ccubschamp

Great Moments in Spelling: The Interview

2006-07-20T22:34:00.000-07:00

We’re now less than one week away from the National Spelling Bee. If you’re like me, you’re feeling the electricity in the air in anticipation of the event. And if you’re not like me...well just humor me over the next several days and pretend like you’re interested. Because things might only get weirder from here.

Have you ever met somebody and wondered how your paths didn’t cross years sooner? I found someone like that a few months ago, who will be my co-blogger over the course of several posts related to the NSB.

Through a mutual acquaintance, I have been exchanging e-mails with a man named Dave Riddle, who lives in Pacific Grove and was the National Senior Spelling Bee champion in 2005. His son Christoph represented Monterey County in the NSB on 2004. They were 50 feet away from the famous Akshay Buddiga faint, a moment that will go down in Bee history in similar fashion as Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game for basketball or Game 6 of the 1986 Mets/Red Sox World Series for baseball.

It also happens that Dave is an awesome runner. His PRs in every event just smoke any of the best times I’ve ever run. For all these years, I thought I was the only guy who dreamed of an Olympic running/spelling duathlon, but it turns out I wouldn’t even have a chance of making the team – this guy would leave me in the dust in both disciplines.

When I heard that there was a fast local runner who also happened to be a National Senior Spelling Bee champ, who also had a kid who participated in the NSB...I mean, I wouldn’t have been any more excited if you told me Beyonce had moved in down the street and was looking for a running partner. I figured this was a guy I had to talk to.

After we touched base, I blindsided him with a crazy proposition: I wanted to interview him, and by extension his son, about the spelling bees. I wanted to see how the preparation and competition affected a person and his family, and compare it to what athletes experience in their particular events. And I wanted to post the interview on my blog.

Amazingly, he agreed. And then my head started spinning. The problem wasn’t coming up with questions, but limiting the amount and scope of things I asked so my interest in him didn’t cross the line from “curious inquiry” to “disturbing fetish”. I eventually settled on a list of questions, and fired them away.

So Dave doesn’t have to answer all the questions at once, I’m going to post the interview in sections, starting with Part 1 today. Part 2 will be whenever we get around to putting it together, and so on.

Here, then is Part 1 of what I think will be a very interesting series. It discusses family commitment, overcoming setbacks, and triumph through perseverence and endurance. If you’ve stuck with me this far through this post, the interview is definitely worth another few minutes:
***

Q: First, give me some of your running credentials. How many years have you been running? How much running (miles per week, or workouts per week, etc) do you do currently? What are your favorite races? What are your best times? Any other info you want to give me would be fine.

A: 5K 15:50 Stuttgart (1984); 10K 32:50 Frankfurt (1984); 10 mile 55:47 San Diego (1976) ½ marathon 1:12:57 Korea (1982); marathon 2:33 Long Island (1982). I had been running and competing in earnest since 1965 and quit in 2003 with the Bubba Gump 5K. I wanted to end on a high note by winning the division (50-55) and breaking the 6-minute pace. While no stunning achievement, I was happy to do both. I’m free to not run now and stay fit anyway. Tennis is my overwhelmingly favorite sport.

OK, on to the spelling questions…

Q: First of all, congratulations to both you and your son on your amazing accomplishments. There probably aren’t too many parent-and-child teams who have individually competed in national championship competitions. How did you each get involved in the competitions? Did one of you start, and the other join in later, or has it always been a family thing to train for spelling bees? Do you train together? Does the rest of the family get involved, too?

A: The father-son spelling thing began in 1999. My son, Christoph, was doing spell-offs in the 4th grade to qualify for the annual Lyceum bees for 4th and 5th graders. The same year, the Friends of the Pacific Grove Library announced it was putting on the 1st annual adult spelling bee as a "Butterfly Town" fundraiser. My son and my team each did well in our respective events---but won no honors.

Over the next few years we did better. In the 5th grade Christoph was the school’s alternate for the Lyceum Bee. I began poring over obtuse spelling word lists, definitions, and etymologies. This learning experience enabled me to gradually bolster Christoph’s chances of succeeding in the one bee that counted: Monterey County.

He really wanted to go to DC. I was motivated to right that 1st year’s “loss” at the Pacific Grove Adult Bee and set an example for Christoph. I organized adult teams that won 3 years straight. My family always sat at our table as supporters.

As parents know, the pressure is immense if your child hasn't achieved what he/she would like to achieve--e.g., place in or win school, county, regional, national competitions--whatever it is. It’s tough on the parent, too. My son, Christoph, tried and tried, leading up to his third and final attempt to qualify for the NSB by winning our Monterey County Bee in 2004.

It was his last-chance effort, and he knew he was the underdog. The girl who had been second in the previous two county championships (and who won the Lyceum bee) was back again for her last try too. The Monterey Herald article is below. [Editor's note: long-time running bloggers will recognize the name on the Herald by-line.]

HAVING THE LAST WORD
After 5th place in 2003, teen wins spelling contest

By JONATHAN SEGAL

In a 29-round rumble rivaling any prize fight, York School's Christoph Riddle took down Carmel Middle School's Stacy Little on Sunday to win the 2004 Countywide Spelling Bee.

Call it the Fracas in Salinas.

Stacy had finished second two years in a row. Christoph was looking to top last year's fifth-place finish.

