games will not affect the local broadcasts. If you live in Pittsburgh, you'll still hear the Steelers on WDVE and WBGG. ESPN Radio's broadcast of the Steelers will be blacked out in the local market and the same if the network airs a Patriots game, Boston would be blacked out from hearing the broadcast.

In addition, ESPN Radio's broadcasts will not be streamed. The only way to listen will be through your radio set.

The UFC has swapped a head coach due to injury for just the second time in the history of The Ultimate Fighter. The 18th season, premiering in the fall on Fox Sports One, was scheduled to pit womens bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey against #1 contender Cat Zingano after Zingano beat Miesha Tate last month. However, when filming began on Tuesday, Tate was there and Zingano wasn't.

What happened was that Zingano blew her knee out while training (and later tweeted a picture of her recovery in the hospital after surgery), and that the UFC immediately reached out to Tate to replace her. Tate and Rousey have a history of verbal sparring, and they have a history in the cage too after Rousey armbarred Tate in the first round of their fight last March to win the Strikeforce womens bantamweight title.

The playoffs aren't just a time for the teams to shine, what about the announcers!  That's what we're here to talk about at least.  With the NBA Playoffs now moving through the Conference Finals, we take a look at 5 personalities we'd like to see featured more prominently on ESPN and TNT's NBA coverage throughout the postseason and beyond...