Wednesday, June 1, 2011

OUR 2011 NATIONAL SPELLING BEE POOL: Our rules are only slightly different from previous years, to account for the veteran-light nature of this year's Bee.

For this year's pool of 41 semifinalists, select any two spellers you want. There's only one four-timer left (though a bunch of three-timers), so tonight's early birds will get the most seasoned worms.  While individual spellers can be used more than once, you cannot repeat the same pairing that someone else has already submitted. First come, first served, and you cannot choose a speller once s/he spells tomorrow morning.

You will get one point for each word your spellers correctly spell during tomorrow's rounds of the Bee, which resumes at 10am eastern on ESPN. Most points wins; tiebreaker will be whoever has the individual speller going the furthest.

Previous pool winners are Elicia Chamberlin in 2006 (Close/Hooks), Professor Jeff and Amy tied in 2007  (O'Dorney and Thomas/Horton), KJ in 2008 (Mishra/Shivashankar), Cagey (Shivashankar/Pastapur) in 2009, and Bob Loblaw and Jenn tied last year (Veeramani and Chemudupaty/Denniss).

It's my pool, so I go first: for the second straight year, I'm taking Canada's Greatest Speller, Laura Newcombe, and will pair her with Sriram Hathwar, because he didn't have to come back. But he did.

73 comments:

  1. BeeFan8:01 PM

    Newcombe and Penny

    No bloodbath!

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  2. Newcombe & Ye-- My Central PA girl

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  3. isaac_spaceman8:05 PM

    Sorry, I said this in the other thread, but Pranav Sivakumar and Nicholas Rushlow. 

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  4. Genevieve8:06 PM

    Joanna Ye and Parker Strubhar.  (Though I have a great fondness for Sriram Hathwar.)

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  5. BeeFan8:09 PM

    I think Sriram's day will come, but not this year.  In a few years we may see him and Vanya as the last two standing.

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  6. Julen8:09 PM

    I want Sukanya Roy and Jenny Solheim.

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  7. Heather P8:09 PM

    I posted on the other thread, oops -- Anja Beth Swoap and local speller Anahita Iyer.

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  8. skylar8:12 PM

    Newcombe and Phan ALL THE WAY!!

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  9. Marsha8:14 PM

    Newcombe and Grace Remmer.

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  10. Samir8:17 PM

    After research on Google:

    Laura Newcombe and Grace Remmer


    [Though I can't get over just how cute Parker Dietry is.  This photo [http://host.madison.com/collection_a1b3bfb2-5817-11e0-a90f-001cc4c03286.html] reminds me of one in a newspaper article of me and my mom when I was 10 or 11.  I'm definitely rooting for him as well as the two Dallas kids.]

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  11. Adam C.8:20 PM

    Sukanya and Laura.  (And somehow you have to pull in Nupur's pick from the comments to Shonda's earlier post).

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  12. isaac_spaceman8:21 PM

    Looks like we're going to have to lock Marsha and Samir in the cage.  Which of you will choose your weapons?  The only options are spelling and kosher cookery. 

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  13. Samir8:23 PM

    I'd made that post on the earlier thread... Marsha's comment didn't show up when I posted this one.  It's okay, I'll take Grace Remmer and Parker Dietry as a dark horse.

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  14. Samir8:24 PM

    I'm not sure who Marsha is, but I think we'd probably split the two events.  I would probably have a pretty good chance of winning the spelling one.  But the kosher cooking one, well, I might go to jail for accidentally burning down every building in a seventeen-mile radius.    =Þ

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  15. Laura Newcombe and Surabhi Iyer

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  16. Ye, and homestater Prakash Mishra.

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  17. Wellred8:35 PM

    Newcombe and Keaton.  

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  18. Joseph J. Finn8:36 PM

    Pranav Sivakumar and Connor Gunsbury.

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  19. Grace Yemmer and JoAnna Ye (hometown girl!!)

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  20. Oh that is embarrassing to spell a top speller's name wrong. Remmer, obviously.

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  21. Yay central PA.

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  22. StvMg8:41 PM

    Laura Newcombe and Arvind Mahankali

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  23. Osheroff and Mahankali. 

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  24. Marsha8:42 PM

    Samir, I can bow out if you want them (gotta tell, you I feel pretty good about my picks if they're the same as yours!). I was going to take Newcombe and Emily Keaton, but I see that's been snagged. For me, it would be Penny and Remmer, then.

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  25. Newcombe and Bharadwaj--the most experienced competitor, and someone who speaks six languages.

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  26. Marsha8:44 PM

    I have no doubt that you'd not only win spelling, but royally kick my arse. Apparently, I've got kosher cooking locked up, so let's call it a draw. ;-)

    Samir, any time you want cooking lessons, kosher or otherwise, make your way to Chicago. It would b a pleasure and an honor to meet you, and to make sure you know how to cook before you go off to college...