Their 49 other opponents vanquished by Round 8, Stacy and Christoph, both eighth-graders and seasoned spelling-bee veterans, sparred for 21 more rounds. They traded spellings on words that could make even the most stout-hearted librarian break out in a cold sweat.

They spelled words like diaphaneity -- the quality of being translucent -- or eurybathic -- capable of living underwater in a wide range of depths.

Several times, one child or the other would get a word wrong, opening an opportunity for one to become a victor. But each time, the other child would spell their word wrong, too.

Each time, that is, until round 29, when Stacy met up with acervation, a noun meaning an accumulation. She misspelled it by inserting an "S."

Christoph sashayed to the podium, correctly spelling cachexia, which is the wasting away caused by a chronic disease, and, finally, patache, which is a smaller ship that tends to a fleet.

And Riddle beat Little. He's headed to Washington, D.C. to compete in the Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee. How does it feel?

"Pretty damn good," said Christoph. "I would have been happy with second."

Christoph's victory was a team effort, said his father, Dave Riddle, a government lawyer at the Presidio of Monterey. But in the end, the father had to watch from the audience at Hartnell College. Dave said he felt like he was exploding as he watched his son from the stands.

"It was a family thing we were doing," the elder Riddle said.

The analogous sports term would be “upset.” You can bet we have a laminated copy of the article at home with its color photos.

***

OK, that's enough for Part 1. Michelle has probably had to refill her tea twice by now. More to come later. Have a good weekend everybody.

World Series

2006-05-09T20:24:00.000-07:00

The first two games of the series are played in the home ballpark of the team awarded home-field advantage; the next three are in the other team's ballpark, and the final two, if necessary, are back in the first team's ballpark. That has been the pattern since 1924, with the exception of World War II, when travel restrictions were in place. Until 2003, the team given the home-field advantage was switched every year between the American League and the National League. Starting with the 2003 World Series, the league that wins the mid-season All-Star Game has been awarded home-field advantage.

2006-04-16T16:49:00.000-07:00

ccubschamp new articles for Sunday, April 16, 2006Game 6 of the 1986 World Series reenacted in RBI baseball
This is strangely compelling and highly entertaining, especially if you're a baseball or RBI fan (I spent many lunch hours at the donut shop by my high school playing RBI).

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2006-04-10T22:24:00.000-07:00

ccubschamp new articles for Tuesday, April 11, 2006Grammy-nominated Tiempo Libre to Conclude Lied Center World Series (Kansas City InfoZine)
The Lied Center of Kansas presents Tiempo Libre, a Grammy-nominated Miami-based Cuban ensemble. The group will perform as the final event in the 2005-06 World Series event.

Batter up: AT&T signs deal as presenting sponsor for NBC World Series (BizJournals)
For the first time since 1999, the National Baseball Congress World Series has a major sponsor.

GSN's Documentary Series 'ANYTHING TO WIN' Features the Fiercely Competitive World of the Daytime Soap Operas (Broadcast Newsroom)
SANTA MONICA, Calif., April 10 /PRNewswire/ -- On Sunday, April 16 , GSN, the network for games presents ANYTHING TO WIN: SOAP OPERAS WARS. The signature documentary series, which looks at some of the most interesting competitions of all time, airs weekly on Sundays from 8:00 - 9:00 PM, EST .

PCs score World Cup demo [PC] (GameSpot)
Special World Cup edition of FIFA series from EA ready for test spin; four teams playable for half a match.

Everybody wins at World Series (Sun-Sentinel)
Everyone hit, everyone played and everyone scored a run, but most importantly, everyone was a winner in the PAL Dynamites fourth baseball World Series at Pop Travers Field in Plantation.

Champ Car World Series 2006 schedule (The Ottawa Sun)
Sun, April 9, 2006 Champ Car World Series 2006 schedule By SUN MEDIA April 9 - Long Beach, Calif. May 13 -- Houston May 21 -- Monterrey, Mexico June 4 -- The Milwaukee Mile June 18 -- Portland, Ore. June 25 -- Cleveland July 9 -- Toronto July 23 -- Edmonton July 30 -- San Jose, Calif. Aug. 13 -- Denver Aug. 27 -- Montreal Sept. 24 -- Elkhart Lake, Wis. Oct. 15 -- Ansan, South Korea Oct. 22 --

WIN AN AROUND-THE-WORLD TRIP (The Electric New Paper)
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Final installment of ‘What in the World’ scheduled for Tuesday (Valley City Times Record)
Howard Dahl, CEO of Amity Technology, will speak on the topic "Corporate Social Conscience" in this term’s final installment of Valley City State University’s “What in the World is Going On” lecture series, Tuesday, April 11, 7:30 p.m. in the Science Center Auditorium on the VCSU campus.

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Now, Winning It All Is the Only Thing (New York Times)
With a $200 million payroll and a galaxy of stars in the lineup and on the mound, the Yankees must win the World Series to be a success.

2006-04-02T21:18:00.000-07:00

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World Series

2006-02-24T17:50:00.000-08:00

The World Series is the championship series of Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada, the culmination of the sport's postseason each October. It is played between the pennant champner of the American League and the pennant champner of the National League. The Series champner is determined through a best-of-seven playoff (except in 1903, 1919, 1920 and 1921 when the champner was determined through a best-of-nine playoff) and is awarded the World Series Trophy, as well as World Series rings.