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.
Newcombe and Penny
ReplyDeleteNo bloodbath!
Newcombe & Ye-- My Central PA girl
ReplyDeleteSorry, I said this in the other thread, but Pranav Sivakumar and Nicholas Rushlow.
ReplyDeleteJoanna Ye and Parker Strubhar. (Though I have a great fondness for Sriram Hathwar.)
ReplyDeleteI 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.
ReplyDeleteI want Sukanya Roy and Jenny Solheim.
ReplyDeleteI posted on the other thread, oops -- Anja Beth Swoap and local speller Anahita Iyer.
ReplyDeleteNewcombe and Phan ALL THE WAY!!
ReplyDeleteNewcombe and Grace Remmer.
ReplyDeleteAfter research on Google:
ReplyDeleteLaura 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.]
Sukanya and Laura. (And somehow you have to pull in Nupur's pick from the comments to Shonda's earlier post).
ReplyDeleteLooks 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.
ReplyDeleteI'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.
ReplyDeleteI'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
ReplyDeleteLaura Newcombe and Surabhi Iyer
ReplyDeleteYe, and homestater Prakash Mishra.
ReplyDeleteNewcombe and Keaton.
ReplyDeletePranav Sivakumar and Connor Gunsbury.
ReplyDeleteGrace Yemmer and JoAnna Ye (hometown girl!!)
ReplyDeleteOh that is embarrassing to spell a top speller's name wrong. Remmer, obviously.
ReplyDeleteYay central PA.
ReplyDeleteLaura Newcombe and Arvind Mahankali
ReplyDeleteOsheroff and Mahankali.
ReplyDeleteSamir, 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.
ReplyDeleteNewcombe and Bharadwaj--the most experienced competitor, and someone who speaks six languages.
ReplyDeleteI 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. ;-)
ReplyDeleteSamir, 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...
David Krak and Ray Wang.
ReplyDeleteThey just seem to go together somehow.
No compromises! Two men enter, one man leaves!
ReplyDeleteBoo, puns
ReplyDeleteYay! 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.
ReplyDeleteMy 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.
Nope, I'll take Parker and Grace.
ReplyDeleteIyer and Ye.
ReplyDeleteNabeel Rahman (Casey Middle represent!) and Emily Keaton.
ReplyDeleteSprenger and Estep.
ReplyDeletePicking mostly on how much I enjoyed their photos - Grace Remmer and David Krak.
ReplyDeleteGina Solomito and Chetan Reddy.
ReplyDeleteI'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.
ReplyDeleteHey, there are two Iyers, so you might want to specify (Surabhi and Anahita).
ReplyDeleteChoosing largely on the basis of awesome names: Veronica Penny and Dakota Jones.
ReplyDeleteWhen 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!
ReplyDeleteSomeone needs to get Dakota a fedora.
ReplyDeleteOkeedokee! I shall allow it. ;-)
ReplyDeleteDrat! 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.)
ReplyDeleteB-b-but I don't have your phone number!
ReplyDeleteSamirPatelNLC [at] gmail.com
Mishra and Swope!
ReplyDeleteI'll take Newcombe and Fo.
ReplyDeleteRushlow and Remmer
ReplyDeleteVeronica Penny and Anja Beth Swoap
ReplyDeleteLily Jordan (because I love Mainers) and Nicholas Rushlow for the Ohio connection.
ReplyDeleteI agree - and I love that he's a Buckeye in Bucky the Badger country.
ReplyDeleteKrak and Hathwar, please. Very excited.
ReplyDeleteNewcombe and Incorvati, please.
ReplyDeleteYe and Remmer.
ReplyDeleteMona Goldstein?
ReplyDeleteYup, that's me. Figure if Amy and JJ can be a part of the fun, so can their #1 "coach."
ReplyDeleteDakota Jones and Laura Newcombe
ReplyDelete113 & 152. Someone has to represent for Deee-troit and pick Siddharth and then Sriram seems like a good youngster to make a deep run.
ReplyDelete--bd
Phan and Newcombe
ReplyDeleteSukanya Roy and Joanna Ye FTW
ReplyDeleteYou have it on record that this will be the first time a Wolverine will have rooted for a Buckeye.
ReplyDeleteUncle Spike, work for the bee! Your energy and enthusiasm would be such assets to it!
ReplyDeleteVeronica Penny and Katie Fo (Beaverton represent!)
ReplyDeleteSukanya Roy and Lily Jordan
ReplyDeleteSiram Hathwar and the local kid, Nicholas Rushlow.
ReplyDeleteI also love that he's a Woody fan. His parents have raised him right.
ReplyDeleteAnd a bullwhip.
ReplyDeleteThis is a repeat FYI.
ReplyDeletenoted.<span> </span>
ReplyDeleteHope I'm not too late.
ReplyDeleteNicholas Rishlow and Joanna Ye.
I'll allow it. I don't believe either had spelled by the time you entered.
ReplyDeleteSurjo told me that it took him like a month to learn how to spell his last name, no joke!
ReplyDeletePA represent!
ReplyDeleteHello, I enjoy reading through your post.
ReplyDeleteI like to write a little comment to support you.
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