connoisseur series500 Posted December 22, 2003 Report Posted December 22, 2003 Anyone else watch this stuff? I find this competition to be fascinating. These kids are absolutely inspiring and bring tears to my eyes. They are brilliant kids. Makes you feel proud to be human. I love the way the grit it out and refuse to miss the word. It reminds me of any other sport or even competitive chess. The same will to win is there. It's on ESPN 2 right now. Quote
WD45 Posted December 22, 2003 Report Posted December 22, 2003 (edited) No, but I did watch the Scrabble championship on ESPN 2 about a month ago. That was awesome. Edited December 22, 2003 by Clinton Forry Quote
couw Posted December 22, 2003 Report Posted December 22, 2003 No, but I did watch the Scrabble championship on ESPN 2 about a month ago. That was awesome. doesn't randyhersom participate in these Scrabble championships? (sorry to sidetrack the thread) Quote
Eric Posted December 22, 2003 Report Posted December 22, 2003 Thanks for bringing this us ... the shit matters!!! Eric Quote
chris Posted December 22, 2003 Report Posted December 22, 2003 Pretty cool. If you haven't seen it, you should try to get your eyes on the documentary Spellbound which is quite moving. My daughter has been within two places of going to the national bee TWICE. Not that she'd have a chance at that level, but it would have been fun to go... Quote
Big Wheel Posted December 22, 2003 Report Posted December 22, 2003 (edited) I was in the national Bee in 1996. Some of those kids are amazing but many of them are also WEIRD, if you couldn't guess that from the TV coverage. When you're a 13-year-old who's home-schooled and drilled on words for hours a day, let's just say your social skills get a little impaired. Edited December 22, 2003 by Big Wheel Quote
Rooster_Ties Posted December 22, 2003 Report Posted December 22, 2003 Pretty cool. If you haven't seen it, you should try to get your eyes on the documentary Spellbound which is quite moving. This is a GREAT documentary. Lots of fun, and very suspenseful too!! If you see it at a rental store (I think it's on VHS and DVD), by all means check it out. We saw it on the big screen, and thought it was great. It was up for an Oscar for best documentary, and we were rooting for it to win. Quote
connoisseur series500 Posted December 22, 2003 Author Report Posted December 22, 2003 I was in the national Bee in 1996. Some of those kids are amazing but many of them are also WEIRD, if you couldn't guess that from the TV coverage. When you're a 13-year-old who's home-schooled and drilled on words for hours a day, let's just say your social skills get a little impaired. I like weird people. That's why I hang out here. Quote
John B Posted December 22, 2003 Report Posted December 22, 2003 Pretty cool. If you haven't seen it, you should try to get your eyes on the documentary Spellbound which is quite moving. This is a GREAT documentary. Lots of fun, and very suspenseful too!! If you see it at a rental store (I think it's on VHS and DVD), by all means check it out. We saw it on the big screen, and thought it was great. It was up for an Oscar for best documentary, and we were rooting for it to win. I agree. We saw it on the big screen and loved it. Very funny and very touching. (and very weird.) Quote
Jazzmoose Posted December 22, 2003 Report Posted December 22, 2003 I like weird people. That's why I hang out here. I don't get it! Quote
Rooster_Ties Posted December 22, 2003 Report Posted December 22, 2003 I woud absoluteley have not succeaded if I had gone to the nationel spelling bee, or evan just the regionel spelling bees. I have a deval of a time as it is, just poasting here - on this board. Thankfuly thare's spelling chekers, or I'd be sunc!!!!!! Quote
maren Posted December 22, 2003 Report Posted December 22, 2003 Thankfuly thare's spelling chekers, or I'd be sunc!!!!!! But sunc-TAST-ic!!! Quote
undergroundagent Posted December 22, 2003 Report Posted December 22, 2003 (edited) My opinion of these competitions is that they're pure lunacy!!! Can you imagine the pressure that some of these kids face from their parents to succeed? I kind of look at it like a "poor man's beauty competition" for parents. Because their kids are missing a few teeth, they choose to force them to do this instead. Did anyone see "Spellbound"? F--king ridiculous!!! On the other hand, if it's something that the child chooses to do all power to them. Edited December 23, 2003 by undergroundagent Quote
Jazzmoose Posted December 22, 2003 Report Posted December 22, 2003 Undergroundagent, I'm sure you have something valuable to add to the discussion, but every time you post, my eyes keep drifting to the left... Quote
Jim Alfredson Posted December 22, 2003 Report Posted December 22, 2003 Can you imagine the pressure these kids face from their parents to succeed? I kind of look at it like a "poor man's beauty competition" for parents. Because their kids are missing a few teeth, they choose to force them to do this instead. So does this mean that my plan to force my unborn child to be the next Joey DeFrancesco is off the mark? Quote
undergroundagent Posted December 23, 2003 Report Posted December 23, 2003 (edited) Undergroundagent, I'm sure you have something valuable to add to the discussion, but every time you post, my eyes keep drifting to the left... Yes, and I'm pro-choice as well, so there!!!! Edited December 23, 2003 by undergroundagent Quote
undergroundagent Posted December 23, 2003 Report Posted December 23, 2003 Can you imagine the pressure these kids face from their parents to succeed? I kind of look at it like a "poor man's beauty competition" for parents. Because their kids are missing a few teeth, they choose to force them to do this instead. So does this mean that my plan to force my unborn child to be the next Joey DeFrancesco is off the mark? Music is chicken soup for the soul, so no, go right ahead and teach him that fine art of playing. Quote
chris Posted December 23, 2003 Report Posted December 23, 2003 I wouldn't be se quick to generalize. Just as every successful young athlete is not hounded mercilessly by soccer mom and dad, every speller is not driven like those that are picked out to be highlighted in documentaries. There is certainly that segment of parents, though, alive and well in every aspect of youth activities. What's scary is that there is some small amount of leeway in my understanding when you reach the rare level of national competition and want to compete... but I see parents riding their children and trying to live vicariously in recreational sports and activities like cub scouts! It would be funny as a sitcom, it can be heartbreaking to see it in real life. There is a fine line between teaching healthy competition, motivation, and discipline and becoming a fanatic about it that seems all but indiscernible to some folks. Quote
