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NSC 2002 Commentary: Round 2

Congratulations to our new National Champion, Joel Sherman!

See also: video clip 1 (2 MB), video clip 2 (2 MB). (video courtesy Roger Cullman)

Go to: Before the Tournament, Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, Round 5, Round 6, Round 7, Round 8, Round 9, Round 10, Round 11, Round 12, Round 13, Round 14, Round 15, Round 16, Round 17, Round 18, Round 19, Round 20, Round 21, Round 22, Round 23, Round 24, Round 25, Round 26, Round 27, Round 28, Round 29, Round 30, Round 31, After the Tournament.

Round 2

In division 3, word judge Ann Sanfedele took the challenge HOTFLASH*. The play was ruled unacceptable. She commented, "he was too young to know that it is a two-word phrase." Division 1 word judge, Josh Silber, took the challenge ZARZUELA and it was acceptable. He was as suprised as the players!

Ben Loiterstein (Somerville, MA) played Carl Stocker (Miami, FL) this game and Carl won, 507-438. Their board was picked up, but Ben handed me a sheet of game highlights. Carl's first seven moves were: LEAKY for 32, EQUAlITY for 90, TROPINE for 95, YA (also creating ATROPINE) for 50, BIFID for 30, GOX for 59, and STEELIES for 61. His score was 417 at this point! Ben did get down DOLLIES for 73, HEARTEN for 74, and ANGUINe for 70. It is a show of great sportmanship for a player to point out a win by his opponent and to go to such lengths to share the defeat!

I run into Steve Pellinen (St Louis Park, MN) who tells me about facing his fiancee Lisa Odom (St Louis Park, MN) in round 1. She bingoed on her first two turns and ended up defeating him by 60 points, but he was still pretty cheerful.

My favorite funny phrase for today appears on the back of a cardigan worn by Penny Baker (Laguna Woods, CA). It reads, "Bad Spellers Untie." She lost this round to Barbara Platt (Pena Blanca, NM), 351-294. When I first walked by, Penny played SI, making JUNS*. Barbara challenged and JUNS* was ruled unacceptable. A fun play on that board was a two blank play that made both blanks Us: uNIQuE.

In division 2, Jonn Dalton (The Colony, TX) lost to Brenda Megannety (Toronto ON), 346-334. Brenda's opening rack was OILILY?. She couldn't find a bingo (there isn't one), so she played OILILY. She later got down the double-double TAINTIng from the first T for 74 and Jonn played STERILe. Jonn went over on his clock by more than a minute, lost 20 points off the score and the game.

Word judge Kristen Chew took a challenge for ASSESORS*. Someone had gotten away with ASSESOR* earlier in the game and when the player added an S, it was only then that the play looked suspicious!

Division 1's Robin Levin (San Francisco, CA) lost to Carol Ravichandran (Northville, MI), 338-418. Robin got down BLASTeD for 79 and Carol found SEdATION through the O for 64. Robin pointed out a few of Carol's better plays, one of which was FUB, creating NEUM, FA, and BE for 39.

In division 3, David Lieberfarb (Edison, NJ) defeated Ronnie Thomas (Bethesda, MD), 512-267. He got down WoMANIsER to the ER for 78 and he played RIOTERS.