Unscripted at Scripps Spelling Bee

You might want to check out the Scripps-Howard Spelling Bee Finals as it makes it debut on prime time TV tonight. Before you tune in you might want to tune up on some of previous year's winning words from gladiolus in 1925 to appoggiatura in 2005 (click to review all the winning words from the first 80 yrs. of the contest). As past years have proven this tourney can create its own share of drama and memorable moments. Check out a couple of our favorite clips below.

1. In what would be come known as the fabled "Fainting Spell,"  Akshay Buddiga proved he was a gamer and staged one of the greatest comebacks of all time on June 3, 2004. The 13-year-old from Colorado Springs, Colo., collapsed on stage during the ESPN televised competition only to later to rise to the ranks of runner-up in the Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee. Check out the amazing clip of Akshay below.

2. In another memorable but more light hearted moment Dominic Errazo does a pitch perfect imitation of Napoleon Dynamite on National TV reciting "Do the chickens have large tallons?" in Napoleonese below.

Note: Napoleon fans check out another Dynamite post of ours featuring some killer sound clips.

Test yourself and friends for fun: What words would be included in an all sports spelling bee? Krzyzewski? Kournikova? Interesting enough we discovered that "luge" proved to be the stumper in 1984 (an Olympic year for that matter). Send us your ideas below and the best sports spelling words will win a retro cool role model T-shirt featuring Darryl Strawberry from our friends at NoMas.

Update: For those interested remember to check out our 2006 contest recap in which we discuss how gamblers also covered the event taking bets on whether the winner would be wearing glasses!

Comments

[B.J. Driggers]

Any NHL roster