Back in 1984, I got invited to participate in the school spelling bee, which was a pre-qualifying tournament for the Scripps National Spelling Bee.  This wasn't normal for a 6th grader; generally only the junior high students got tabbed to be in the bee, so this was big for me.

I studied for weeks, practicing spelling words that I knew, even at that age, I would never use in normal conversation ever again.  Hours upon hours of deciphering the etymology of words, how languages affected the way they might be spelled...yeah, I know this sounds like the kind of life that an 11 year old should live.  But I was ready; this was my destiny, I was going to shock the world!

Well, I shocked the world alright.  First word?  Affiliate.  A-F-F-I-L-L-I-A-T-E?  Yeah, not so much.  First word, and I'm out.  But, at least I know I have a record that will never be broken.  To this day, I hate that word - I had to spell check it just to make sure what the right spelling was.

Why am I relating this story?  Well, ever since ESPN decided that the Bee was fantastic entertainment, and felt the need to plaster their network (and ABC) with a solid week of coverage, they've been having all their high profile talent associated (not affiliated) with the event.  And if my little 11 year old hormones had any inkling that getting to the finals might mean that I would be the kid on the right side of this picture:

I'd have probably studied a lot harder.  Who needs sleep when you're 11 anyways?