I just saw this years' Scripps National Spelling Bee on ESPN and was completely enthralled. I didn't reach the edge of my seat for the Super Bowl, but I was there for this. Mad props to Katherine Close of New Jersey, who won the title with the correct spelling of the word "ursprache."

First of all, I'm glad that ESPN is covering spelling bees. It may not be "sport" in the conventional sense, but it's as competitive as hell. Secondly, where was all the media coverage when I was kicking ass in regional spelling bees in grade school? If there was an ESPN in those days, I would've been elevated to rock-star status...I'm sure of it! I would've been the only kid taking the podium wearing dark sunglasses and drinking a '40 oz'...with a mullet (all the kids had 'em at the time, I swear!). Thridly, my fears of being the biggest nerd I know was confirmed: I watched this odd, televised event while ordering pizza and drinking beer...


Ursprache
SYLLABICATION: Ur·spra·che
PRONUNCIATION: rshprä
NOUN: See protolanguage.
ETYMOLOGY: German : ur-, original (from Middle High German, out of, from Old High German; see ud- in Appendix I) + Sprache, language, speech (from Middle High German sprche, from Old High German sprhha).