Today I wonder why James Maguire, who wrote so brilliantly about the 2004 and 2005 national spelling bees with wonderful chronicles about the trouvails of the young spellers leading up to the bee, has henceforth sworn off writing the bee.
I guess, for lack of being able to read his mind, James is busy doing other stuff. (http://www.maguireonline.com/). And plus, maybe 2 years of covering the bee (that's like 1600 re-donk-ulously hard words) just wore him out. It happens. He now covers current events and all kinds of other topics, just not the bee. O how I would savor someone doing another "Spellbound" documentary or Maguire-like book about the bee. O well, guess I'll have to settle for national TV coverage.
What I have found is that this year's spelling bee is different, which might be old news for some other NSB aficionados but somewhat puzzling to me. In contrast w/ previous years' Round 1 and Round 2 combining to aggregate a score to narrow down to about 90 spellers, this year there's an oral round (Round 1) and then TWO oral rounds which are non-eliminatiton rounds, after which you get the 47 or so semifinalists for ESPN Day 2 that they traditionally get. Essentially, after that everything's the same, but i guess it's more emphasis on the spelling test. It also on its face is favored towards the "frontrunners" because they have less chance of getting out on a bloop word as it's non-elimination the first 2 oral rounds (which came up big for Sameer Mishra last year, who mispelled early), and you don't really get to the nerve-wracking stuff until it's narrowed to 47.
O wow, just realize that the wednesday coverage is gonna be LONG- 293 spellers doing 2 rounds. Wow. I pity kids like #1 or #293, who have to sit there through the whole field w/ no activity. Actually, I pity everybody there. That's a lot of spelling that you're NOT doing but still have to be there.
Are they applying the spelling bee polo shirt dress code again? That seems like it's been abandoned since 2005, but who knows.
Jacques Bailley will still be the pronouncer, which is like saying summer is still gonna be a season this year.
Refreshingly, Erin Andrews will be there again. O Erin, please do many interviews........
After last year's bee I ranked my top 4 spellers going into 2009, and a quick review shows that I stand by my picks, primarily because I haven't seen any of these kids spell really since then. I still stand by the fact that Kavya is probably the best pure speller there, but Josephine was a top 5 speller last year that got unlucky and finished 13th. Those 2, I feel, have the best chance of winning this year (so I'm switching Josephine's spot with Sidharth at #2- I still respect the guy tremendously but for the reasons highlighted in last post I don't see him winning). I will be back with my official pick for the NSB tuesday/wednesday, whichever day I get done w/ my write-on competition, but if you've been paying attention (and reading between the lines) I think you know who I will be putting my money on (if you COULD bet money on NSB results, which I think is not available and morally I'd feel queasy about putting money on something so pure and integrity-filled as the NSB).
Last bit: I do think the gender tide will shift back to the girls again this year at the bee. After a long run from 2000-2008 in which all winners were boys besides Kerry Close in 2006, we're due for some girl power.
(Insert Transition here)
The title (O james) also applies to James Loney, formerly of the LA Dodgers. He no longer plays for the LA Dodgers. In fact, I never see him anymore. What I see at 1B for the Dodgers is some guy who looks like James, bats left-handed like him, talks the usual chatter to the media like James, but is not him. After being a savior for the Dodgers offense in late 2007 by slugging .538 with 15 HR's in just 344 AB's, loney's power has dramatically decreased, his BA is not as good as it used to be, and he's fallen behind other young guns matt kemp and andre ethier. He's the guy that the dodgers need to be the mainstay of their lineup, and he hasn't produced yet.
I'm giving Randy Johnson an ultimatum tonight @ Seattle: pitch well or you're cut. He's single-handledly sabotaged both of my teams's ERA and WHIP, and there was even a game he recorded nary a strikeout. I know you're better than that, unit. I wanna see it.
I feel like I'm getting lured in like a bug into a spider web by Brian Fuentes, but I can't help it, I'm crushing on him. On an angels team that scores little but gives up little, he has many save opps coming his way. I say opps because I'm still nervous about conversions. But he's working himself into the circle of trust.
Joe Mauer wishes May would go on forever. Yes, Joe, I should have drafted you this year despite your early injury. My mistake, Joe. Never again, Joe. I promise, Joe.
Jake Peavy refused to be a good little boy and go to Chicago. Actually, I'm not surprised, for a good ol' boy from Alabama to go from the tempurate summers and warm Pacific winds of San Diego to the unpredictably windy Chicago where Cellular Field is a homer-box that will raise your ERA one point besides the one point you get for moving to AL, that's asking a lot. What this means, though, is he will have like 10 or 11 wins for the season. His loss.
If Raffy Furcal could start stealing the 30+ bases he's supposed to be stealing, that'd be nice.
Add Kevin Youkilis to the list of players who will NOT bat .400 for the season but is giving it his all in an attempt. He and V-Mart battling for the AL batting title would have been laughed at by Joe Morgan if I said that last year, as would any suggestion that his brand of baseball is not the only brand of baseball.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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