Spelling Bee Live Blog: Rockin' The Bee '08

Posted by Cubicle QB

Greetings, friends. The time for our live blog of the Scripps National Spelling Bee is upon us. We will post live during the bee finals on Friday, May 30, beginning at 8pm ET, following along with the broadcast on ABC.

The venerated Johnnysweeptheleg will be the MC of hilarity, waxing on/waxing off in the comments section. So grab a spelling beer, turn on the TV, park yourself at your PC and waste a perfectly good Friday night with us as we crack jokes about the inevitable Cody Wang vs. Anqi Dong final, and lay odds on who will be the first speller to grab a handful of Erin Andrews.

[Update: Dang! Cody Wang got bounced in Round 4 on “hierurgical.” Anqi Dong, you are our only hope now.]

[Update 2: Dong, what have you done with my automobile? Anqi Dong is out, misspelling “hooley.” Round 5 has been brutal. As of right now, seven straight Canadians have been dispatched, and two Americans have followed them out.]

All times Central. Refresh the page to see the latest post.

9:05 Not enough Erin Andrews in this telecast. Esclandre! I’ve drunk too much beer. I need to take a prosopopoeia. Congratulations, Sameer. This year’s winning word: “Guerdon.” It basically means “reward.” And that’s all, folks. Not a very lively bee, aside from numb nuts. There was a lack of real dorks, too. Maybe if Justin Song and Austin Pineda had hung around longer, we’d have more fodder. Evan O’Dorney last year was not a very charismatic winner, but at least he was good comedy. Anyway, thanks to Johnnysweeptheleg, who outdid me again. Jerk.

9:00 Tia’s gone, done in by the opicifer opificer. Sidharth gets “Kulturkampf,” which is one of those freaky German words, but if you know that it’s a freaky German word, you should know how to spell it. It’s like Der Kommissar. Don’t turn around. Der Kommissar’s in town. Sameer and Sidharth are probably going to end up sharing the title. They are both beasts.

8:59 Sorry, opificer. I didn’t mean to drive drunk.

8:58 “Hey, is that the kid who had ‘numb nuts’? He’s still in it?” – Mrs. Cubicle QB

8:56 I am The Mole!!

8:52 There is no suffering from aptyalism in the presence of Erin Andrews. … Yeah, I’m running on fumes now.

8:47 Three remain in Round 12: Tia, Sameer and Sidharth. Time for the “Super List.”

8:41 Sidharth was just described as the “Tampa Bay Rays” of this competition, meaning he’s playing way over his head right now and will slowly wither and die by August.

8:38 “Ecrase” us usually applied to crafts or leather, but can also be applied to the hopes and dreams of young prodigies.

8:28 Ooh. If Samia knew anything about Spanish, she’d know that there are hardly any words with “W” in them. And Rose Sloan is trimmed from the competition.

8:20 Chris Berman: “You’re with me, Parfleche.” I’m going to be flashing the parfleche on the baseball diamond. Ugh. I’m starting to annoy myself. I do like Jahnavi Iyer’s attitude, and I’ll definitely miss her. We’re down to seven now. Let’s get these tears flowing!!

8:16 Yes, let’s all watch Dr. Bailly’s sumptuous, full lips as he pronounces “ziarat.” So do the Russians have The Three Bogatyrs?

8:12 I still have my chorion on me. I refuse to give it up. It’s like a security blanket.

8:01 Justin Song gets the mother of all words, “satyagraha.” Whenever something’s described as “Gandhian,” it’s probably best to pack it in. It’s weird. It seems like such a hard word, but it’s spelled pretty much just like it sounds. Kyle Mou follows a similar fate with “lapies.”

7:54 “Nietzschean” is a word I used too often in college. Nietzsche is probably the only philosopher whose name hasn’t been dropped on Lost. And that ends Round 9. I think we need to pick up the pace on this a little bit. And my dog needs to learn how to get me a beer.

7:52 These kids are too good. I need some dings to feed my schadenfreude. Bring back the Canadians!!

7:48 Erin Andrews: “So Sameer, tell me about numb nuts.”

7:43 “Numb nuts?” Oh, man. That got a reaction from the crowd and the announcers, one of which even said “numb nuts” on the air. Nice. It’s the family hour, guys!! But the word was “Numnah,” and Sameer Mishra got it.

