I watched a flu-weakened Michael Jordan score 38 in the ’97 NBA Finals before nearly collapsing after the game. I watched Tiger Woods limp his way to victory in the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. And I watched little Kerri Strug put away the Russians by sticking a one-footed landing in the Atlanta Olympics.
But the single most dramatic, gutsy, and heroic competitive performance I’ve ever witnessed was Akshay Buddiga correctly spelling “alopecoid” during his runner-up performance at the 2004 Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee.
On the back of that clip alone, I think it’s reasonable to assume that the Spelling Bee Final (Thursday, June 2, 8:30 p.m. Eastern time on ESPN) is must-see-TV. But I’ll go a step or three further.
The Spelling Bee is the single greatest televised competition of the year.
No, I’m not kidding. It trumps the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the Final Four or a World Series game 7. The Bee is the epitome of everything you could want in a televised sporting event. (Yes, I know spelling isn’t a “sport”… but don’t dismiss the Bee on those grounds). It never fails to deliver. Here’s why:
It’s crazy competitive. 275 spellers competing against each other for the title. Each advanced through a series of school, local, state and sometimes national competitions to get to D.C. They spent countless hours locked away in their rooms studying word lists.
It’s something we all did. Not all of us played basketball, or football, or ran track. But each and every one of us was dragged up in front of the class by a less-than-sensitive 5th grade teacher for our own moment of orthographic embarrassment. Thanks for the scars, Mrs. Reading.
The dreaded bell. How do you announce failure to an emotionally fragile, pre-pubescent tween? With a bell borrowed from the front desk of the Bates Motel, of course. The “ting” of that tiny bell cuts so deep.
Geeks on parade. Confession … I am a geek. And the Spelling Bee is a rare moment in the sun for my people. For one night the jocks and models and actors and actresses and politicians and pretty people take a backseat to a few dozen geeks in matching polo shirts trying to out spell each other for fame and fortune. This is beyond wonderful. (more…)
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