There is a time of year when all the major sports are in off-season and ESPN has none of these things to put on their air.
But, as the rules of airtime state, there must be SOMETHING on the air for the viewers to watch in case someone should happen upon the network during the mass off-season.

They get so desperate, that they wind up showing strange things that would otherwise never constitute as a sport.
Such as Chess and Poker Tournaments.

I've even seen a couple cases of National Spelling Bees being broadcast on ESPN.

Now, I'll admit that I don't watch a lot of ESPN unless they're showing a Purdue Football game. And even then I don't have much chance of watching due to lack of cable.
But at the very least I do know what constitutes as a sport.

Normally a spelling bee on TV wouldn't be much cause for raising an eyebrow, but this is frickin ESPN, people!
The SPORTS network. Spelling isn't a sport! D=<
Nor are board games or card games.
You can't make a career out of spelling words correctly in front of an audience.

But yeah, I'd have to say that the Spelling Bee was the strangest thing I've ever seen on ESPN.

Anyone got anything better? =P