Finally, in Round 9, we got some really tough words. They’re really getting away from commonly-seen words now…..this is getting into the nethworld, the outer limits of the english language.
First time Sriram Hathwar seemed like he was a little troubled, but no problem.
This Arvind guy has been very unheralded by me today, but he’s a contender, man. He really is. Can’t tell if he’s more prepared than Sriram Hathwar, but they’re both REALLY good.
This bee has played out very much as expected, something I couldn’t say for the last 2 years. I’d say that’s actually an indication of good work by the bee: narrowing it down to the very best spellers. For me, the casual viewer, it actually DOES seem like the rounds are getting progressively harder. Early on some random easy words, but none in Round 9 here. This is getting REALLY hard.
Quick work of “schokker” by Joanna Ye. O man. Sukyana Roy and Joanna Ye might be sitting next to each other at the end of this night. I see this final in 3 pairs: Team Canada (Newcombe-Penny), Team New York (Sriram-Hathwar) , and Team Older Girls (Joanna Ye- Sukyana Roy)
When your favorite comes up, your heart beats a bit faster. You’re nervous too. Doesn’t help that she’s always the first speller up.
It’s a numbers game: You’re on a train full of familiar faces, but eventually you meet a word you haven’t met before. Nothing to be ashamed of,
Dakota Jones smiles like he’s got it, he seems like he’s got it, his mom’s worried but he’s got it. Looking a little lonely at the end of that bench over there. Dakota from Vegas is the wild card. The green on the roulette table, if you will.
Sriram on the brink again……Is this it? He’s stumbling….yes. He’ll be disappointed, but upon further reflection, he’ll be there. Whoosh. He gone!!!! Wow the Hathwar train gets derailed.
So I guess the Arvind Express > Sriram Subway this year at least. Arvind moving on..he sounded confident.
Sum YELL or sum yell? L-o- l………
Dakota Jones doesn’t laugh when he thinks something’s funny, he laughs when he thinks he’s found out what the word is.
….and at this point my DVR cut out, with Dakota Jones getting knocked out in Round 15, and then Arvind and then Joanna bowing out in Round 180. Well, it felt like 180, it was more like 180. I had to find out later that Sukyana defeated Laura in what seemed like triple-triple Overtime.
A National Spelling Bee for the ages, I would say. I don’t know if it was cuz of the new facilities, the new TV arrangement with ESPN, the quality of the spellers, whatever, but this year’s spelling bee was really intense and satisfying, dramatic…..and hard. The spellers really got to show off their abilities to spell some hard, hard words in front of a national television audience.
In reflection, that’s what I like about the National Spelling Bee. I’ve had to fend off a lot of half-hearted jokes about why I like watching young kids spelling words ( suggesting that I have a tendancy for pedophilia, no doubt), but I like it because it rewards some really ambitious, intelligent, and motivated kids to show off their abilities and let their hard work finally bear fruit. After hours and hours of preparation and memorization and strategy games, you finally get to use some of that hard work and spell in front of people, say, “HA! I worked damn hard to know that word, and now I got it on national TV.” That has to be a great feeling for a kid, to know that you’re capable of something big, something beyond just yourself. That’s what the National Spelling Bee allows kids to do, and I love it for that.
Plus, I love some of the great stories that the Spelling Bee brings in every year. Sure, most kids have similar interests and hobbies like music, some kind of sport, a favorite word, a favorite movie star or sports star, but you realize from the diversity of geographic regions that these kids are from how many kids around the country are prepping for the national spelling, representing their respective cities and states. Just this year we had a kid from Las Vegas (Dakota Jones) competing against a girl from Ontario, Canada (Laura Newcombe) competing against a girl living right outside of Disney World (Grace Remmer) competing against kids form the Big Apple (Arvind) competing against a Midwest girl from the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes (Anna-Beth Swoap). They all live in their own little world, their own little bubble, but they come together every year to compete and represent their areas as well as themselves. Great event, the Spelling Bee is, and I hope it continues for the foreseeable future.
Btw, how do I feel about Sukyana Roy winning the National Spelling Bee? Congrats……I knew it was possible, and after watching her during the semifinals and early in the Finals I dare say I knew it was probable. I was rooting for Laura Newcombe all the way, and she did great too and could have easily won too, but like every year, I think the winner is the winner for a reason, there are no fluke winners. Congrats, Sukyana Roy, you go down in Spelling Bee history and have a great future ahead of you. As for Laura Newcombe, this was her last year, but she’ll go down in spelling history as one of the more entertaining, charismatic, and memorable non-winners, maybe spellers, of all time. After the end of what I like to call the “Shivashankar Era” in 2009, Laura Newcombe really defined 2010 and 2011 for the National Spelling Bee.
Quick look forward to 2012?
Man we are going to have a PACKED field of favorites next year with some legit claim to being the top dog. We got Nicholas Rushlow who should come back as a 5-year repeater, first time we’ve had one in a while, we got the surprise-out-of-nowhere Dhivya Murugan from Denver, and some dark-horses in the field that we gotta watch out for. But the 2 co-favorites next year will almost certainly be, IMO, the 2 boys from New York, “The Arvind Express” v. “The Sriram Shuttle,” get out of their way cuz they’re coming through. Until next year, spelling bee!!!!!!
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