THE ONLY THING THAT'D MAKE IT BETTER WOULD BE TO JUNK THE 'INSIDER' FEE: Bryan Curtis pens an appreciation of the utterly essential ESPN.com, though he does wonder -- is its blessed comprehensiveness also its curse?

ESPN.com's philosophy seems to be to hire everyone, print everything and leave it to the bewildered fan to try to make sense of it all. There's a certain glory in this, I suppose, if you like sheer volume. But as you wade through the millions of words on ESPN.com, you wonder if anyone is curating what reaches the screen.

One quibble with the piece: in hailing Bill Simmons ("to whom so many valentines have been written that even he has surely grown tired of them"), Curtis refers to him as a "a former Boston Herald writer". While technically true, that's about as relevant as calling Mick Jagger a former matriculant of the London School of Economics; neither has much to do with either's present success. Simmons ought to be recognized as one of the first bloggers (via Digital City Boston) to break through to mainstream success, and it's a shame he's not just appreciated as such.

DO NOT MAKE FLIP-FLOPS INTO SOMETHING THEY ARE NOT: Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Robin Givhan of the WaPo wants to help you accessorize this summer.

PRESENTED BY CHARLIE AND DONALD KAUFMAN: I want to acknowledge two TV shows this season for a special achievement--and that is "Outstanding Achievement In Meta-Commentary." Meta commentary and breaking the fourth wall to talk directly to the audience is always a dicey proposition, with high risk, and two TV shows in particular managed to walk that tightrope this year without falling over. And the winners are...(drum roll)

For Outstanding Achievement In Meta-Comedy, the winner is Arrested Development. Would any other show on television be able to get away with an episode (the brilliant "S.O.B.'s"), making fun of just about every sitcom convention, ridiculing repeated network notes, and the show itself, even the possibility of the show changing networks. Outstanding work.

For Outstanding Achievement In Meta-Drama, the winner is Boston Legal. The meta-jokes were constant, but small enough that they were frequently of the blink and you'll miss it variety, be it Denny Crane complaining about his Alzheimer's "constantly being a plot point," Alan and Denny rendezvousing on the balcony noting that "I haven't seen you much this episode," Alan explaining where he was while was "on hiatus" after not seeing someone "since he was on Sundays," or Denny saying "You mean, we don't know if he's innocent or guilty? I hate it when we end that way!" The politics got heavy handed and shrill for much of the season, but the meta kept Boston Legal as a must-watch.

DR. JACQUES BAILLY WILL BE REPLACED BY DENNY CRANE: Given the ratings success of the Bee last night, we can hope and expect that ABC will be bringing it back to prime time next year.

Certainly, however, they can better integrate the show with the rest of the ABC lineup than just throwing GMA's Robin Roberts and Hey! I Used To Know That Guy! Chris Connelly out there. But other than obviously giving Shonda Rhimes an on-air role (while live-blogging during commercials, of course), who else might they use? Terry O'Quinn (Locke) as a judge? Dr. McDreamy available in the kiss-n-cry suite? SuperNanny Jo Frost giving the proper spelling after a student has failed?

The floor is open for all such tv-related suggestions, including recommendations as to other academic competitions that should be broadcast (or created for broadcast) in prime time, as well as demands to take the whole thing off tv to stop exploiting these kids' emotions, etc.

BEE MUSIC: I'm guessing everyone might be suffering from a little Bee hangover, but I was trying to think of the perfect Spelling Bee music mix. I'll take nominations in the comments, but to get the mix rolling, how about:

• "I Put a Spell on You" by Screamin' Jay Hawkins
• "Words" by Missing Persons
• "Word Up" by Cameo
• "Saturday Night" by the Bay City Rollers
• "She's Got a New Spell" by Billy Bragg
• "Your Dictionary" by XTC
• "More Than Words" by Extreme
  

GRRL POWER: Seriously, y'all, how cool was it that the final three in the first-ever primetime National Spelling Bee championship were all young women? Certainly put to bed certain stereotypes about who succeeds in academic competitions these days, I hope.

WE HAVE A WINNER: Congratulations to Elicia Chamberlin, whose prediction of Katharine Close and Saryn Hooks in the 2006 ALOTT5MA Spelling Bee Pool easily outdistanced the field.

How did she do it? Well, let's just say she may have done significantly more scouting than the rest of us.