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NSSC 2007 Commentary: Round 6

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Go to: Before the Tournament, Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, Round 5, Round 6, Final Round 1, Award Ceremony.

Round 6

As promised, boards 1 and 2 were moved to a private room somewhere in this big convention center. John Chew worked with Ben Greenwood in that room and the rest of us stayed in the main playing room. Since so many prizes were slated to be awarded, it wasn't just about the top four boards or even the two final teams. There was a lot of game play going on this round!

Annette Bailey spent a lot of time combing the room while I shot photos and tried to peek in on the final two boards.

After starting the two games off in the private room, Ben made his way back to our room and as he ran up to the podium, the students gave him a round of applause for being in two places at once. He mentioned the certificates of participation that had been placed at every table and thanked the students for all the hard work they put in to earn their way to this year's NSSC.

Now that I type this in, I realize that I failed to mention a generous give away to the students last round. As the round results were being typed in and round 5 pairings were posted, committee members slipped copies of the paperback Official SCRABBLE^® Players Dictionary, Fourth Edition, published by Merriam-Webster onto the playing tables. There was one dictionary for every student and copy for each coach, too. Quite generous and it made the students happy.

It never ceases to amaze me how creative the students can be in drawing their tiles. Fowler School (MA) had a team member who spent much of the game drawing tiles from the bag placed almost atop his head.

At table 4, Grisham Middle (TX) had a big win against Our Lady of Victory Emerald (MD), 434-273. Not only was this win significant in the win-loss department, but it signified to Matt Canik that he didn't need to shave his head afterall, as his team handled themselves well at the event. On their board, I spot DETAILeR to the last R for 62, ELOINERS for 59, and EQuAL to the triple for 73.

After a game or two began to wrap up, it became apparent that we hadn't announced the other giveaway. The team that didn't win the last round was given the board they were playing on! So, the boxes, left leaning against table legs were opened and the boards stuffed inside. Students were heard to say, "at least we won something!"

Annette's observations follow. While walking around the room, several bingos were seen at table 40, Darnell-Cookman Middle (FL) vs. Our Lady of Victory Opal (MD): SPACING, GRANTING, and JA??ERS. We did not want to interrupt the game in progress to learn what their double-blank bingo was. We leave the blanks here for you to look at the possibilities.

Seneca Middle Team 1 (SC) was playing against Lawn (RI) at Table 25. One team was staring at IIIOUUF while the other team was happily shuffling TREXURD.

Nearby, Randolph Middle (NC) was playing Edward Devotion Team 2 (MA) and one partner was heard saying to the other: "Are you sure?" They played ?LOATER to make GLOATER/ENDE*, extending END to ENDE*. The other team then conversed about whether they liked this play and decided to successfully challenge the play.

Lindsay Goodman and Rachel Viera Western Hills Middle (RI) customized their ESPN SCRABBLE^® T-shirts with SCRABBLE^® crossword puzzles on the back that had their names and the words MISS and SPELLED inter-connected. At the end of the game, they were heard being good sports and congratulating their opponents Roosevelt Middle (PA) saying Good words guys! They lost by 50 points. Final score was 343 to 283. Western Hills Middle (RI) shared that it "was the best game we ever played . . .we had our first bingo EVER!" They pointed proudly to the word SHUTTLE in the middle of the board. Their love of the game and enthusiasm was wonderful to observe.

The longest word found during this round was at table 49: it was 11 letters long! Northern Lincoln Elementary Team 2 (RI) opened the game with the word GREAT for 10 points. They then followed up by extending it to GREATFUL* for 15 points and later added the prefix UN to make UNGREATFUL*. Not to be outdone in the creative use of the board and words department, Clark (MA) used their S to make the word UNGREATFULS*. Northern Lincoln Elementary Team 2 (RI) did not blink or challenge. They said their logic was sound, "if one person can be ungreatful, a second person would be two ungreatfuls." Final Score was Clark (MA) 267, Northern Lincoln Elementary Team 2 (RI) 218. Apparently, Northern came into the game with zero wins. They were pleased to have contributed to having such a long word on their board. The game was close until Clark (MA) played XI for 25 points. As I walked away, they were looking up the words to find out where the phoneying began.

At Table 30, it was Solomon Schechter Day Team 2 (MA) defeating Fowler School (MA), 305-233. The Solomon team confided that it was a very close game until the end. They noted their opponents were ahead at turn 7. It was great to see both teams fixing their board collaboratively when the words were moved during a board turn mishap. One student read off the words they had played while the others tried to locate their original placement.

Grisham Middle (TX) played Our Lady of Victory Emerald (MD) at table 4. These teams had a "bright bingo" theme going with RADIANT and SUNLIKE on their board.

Things were moving fast in the playing room and John Chew was text messaging me about how things were going in their room. The first team to qualify for the finals was Ridgefield Library Team 1 (CT) after they defeated Evangelical Christian Team 1 (TN). Shortly thereafter, the second finalist emerged when Atlanta Tucker Community Center (GA) defeated Bridgewater SCRABBLE^® Club Team (NJ).

Now there is a move to clean up the main playing room, collecting clocks and Protiles in addition to result slips. Scott Smith, an event official, collected each slip as it came in and checked it off a main list before he brought them over to John Chew in the other playing room. Eventually, the results got in and the standings were computed.

As I type, the theatre room is being finished, which means dimming the lighting, making copious amounts of popcorn, and rolling in tall iced cases of beverages.

We are in for a fun time!