undergroundagent Posted December 23, 2003 Report Posted December 23, 2003 I wouldn't be se quick to generalize. Just as every successful young athlete is not hounded mercilessly by soccer mom and dad, every speller is not driven like those that are picked out to be highlighted in documentaries. There is certainly that segment of parents, though, alive and well in every aspect of youth activities. What's scary is that there is some small amount of leeway in my understanding when you reach the rare level of national competition and want to compete... but I see parents riding their children and trying to live vicariously in recreational sports and activities like cub scouts! It would be funny as a sitcom, it can be heartbreaking to see it in real life. There is a fine line between teaching healthy competition, motivation, and discipline and becoming a fanatic about it that seems all but indiscernible to some folks. Well stated, Chris. Quote
connoisseur series500 Posted December 23, 2003 Author Report Posted December 23, 2003 I wouldn't be se quick to generalize. Just as every successful young athlete is not hounded mercilessly by soccer mom and dad, every speller is not driven like those that are picked out to be highlighted in documentaries. There is certainly that segment of parents, though, alive and well in every aspect of youth activities. What's scary is that there is some small amount of leeway in my understanding when you reach the rare level of national competition and want to compete... but I see parents riding their children and trying to live vicariously in recreational sports and activities like cub scouts! It would be funny as a sitcom, it can be heartbreaking to see it in real life. There is a fine line between teaching healthy competition, motivation, and discipline and becoming a fanatic about it that seems all but indiscernible to some folks. Good post, Chris. I can tell you guys all kinds of stories about "chess Dads/Moms." I encounter them at chess tournaments, but I'll save it for the chess thread if anyone is interested. I've got a son too, but I would never put him through any of that. Quote
Joe G Posted December 23, 2003 Report Posted December 23, 2003 Nothing in this catagory (overbearing parents pushing their kids) is as bizarre as those pre-teen beauty pagents, in my opinion. I saw a documentary about this subject on tv a couple of years ago that had me in total disbelief. What these little girls go through to compete, and the effects it must be having on their character development, is almost unfathomable. Those moms are out there! One mom defended the pagents on the basis that she had competed in them when she was little. Uh, lady... I hate to be the one to point this out, but you're pretty damn screwed up too. Quote
Jazzmoose Posted December 23, 2003 Report Posted December 23, 2003 One mom defended the pagents on the basis that she had competed in them when she was little. Uh, lady... I hate to be the one to point this out, but you're pretty damn screwed up too. Duh I smoked crack every day for five years and I didn't notice no uh...prolbmes or nothnig... Quote
Big Wheel Posted December 24, 2003 Report Posted December 24, 2003 I wouldn't be se quick to generalize. Just as every successful young athlete is not hounded mercilessly by soccer mom and dad, every speller is not driven like those that are picked out to be highlighted in documentaries. There is certainly that segment of parents, though, alive and well in every aspect of youth activities. What's scary is that there is some small amount of leeway in my understanding when you reach the rare level of national competition and want to compete... but I see parents riding their children and trying to live vicariously in recreational sports and activities like cub scouts! It would be funny as a sitcom, it can be heartbreaking to see it in real life. There is a fine line between teaching healthy competition, motivation, and discipline and becoming a fanatic about it that seems all but indiscernible to some folks. Chris, it's true that not every kid at the National Spelling Bee has wacko parents. I didn't. (Well, they're wacko, I suppose, just not in that particular way). Unfortunately, a hell of a lot of those kids probably do have crazy parents, and a scary percentage of those who don't just happen to be freakishly driven on their own. One problem I have with the NSB is that it doesn't really teach a kid to DO anything of significance. Competitive sports at least teach a kid about the importance of being in good physical shape. Even the National Geography Bee promotes a curiosity about the outside world, if not also some basic knowledge of world politics, economics, religions, etc. The Spelling Bee teaches a kid to be....a proofreader? Gradually, I've come to side with George Carlin in his skepticism of these kinds of competitions. Did "Spellbound" include a sequence in the "Comfort Room," by any chance? In the '96 Bee, this was a special room off to the side of the main competition room where kids who were eliminated were "comforted" with soda and chips and brownies. It was a little bizarre: upon being eliminated in the third round, I'm ushered into the Comfort Room where there are a few kids crying and a few others looking like they're about to burst into tears. Meanwhile, I'm sitting there with a big shit-eating grin on my face. What the hell did I need to be comforted for? I had just been flown to Washington--a whole week off from school, if I remember correctly--with all expenses paid for by my local newspaper (that's how it works for everyone, I believe). For winning my local spelling bee, I had also won a copy of the Encyclopaedia Brittanica and Webster's gargantuan Third New International Dictionary, and some other nice crapola that I can't remember right now. Comfort room? Give me a break. But I'll allow that those were some damn good brownies. Quote
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