National Spelling Bee

SportsDude:

Tonight something totally unintentional happened. I was channel surfing and came across the Scripps National Spelling Bee. I have never sat down and watched this but I wish I had for many years. However, after watching this for only a little while I have many questions.

Who are the announcers for the spelling bee? Are they former spelling bee champions? Participants? If not, then why are they there? We need John Madden announcing this thing. “You see Nathan Horton got the d mixed up with the t and when that happens the bell rings and your out, huh huh huh.”

I see Stuart Scott backstage interviewing some kid that was a good speller for many years and I thought “What did Stu Scott do to piss off everyone at ABC?” Next I seen his microphone and is had the HD on it which made me wonder

Is this thing broadcasted in HD? If so, why? Who possible needs to see this in HD? I can just hear the following exchange.

“I think that contestant 487 has a booger in his left nostril.”
“No, I think that its nose hair”
“He is thirteen, there is no way he can grow nose hair”

Mike and Mike are there too? There is no way Mike Golic belongs at the Spelling Bee. I guess he is just trying out his announcing skills. What are the odds on Mike Golic being able to spell “Dandy Doodles?”

This girl asked for the antamology of pelorus and the judge said “its unknown” and this girl’s face was saying Son of a @#$%&. It was priceless, she just got frustrated and eventually missed the word.

Where do these words come from? I mean I have tried to type some of these words in Microsoft word and it thought I misspelled a word.

There was this kind and the judge gave them some complicated word and said that it mean a “bed bug” and the kid said “I like bed bug better.” I hope he wins

Wow, I’m glad that I am not in middle school like these kids. Wow, I’m glad I’m not in this spelling bee because I like numbers better.

This thing is so unintentionally funny that I went to the fridge and got a beer and began watch the hilairiousness. Shoppergal just said she didn’t like this kid and didn’t’ want him to win. Geez, the judge just tried to make a joke and even worse people laughed at it. It would have gone over like a wet fart in church if it wasn’t at a spelling bee.

What are these kids going to do after the spelling bee? I mean it’s not like this is going to be a skill later on in life. I mean if I asked somebody to spell something I’d wait maybe 20 seconds and then try to look it up. It’s not like they can even turn it into a parlor trick. I can just see this happening.
“Hey, can you spell fromundacheese”
“Can I have the origin”
“Yeah, I think it came from somewhere by bangkok”

I think I have a new annual event!



ShopperGal:

I’m sitting here drinking a beer and watching…wait for it…the national spelling bee. Yes, I live an exciting life. I happened to flip to ABC during supper and saw that Scripps National Spelling Bee was on. I stayed to watch one then two spellers. SportsDude moved over closer. We soon found ourselves trying to spell the words and cheering on people we liked. We were headed to the bar. But miss the spelling bee? No way.

There’s a boy from Missouri still in it. That makes me happy. I can’t remember his name but he looked somewhat normal. Most of the others kids looked incredibly nerdy. Okay the Missouri boy wasn’t that cool either but at least he was American.

You see very few of the final spellers at the spelling bee appear to be American. I have a theory why. In the United States, we name our kids things like Matt, Ben, Mike, Lee. In other countries, their names are longer, more complicated. Mohammed. Chyao. People from other countries have to become expert spellers just to spell their own names. It doesn’t take much brains to figure out how to spell Bob or Joe.

I have to confess here that I once competed at the regional spelling bee. In fact, that’s how I met my college roommate. We were in 8th grade and sat side by side at the regional spelling bee. Unfortunately I went out in the first round on deem. I spelled it deam. She said she made it further but I can’t remember. We both even still have our bright yellow spelling bee shorts. If that wasn’t dorky enough, we decided to wear them one day – at the same time.

I love spelling. I hate when people misspell words. I hate it even worse when I misspell words. Last fall I misspelled opossum. I had no idea there was an o in front of it. Even my fiancé knew that which made me feel even worst because he can’t even spell his own name (just kidding).

Imagine being in 6th, 7th, 8th grade and winning the national spelling bee beating out kids from all across the country. Footnote here: why is Canada kids in the NATIONAL spelling bee? They aren’t part of this country. Whatever. As long as they don’t win. I would be super proud to win the bee as dorky as it sounds. And I’m sure these kids will be too. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if they write a tell-all book someday: My Life as a Spelling Bee Champ.

My claim to spelling fame: supercalifragilistic. Oh god I’m going to feel like a moron if I spelled that wrong.