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  27. Eric J.8:44 PM

    David Krak and Ray Wang.

    They just seem to go together somehow.

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  28. isaac_spaceman8:47 PM

    No compromises!  Two men enter, one man leaves!

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  29. isaac_spaceman8:48 PM

    Boo, puns

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  30. Samir8:53 PM

    Yay!  Cooking lessons!  I actually really want to learn how to cook.  Chicago's sort of far away, but I'm sure I'll end up there at some point in the future.

    My entry in a cooking competition would be macaroni and cheese from a box.  And Dr Pepper.  I'm pretty sure I can't burn either of those.  However, I don't know if that counts as kosher.

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  31. Samir8:54 PM

    Nope, I'll take Parker and Grace.

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  32. Saray9:00 PM

     Iyer and Ye.

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  33. Nabeel Rahman (Casey Middle represent!) and Emily Keaton.

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  34. lisased9:14 PM

    Sprenger and Estep. 

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  35. Devin McCullen9:15 PM

    Picking mostly on how much I enjoyed their photos - Grace Remmer and David Krak.

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  36. sconstant9:27 PM

    Gina Solomito and Chetan Reddy.

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  37. Mona G.9:45 PM

    I'm going to go with Laura Newcombe and Surjo Bandyopadhyay. Anyone who could spell that name at an early age has to have a good chance at doing well.

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  38. Heather P9:50 PM

    Hey, there are two Iyers, so you might want to specify (Surabhi and Anahita).

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  39. Roger9:51 PM

    Choosing largely on the basis of awesome names: Veronica Penny and Dakota Jones.

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  40. Marsha9:53 PM

    When you do end up here, please do give me a call. Mac and cheese from a box can certainly be kosher, and the Dr Pepper too....but you can do better than that!

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  41. Samir9:54 PM

    Someone needs to get Dakota a fedora.

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  42. Marsha9:54 PM

    Okeedokee! I shall allow it. ;-)

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  43. Uncle Spike10:01 PM

    Drat! Someone beat me to Laura Newcombe and Joanna Ye! Okay. Joanna Ye and David Phan. Go Colorado! (I'd have chosen Dhivya, too, but she's too young and inexperienced at this point. I truly hope that she'll go really far, since the Denver Post does not allow their champion spellers to attempt a return to DC for a second go-round. If I somehow end up working for the bee, you'd best believe I will be working to change this policy.)

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  44. B-b-but I don't have your phone number!

    SamirPatelNLC [at] gmail.com

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  45. Timothy Jaxon10:16 PM

    Mishra and Swope!

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  46. I'll take Newcombe and Fo.

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  47. Christy in Philly10:26 PM

    Rushlow and Remmer

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  48. Mary Ann10:33 PM

    Veronica Penny and Anja Beth Swoap

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  49. Maggie10:33 PM

    Lily Jordan (because I love Mainers) and Nicholas Rushlow for the Ohio connection.

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  50. Maggie10:39 PM

    I agree - and I love that he's a Buckeye in Bucky the Badger country.

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  51. Krak and Hathwar, please.  Very excited.

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  52. Newcombe and Incorvati, please.

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  53. Catherine10:45 PM

    Ye and Remmer.

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  54. Mona Goldstein?

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  55. Mona G.10:55 PM

    Yup, that's me. Figure if Amy and JJ can be a part of the fun, so can their #1 "coach."

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  56. Dakota Jones and Laura Newcombe

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  57. Anonymous12:38 AM

    113 & 152. Someone has to represent for Deee-troit and pick Siddharth and then Sriram seems like a good youngster to make a deep run.

    --bd

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  58. beemused12:56 AM

    Phan and Newcombe

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  59. Sukanya Roy and Joanna Ye FTW

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  60. Nupur1:15 AM

    You have it on record that this will be the first time a Wolverine will have rooted for a Buckeye.

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  61. Nupur1:18 AM

    Uncle Spike, work for the bee! Your energy and enthusiasm would be such assets to it!

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  62. Veronica Penny and Katie Fo (Beaverton represent!)

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  63. Dave S7:06 AM

    Sukanya Roy and Lily Jordan

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  64. Siram Hathwar and the local kid, Nicholas Rushlow.

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  65. I also love that he's a Woody fan. His parents have raised him right.

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  66. Adam C.9:56 AM

    And a bullwhip.

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  67. This is a repeat FYI.

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  68. noted.<span> </span>

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  69. Ben Wiles10:49 AM

    Hope I'm not too late.

    Nicholas Rishlow and Joanna Ye.

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  70. I'll allow it.  I don't believe either had spelled by the time you entered.

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  71. Joanna9:56 AM

    Surjo told me that it took him like a month to learn how to spell his last name, no joke!

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  72. Joanna9:57 AM

    PA represent!

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