Once again, the nation’s gaze turns to the northeast corner of the map. For the second time this summer, Maine is going to be highlighted on ESPN.

In June, ESPN camped out in Newport as part of its NBA draft coverage when Cooper Flagg was selected first overall by the Dallas Mavericks. This time, ESPN is back as part of its “50 states in 50 days” tour. On Tuesday, the network will broadcast segments from Rockland and the annual Maine Lobster Festival, starting with the 7 a.m. “SportsCenter.”

In this case, ESPN is really leaning hard into the entertainment in its name, the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network. When you think of the Maine Lobster Festival, a fantastic event in its own right, you don’t think of sports. The festival does make a few nods to sports, with a lobster eating contest, a 10K road race and a crate race, in which runners try to make it across a string of 50 lobster crates bobbing in the water. So it’s not completely devoid of sports.

ESPN has taken a similar approach in other states. In our neighbor New Hampshire, the highlight is a hot air balloon festival. In Montana, they showcased lumberjack games like log rolling and axe throwing at the Big Sky Country State Fair. In Washington, it was the Rubik’s Cube world championship. The Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest at Brooklyn’s Coney Island, America’s finest salute to gluttony, was also paraded.

Competition comes in many forms, and ESPN gets that. This series is a way to highlight non-traditional events, and kudos to ESPN for that.

As noted by Maine native Andrea Pelkey, a coordinating producer at ESPN, lobstering is an athletic profession. Hauling traps takes strength. Taking to the water in all sorts of weather takes determination and discipline that any athlete would love to emulate.

ESPN’s choice of the Lobster Festival as its foray into Maine is not a particularly inspired choice. Maine and lobster, yeah yeah yeah. No points for originality. But nobody has ever accused major television networks of being too original. Clichés are clichés because they start with a kernel of truth and expand. Maine is known for lobster. A large bite of the economy depends on lobster and the millions who visit Maine to eat it. Our GDP is soaked in drawn butter.

Here’s hoping ESPN makes this visit to each state an annual summer event. There’s no doubt every state has plenty of sports, or competition that nobody would consider mainstream, worth covering. The fun stuff is often hiding behind the obvious. Take the detours. Look beyond the coast. We’re not trying to get a “Murder, She Wrote” reboot off the ground. Visit the Allagash Wilderness. Bang the drum at a Hearts of Pine game. Have some fun with it.

If ESPN comes back next summer, at the top of that list in Maine should be the Moxie Chugging Challenge at Lisbon’s Moxie Festival.

I’m not a fan of Moxie, it hits my taste buds wrong. To me, it’s like drinking carbonated regret. But I understand a lot of people have an almost spiritual connection to Maine’s homegrown soda, the state’s official soft drink for the last 20 years. For many, it tastes like nostalgia and home. I had a friend in college who cut his Moxie with tequila. Look at it this way, Moxie fans, I don’t want it so that’s more for you.

On the Moxie Festival’s web page, the event is explained with a disclaimer that is more a warning.

“The Moxie Chugging Challenge is not for the faint of heart… or esophagus (the italics is their emphasis, not mine),” it reads. “If you can’t hold your Moxie, this is not the challenge for you.”

Contestants get two minutes in which to down as much Moxie as they can. Vomiting is grounds for disqualification, in both the contest and audience, I assume. The person who drinks the most Moxie wins a trophy and a 12-pack of Moxie, which I pray lasts longer than two minutes.

My buddy Dave Dyer, my sports writing colleague at the Kennebec Journal, entered the contest in 2019. Dave’s side hustle is professional wrestling. The Moxie Chug was too much for even him.

“I can definitely verify that Moxie is hard to chug. Not because of the taste, but the general makeup. I probably could’ve done more if it were Mountain Dew, Pepsi or Coke,” he said. “Yeah, the Moxie Chug is almost more of a test of will than actual enjoyment of the beverage.”

If that doesn’t sound like great television, what does?