Show Spelling the new popular sport Gerald Narciso Globe Weekly News Forget the Finals the Final Four the Super Bowl or even the World Series The most entertaining entertain entertain- ing sports event of the year is the Scripps National Spelling Bee Ok so it may not be a sport but it is sure entertaining The combination combination combination tion of watching a bunch of year old prodigies spell words that I did not even know existed along with observing their unique mannerisms mannerisms mannerisms man man- was just the funniest funniest funni funni- funniest est thing in the world to me I didn't leave my couch once the whole show T a IT 7 01 o nf f Last Tuesday 1 U z I tt Americas America's most brilliant adolescents flocked to Washington DC D.C. for the annual competition In Inthe Inthe Inthe the end year 13 old of Poway CA standing was w s the last ast person Phelps m in a Michael Like LI e swim meet breezed through 18 rounds of words like and hous That Thatis sphygmomanometer astounding absolutely is considering spell check does not even recognize these words from my admiration admiration admiration admira admira- Aside degree of difficulty difficult tion for the I competition compe cult culty of the but laugh a at help could not do they call these what nerds them nowadays urn um glasses glass glass- more not seen I have haircuts haircut and bad es braces life BuU Bu But Butin But venue in my in one almost It was it U was cute like lite a little geek looked The thing beauty pageant how each that killed edme me approached was each competitor thrown at word that was them most frustrating frustrating I swear the world would ing job in the at this judges have to be the said spell event If a judge The judge spelling 6 Continued continued on page Spelling Continued from page 5 could expect to hear a never ending set of questions from the competitor like What is the origin Can you repeat the word please Are there other pronunciations Is it a noun Was it oh li or li bib-li- ah I would think all those questions questions questions ques ques- would make it worse but hey whatever works for them One of the aspects of the contest that I really enjoyed was how it had all the emotions emotions emotions emo emo- of a real sporting event There was no shortage of tears jumping and fist pumps during the many rounds It is no wonder televised the contest with announcers and all Like an player at the free throw line a lot of contestants contestants contes contes- tants had some sort of routine before they would spell the word For example would pull his identification sign that hung around all participants participants' par participants participants' par par- chests and would pretend to write o out t the word He would practice before he would start spelling the word and even do it as he asked the judges a question Apparently the toe odd routine P Da paid d off walked away with a trophy a partial college scholarship and bragging rights to his future pals in in the computer lab Even in his victory speech On in which he also cried he used a big term tenn in ecstatic ness ness when describing his feeling of winning Now I know it sounds like I am completely mocking and making fun of these poor kids Maybe Im I'm just jealous Or maybe I am threatened at the Jet fact that I have a college degree and I could not make it to the second round sive Ill I'll admit it its it's s very impressive impressive what they do but then again who uses words like anyway |