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Has the Scripps National Spelling Bee Now Been Beaten/Broken?


Muda69

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/31/sport/scripps-national-spelling-bee-winner/index.html

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Can you spell history? The 92nd Scripps National Spelling Bee had an epic ending with eight co-champions.

The spelling bee was finally over after it went 20 rounds, which included a run of 47 correct words.

Thursday night's unprecedented decision was made after round 17, when it was announced that while there were plenty of words left in the dictionary, there were only enough challenging words for three final rounds.

The eight co-champions are: Rishik Gandhasri; Erin Howard; Saketh Sundar; Shruthika Padhy; Sohum Sukhatankar; Abhijay Kodali; Christopher Serrao; and Rohan Raja.

"We have plenty of words left on our list but will soon run out of words that would challenge you," said the Bee's official pronouncer Dr. Jacques Bailly, calling those remaining in the 17th round "the most phenomenal assemblage of super-spellers" in the competition's history. The crowd agreed with a standing ovation.

"We're throwing the dictionary at you and so far, you are showing the dictionary who is boss."

And, sure enough, all of the competitors from round 17 made it to the end.

Thursday night's finals went on more than an hour and half past the scheduled time with words like omphalopsychite, Geeldikkop and auftaktigkeit.

Spellcheck may not recognize these words, but the champions sure did.

Five rounds and 47 words in a row were spelled perfectly. Each of the eight champions will receive a $50,000 prize.

....

Look for big changes next year, or maybe they will just call the whole thing off.   We can't have this "everyone gets $50k mentality", can we?

 

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Some Good And Practical Ideas For Making Sure The Spelling Bee Never Ends In An Eight-Way Tie Again: https://deadspin.com/some-good-and-practical-ideas-for-making-sure-the-spell-1835148529

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Here are some ideas the organizers should adopt to make sure best-speller honors won’t be shared by a group the size of Arcade Fire ever again.

* The kids each have to spell one word out loud while writing a different word simultaneously.

* Switch the main judge out for a guy with an incomprehensible Scottish accent.

* Punt, pass and kick contest.

* Contestants have to take a shot of vodka every time they ask for language of origin.

* A Royal Rumble featuring every competitor from the entire day, their entry order determined by when they got eliminated.

* All the nerds still alive get disqualified. The previous kid who got eliminated wins.

* The contestants are shipped off to a juvenile detention camp in the desert, where they must dig a hole every day until one of them finds buried treasure.

* Contestants must spell the names of players from the WHL draft.

* Whichever contestant can steal the trophy, fight off security, and escape without being stopped is the victor.

* Give each contestant a dog. Make the dogs run an obstacle course. Fastest dog wins.

* Contestants each plant a tree outside and return in five years to determine whose is taller, a la the game Arboretum.

* Staring contests.

* Speed round! You get 12 seconds to spell a word, and during that time the judge yells, “SPELL IT NOW! NOW NOW NOW!” into his microphone.

* The contest goes on as normal, except with a hive of angry bees released on stage.

* Hot dog eating contest.

* Contestants take turns hitting each other on the head with dictionaries until only one is left standing.

* Contestants have to spell words as if they’re being said by a native Philadelphian (i.e. “Water” must be spelled “Wooder”).

* Goal differential.

Some good ideas, the bolded ones are my personal favorites.

 

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Parents can buy a National Spelling Bee spot for their kid if he or she loses at regionals: https://sports.yahoo.com/parents-can-buy-a-national-spelling-bee-spot-for-their-kid-if-he-or-she-loses-at-regionals-143045399.html

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A child’s National Spelling Bee dream isn’t over if he or she loses at regionals as long as someone is willing to pony up a $1,500 entry fee to the National Spelling Bee finals.

Yes, the 2019 spelling bee field isn’t entirely made up of winners. According to the Wall Street Journal, this year’s spelling bee is the second that includes a pay-to-play option for kids who misspelled a word at the regional spelling bee and didn’t qualify for this week’s finals.

From the WSJ on Friday:

Then, 14-year-old Karthik Nemmani won the 2018 Bee, correctly spelling the word koinonia for the championship. Karthik’s path to the national event was different. He was part of the Bee’s first ever class of “invited” spellers: kids who lost at regionals but whose parents agreed to pay an entry fee of $750 and fund their family’s own travel and lodging, potentially thousands of dollars.

This new pay-to-play option, called “RSVBee,” nearly doubled the number of young people vying for the championship to more than 500. It also changed, with one stroke, what it takes to access this high-prestige contest, adding significant money to the mix. For this year’s event, which takes place next week, Scripps has raised the fee to $1,500, getting even more takers. Now, paying contestants will outnumber those who got there the traditional way.

Scripps says it’s being more fair with paid spots

If you didn’t read the bolded part above closely, read the last sentence again to make sure it sinks in. Kids whose parents — or a generous donor — paid their way into the spelling bee outnumber those who earned their way into the spelling bee by winning their regional bees.

Is this fair? Scripps rationalizes to the WSJ that it is by pointing out that some regionals are more competitive than others, while other regionals don’t have sponsors to pay the way for their winners. And that makes sense. Think of it a bit like the electoral college. There is a larger concentration of advanced spellers in a more populous area like New York than there is in a state like Idaho or Wyoming.

If you’ve ever been outraged about what you think is a scourge of participation trophies in today’s society, you can’t rationalize this one as anything but an extension of that theme. And, as always, your blame should be directed toward the adults and not the kids.

But while Scripps may say it’s being more fair by adding additional spots to the spelling bee, it’s actually being even more unfair. Why? The $1,500 entry fee that assures that not every regional loser has an equal shot at getting to the finals.

The spelling bee has long been seen as one of the competitions where participants are pitted on a level playing field and the tournament’s best are fairly represented at the finals. That’s clearly no longer the case.

Not sure I'll be able to watch this event anymore, unless they tell us which contestants were "invited" and which ones were not.

 

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