Chris Berman is a fixture at ESPN. He's like the Jay Leno of ESPN, and as such, Berman's just gotten an extension to remain with ESPN for ... forever. Or so it seems. Berman's deal has been termed multi-year. Considering that he's going to be 55 on his birthday -- May 10 -- and he claims that he doesn't want to be broadcasting in his 60s, that means he's probably going to be doing the Swami for at least five more years.

Berman has been called the face of ESPN, and that's probably true. He's been there since 1979, just one month after the sports cable giant began as a fledgling idea that many assumed would never make it. An all-sports network? Are you mad? Seems hard to believe that now, but 31 years ago it was a radical notion and Chris Berman was a wannabe sportscaster in Hartford, Connecticut, who took a chance with the cable start up. It paid off big time when ESPN became the worldwide leader in sports broadcasting.

Since Ed McMahon passed away earlier this week, I figured I'd post this bizarre lost TV special he hosted in 1979. It was called Legends of the Superheroes, and it ran on NBC in 1978. It was basically a live-action version of The SuperFriends cartoon (with a laugh-track but without Superman and Wonder Woman). But this second episode was a roast. That's right, imagine The Dean Martin Roast only with superheroes like Batman and Green Lantern. The cast included Adam West, Burt Ward, Frank Gorshin, Howard Morris, Ruth Buzzi, Charlie Callas, and William Schallert.

(Here's video of the "Challenge" episodes.)

[Thanks to Shaun]

When I was in junior high, I picked up a copy of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams. I had never heard of Adams, and I didn't know that The Restaurant at the End of the Universe was actually the second book in a series (the first, of course, being The Hitchhikker's Guide to the Galaxy).

As I tended to do a lot back then, I read part of the book and then never finished it. It wouldn't be until several years later (and by that I mean "after I graduated college") that I would finally sit down and read the entire series.