Go to: Commentary Games Players Photos Reports Standings

Back to NSC 2008 Live Coverage

NSC 2008 Commentary: Round 12

[ ]

Go to: 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, Award Ceremony.

Round 12

As lunch was wrapping up, a group of young Canadian men I'd asked to come in early to the playing room to pose for a photo showed up. Instead of a club bringing a group of players to this NSC, it was a workplace in the case of these young professionals. John Stardom (Ottawa ON), Jamie De Jong (Ottawa ON), Gavin Thompson (Ottawa ON), and Ryan Chepita (Ottawa ON) all work at Statistics Canada, essentially the Canadian Census Bureau. They play SCRABBLE at work and invite another Canadian, Jeremy Hildebrand (Ottawa ON), who works nearby as a cartoon graphic artist, to join them. So, these five young men meet often to play at work! And they all came to Orlando together with wives and children in tow. So, while they play SCRABBLE, their significant others (one is single, but I'll leave it up to you to figure out which one! woo hoo!) show the children the amusement park side of Orlando! We talk a bit about playing in the event. One of them remarked at a division 5 opponent played dJINN as a game opener. Well, that sure gets a blank out of circulation quickly!

Ann Raymond (West Chester, PA) finds me before the afternoon session begins to tell me about a game she played earlier today vs. Geoff Tongue (Tacoma, WA). Early on, she had three natural bingos in a row: PAINTED 84, BLOCKERS 90, and REFRAIN 70. Later on she also played DAUTIEs for 71 and won the game, 475-372.

The excitement of children with this game never ceases to amaze me. Based on a famous "Smite My Opponents" T-shirt, designed by an NSA player Joan Mocine, not in attendance this year, 12-year-old School SCRABBLE student, Hannah Lieberman (Charlotte, NC), (daughter of Katya Lezin (Charlotte, NC) and sister to Noah Lieberman (Charlotte, NC), SCRABBLE is a family game in that home!), wrote the Tile God Chant. She came to the internet table with her round 12 opponent, Esther Gluskin (Orlando, FL), and they both performed the chant complete with tile racks foisted to their shoulders from side to side throughout the chant!

And here it is:

The Tile God Chant
by Hannah Lieberman

Oh Mighty Tile God!
Oh Mighty Tile God!
May good letters come to me.

Oh Mighty Tile God!
Oh Mighty Tile God!
Give me the X, J, the Q plus the Z.

I know that you need skill to win,
which I must have all on my own,
but think of me up there in the sky
when you're on your giant Scrabble throne.

Oh Mighty Tile God!
Oh Mighty Tile God!
Esses and blanks are grand.

Oh Mighty Tile God!
Oh Mighty Tile God!
My game lies in your hands.

It works, by the way. She chanted it at an opponent before a game and won.

John Chew suggests, "I'd like to see this catch on, to the point where all players are required to perform it, like New Zealand rugby players doing a haka, at the start of each tournament."

Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) says she is most proud of a find she made a couple of games ago in a game with Debbie Stegman (Kew Gardens, NY). Robin found TEXTUARY for 86, which helped her win that game against Debbie.

Roger Cullman (Toronto ON) invites me over to see POWERABLE* on his game vs. Mary Capalbi (Deerfield Beach, FL). Roger played POWER early on and then added ABLE, hooking to make ZA for 43 points. He won that game, 389-307.

Win Inthara (Orlando, FL) lost to Shannon Burns (Airdrie AB) at table 1 in division 2 this round, 374-435. I see Shannon's MANGOEs, Win's TRIODES, Shannon's double-double, non-bingo DAYBOOK trough the first O for 68, Win's HERTZ for 45 and BARNIER for 87. But Shannon managed to bingo out wtih DOATING for 72, sticking Win with SLNXE?, and won the game, 435-374!

In a Jeremy Jeffers (Milford, CT) vs. Maureen Kennerk (Hicksville, OH) game, the word UNDERPINNINGS takes up a lot of space! Maureen played UNDERPIN and later Jeremy added NING. The third extension was his, too, just the S, making it UNDERPINNINGS. From 111 down at one point, Jeremy won their game, 421-381.

Evan Berofsky (Thornhill ON) and Keith Smith (Austin, TX) show off 9-letter-words, in the same game! Keith played SANITIZER through the IT for 69 and Evan found EARMARKED through the first R and second E for 90. That is SOME STYLE!!! Kevin also got down IDEALESS and ANYWISE, winning the game, 400-366.

Rafi Stern (Seattle, WA) played Joel Wapnick (Montreal QC) this round. If my notes are correct, Joel played BILINEAR, ZIT, FUROrEs, PEISING, RETURNED, and LEMONADE. Rafi got down BAILERS and TRUSTEE, hooking to make LEMONADES. It was Joel's win, 579-468.

We end this round with only one undefeated player left, 17-year-old SCRABBLE phenom, Phil Wertheimer (Short Hills, NJ). He has been wearing a hole in the chair that he's been sitting in for two days now! Grats to Phil on this terrific accomplishment!