Spelling Bee 2010
It’s Scripps Spelling Bee time! It’s like the Super Bowl of spelling bees, but with more crushing emotional injuries! As I understand it, the spellers who misspell a word will stay on stage, but will not sit with family. In terms of humiliation, that seems like kind of a lateral move: on one hand, you have other, more successful spellers sitting next to you; on the other you have the disappointment of your parents to deal with. I’m kind of torn. The time has come to once again handicap some of the more notable semifinalists (please note that I am almost universally proven wrong on these predictions and all odds are against).
Rory O’Donoghue: From his bio, “he has won numerous awards for art and dog mushing,” which is cool. Also from his bio, “[He] especially likes books by Dan Brown; his favorite is Angels and Demons,” which is decidedly not cool. His words through round three haven’t been overly challenging, so I’m taking a wait and see approach until he gets to the crucible of the semifinals. Odds: 7:1 Special Awards: 2010 Wendy Guey Memorial Cutiemuffin Award Update: Went out in the first round of the semis (Round 4) as I was writing this post.
Esther Park: AKA, “Baby Leslie Knope.” She did pretty well last year, so my estimation on her is up a little bit. Odds: 5:3
David Phan: Posture, kid. Look into it. I’m not a phan. Odds: 10:1 Update:Out in round 4 on “bilophodont”
Grace Remner: Bit of a wild-card, this one. She’s got the home-school thing going on. She likes better books than Rory Calhoun up there, and she’s had some difficult words coming into the semifinals. But she’s still an unknown quantity. Odds: 3:2
Neetu Chandak: She’s the Kurt Warner of this year’s bee. A fourth-time speller, she’s got to be out to prove something, but can she actually pull it off this year? Odds: 3:2
Tom Winter: The kid’s from New Zealand, he looks like a twinkly vampire, has the name from a script written by somebody who just read Syd Field, and bio is 90% about his guinea pigs. Goodbye twinkly vampire, and may a flight of angels sing thee to thy rest. Odds: 20:1 Update: Out in one.
Connor Aberlé: There are going to be so many pictures of this kid with a hitler moustache on the internet. Odds: 7:3 Update: Auf Wiedersehen
Aditya Chemudupaty: More Dan Brown love going around. And his favorite athlete is Tony “Choke in the Playoffs” Romo. So, there’s that. Odds: AS MANY AS POSSIBLE:1
Tim Ruiter vs. Andrew Grose: The two kids pictured spelling on their arm and placard, respectively. Odds: THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE UPDATE:Ruiter is out in round 4.