7:36: OK, Round 9. Everyone’s had a chance to be on national TV in prime time. They all get their “Participant” ribbons. Now it’s time to start slaughtering some young egos. Tia Thomas really should’ve borrowed her brother’s Darth Vader mask for the bee. That would rock. I’d be up on stage, saying stuff like, “Don’t make me destroy you,” and then pretending to Force-choke Jacque Bailly.

7:26 Oh, sweet Jesus. Not a musical number. This is worse than the dance number at the Oscars. Sidharth Chand has a great ‘stache for a 12-year-old. This kid’s pulling a Miguel Tejada. Better check the birth certificate. OK, “digerati” is too easy for this round. “Caduceus” is pretty easy, too. Let’s raise the game, folks!!

7:21 Kavya Shivashankar gets a gimme with “empyrean.” I thought this might be a quick night, seeing as how there are only eleven spellers left, but if they’re going to throw out bunnies like “basenji” and “empyrean” and take a commercial break every three spellers, it’s going to be bar time when this thing shuts down.

7:16 Kyle Mou is kind of a wee kid, but he’s still bigger than “cryptarithm.” Rose Sloan is very confident, very happy, but she breathes weird — like simultaneously out of her nose and mouth. Is there a word for that?

7:09 Austin Pineda is gone, and he’ll be missed. That ’60s mop of hair he has was supposed to entertain me for the next two hours. Justin Song might’ve been taking hits from the bong before this, but it worked for him. He moves on. And we get our first look at Erin Andrews for tonight, and she’s wearing an outfit made from my grandmother’s wallpaper.

7:04 All athletes at USC should be able to spell “Shamateurism.”

7:00 Hey kids. Who’s ready to light this candle? It’s “Hope Dying on the Highest Stage,” and we’re here to revel in the anguish of 12-year-olds. Tom Bergeron is laying it on pretty thick already.

To get us up to speed, here are the 12 remaining spellers in tonight’s finals:

7. Samia Fahim Nawaz of Little Rock, Ark., is a 13-year-old eighth grader at the Anthony School. Her sponsor is the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Little Rock.
13. Tia Natasha-Elizabeth Thomas of Coarsegold, Calif., is a 13-year-old eighth grader at Mountain Home School Charter. Her sponsor is Sierra Telephone/Mountain Home School, Oakhurst.
16. Austin Soriano Pineda of Perris, Calif., is a 14-year-old eighth grader at Boulder Ridge Middle School. His sponsor is the Press-Enterprise, Riverside.
19. Justin Song of San Diego, Calif., is a 13-year-old eighth grader at Carmel Valley Middle School. His sponsor is the San Diego Union-Tribune.
84. Kyle M. Mou of Peoria, Ill., is a 12-year-old seventh grader at Dunlap Middle School. His sponsor is the Peoria Journal Star.
88. Rose Sloan of River Forest, Ill., is a 13-year-old eighth grader at Roosevelt Middle School. Her sponsor is Commonwealth Edison, Chicago.
97. Sameer Mishra of West Lafayette, Ind., is a 13-year-old eighth grader at West Lafayette Junior/Senior High School. His sponsor is the Journal and Courier, Lafayette.
107. Kavya Shivashankar of Olathe, Kan., is a 12-year-old seventh grader at California Trail Junior High School. Her sponsor is the Olathe News.
136. Sidharth Chand of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., is a 12-year-old seventh grader at Detroit Country Day Middle School. His sponsor is the Oakland Press.
140. Catherine “Cat” Cojocaru of Rochester, Minn., is a 14-year-old eighth grader at Holy Spirit Catholic School. Her sponsor is Forum Communications Company, Fargo, North Dakota.
197. Scott B. Remer of Beachwood, Ohio, is a 14-year-old eighth grader at Beachwood Middle School. His sponsor is the Plain Dealer, Cleveland.
218. Jahnavi K. Iyer of Enola, Pa., is a 14-year-old eighth grader at Eagle View Middle School. Her sponsor is the Patriot-News, Harrisburg.

And the Channel Guide Magazine Spelling Bee All-Name Team:

So-Young Chung
Ezekiel Haenelt
Cory Klingsporn
Cody Wang
Anqi Dong
Cheyenne Plaster
Serena Laine-Lobsinger
Maria Isabel Kubabom
Talmage Nakamoto
Vaibhav Vavilala
Catherine “Cat” Cojocaru
Jessica Shakesprere
Photo: Credit: Ida Astute/ABC