One Week
Maybe there is justice for geeks after all.
Super spellers used to be a lonely bunch, set apart by their nervous preparation for the school spelling bee, where for one day a year they got to strut their orthographical stuff in front of the entire fourth grade.
Now they have a veritable national holiday. Over the past 10 years, the Scripps National Spelling Bee, held in Washington, D.C., has become a spectator sport of the first order. Last week marked the second year that ABC broadcast the finale during prime time, and the nation watched spellbound as 13-year-old Evan O'Dorney of Danville, Calif., nailed serrefine (meaning small forceps) to take home the trophy. The network even delayed the hugely popular Grey's Anatomy when the bee ran over schedule.
The golden era of the spelling bee began in 1994, when ESPN began airing the competition on cable. Indeed, spellers may have the sports channel to thank for the very survival of their species, which is increasingly endangered by spell-checker.
There are a number of theories about why spelling bees have inspired movies, documentaries, Broadway musicals, and adult bar competitions. But the most compelling is this: As drama goes, it doesn't get much better. The characters are superior to us-these eighth graders can spell unguiculate, after all (a mammal with nails or claws). And yet at the same time they are touchingly vulnerable. We want to hug them in their teary defeat-and steal their lunch money. Unlike the choreographed contestants on American Idol, the spellers are wonderfully real. Their shirts are too big, their posture is bad, and their voices crack. And when they misspell coryza (a head cold), the pressure gets the best of them.
Perhaps it's an indictment of our sensibilities that we like to see 12-year-olds cry on national television. But there is no question that the spelling bee would be much less interesting if the losers just shook the winner's hand and waltzed off stage.
This story appears in the June 11, 2007 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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