Wednesday, May 31, 2006

ROCK STAR SPELLING BABY GODS: They return. With the roar of the crowd in their ears and the dictionary in their hearts, they return to spell again. We know their names. We've memorized them. Okay, I've memorized them because I am a spelling geek and don't have anything to do except...well, there is the writing of a certain hit TV show but I'm a workaholic on vacation so...just go with it okay?

The Baby Gods are:

#11 Evan O'Dorney of Walnut Creek, CA. Last year, I described him as an 11 year old who looked like a cuddly toddler. I also said he was spelling his ASS off. He's back. One year older. Still just as cuddly. In round 2, he spelled "cicerone" -- which means he's back to kick the Bee's butt one more time...

#238 Samir Sudhir Patel of Fort Worth, TX. In the pantheon of spellers, Samir is at the top. If spelling were Hollywood, Samir would be Will Smith -- young, charismatic, just self-deprecating enough to make it okay that he knows his own greatness and exceedinlgy adorable to the public mainly because his ears are too big. But Hollywood aside, between you and me, I'm worried about Samir. The Bee is prime time this year. The media's built it into an EVENT. The good people over at ABC have already filmed a special profile on Samir. There's pressure. Will Samir be the same beloved speller this year? Will he arrive (again, the Hollywood of it all) angry and irritated by the press, shrugging off his fans, intimidating the newer spellers? Will he huddle in a corner with a candy cigarette to talk about his next big deal? "Yeah," he'll say, feigning indifference, "my agent wanted me to go spell on Wheel of Fortune but I told him no way. I'm an artist, not some spelling hack. I made him get me on Oprah." Ooh, that makes my head hurt. Fingers and toes crossed that Samir emerges from this Bee untouched by the media. (Shonda's commentary on Samir from last year's Bee can be found here.)

Missing this year is mouth-breathing spelling titan Marshall Winchester. I'm not sure if he aged out of the Bee or if he simply decided his time was better spent on Nintendo and his Lord of the Rings action figure collection. I do know that he'll be missed. (Shonda's take on Marshall from last year can be found here.)

I've gotta go. I'm deep into the 1998 Spelling Bee on ESPN Classic.

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