Go to: Commentary Games Teams Photos Standings Prizewinners

Back to NSSC 2008 Live Coverage

NSSC 2008 Commentary: Final Round 1

[ ]

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

Finals game

At 2:45 pm, the Theater Room, from which we're going to watch the final game remotely, was opened to the players and friends. The room was long and narrow, with a middle aisle and row upon row of chairs. All 500 seats were taken quickly. SCRABBLE chocolate bars were set on every seat and players were offered bags of freshly popped popcorn as they entered the room. ESPN stationed the families of each team in the front row, on either side of the aisle (possibly for reaction shots!). At the front of the room was an elevated stage that featured a giant screen on the front wall, surrounded by black curtains. Very dramatic.

Ben Greenwood, the annotors, and John Chew are sequestered off with the two final teams, and a bevy of ESPN camera operators in a separate location, which turns out to be down the hall from the theater room. The set-up there is interesting. In its center is a curtained off square space, like a room within a room. Inside the 8-foot high black curtains is the finals table and two round raised tables for the annotators. They will be above and to the side of one end of the playing table. Behind the annotators, the new giant wooden SCRABBLE board is situated as a backdrop.

This game will be played on a prototype of the new deluxe SCRABBLE board. The board folds in half when not in use and when opened can be slid either side to side or rotated in a smooth circle during game play. When closed, the underside of the board opens with storage compartments for tiles, racks, etc. It features premium squares that are not the same as the ones in the older game design, but I think its portability will be a huge selling point for the set, which should be available in stores in late June or early July of this year.

Jane Ratsey Williams of the NSA greeted the theater crowd and explained that we were closer to the players than we thought and the sheer number of us could possibly influence the game. So, when good tiles were picked or when possibly controversial plays were made, we were asked to be a bit quiet about it so that we didn't inadvertently convey information to the finals' teams.

Joel Sherman is emceeing for us in the theater room. While the players carefully transfered the tiles from the board into the bag in the playing room, Joel went over the names and ages of the players, tournaments they've played in and won, and he discussed their coaches.

We know that Atlanta Tucker Community Center (GA) is coached by Dave Liefer, who was unable to attend this year. The team consists of 13-year-old 7th grader, Joey Krafchick, and 14-year-old 8th grader, Dorian Hill. Both players are NSA rated, meaning they have played in adult tournaments: Joey is 1575 and Dorian is 658.

Westport SCRABBLE Club (CT) is coached by Cornelia Guest, in attendance. The teammates are 14-year-old Matt Silver and 13-year-old Logan Rosen. Both players are in the 8th grade and both have earned NSA ratings, too: Matt is 1529 and Logan is 635.

Worth noting is that this is a virtual repeat of 2007's final game. The only difference is Matt has a new partner this year, as his partner last year, Aune Mitchell, aged out of the School SCRABBLE program.

Coming into the event, both teams are 6-0, but Westport has a spread of +765 and Atlanta is at +600. Due to the higher spread, Westport gets to go first in the game. The boys shake hands and then the game begins.

This game can be seen and played--every play and every rack--in the annotated games section of this web site. I do invite you to check that out!

First racks for both teams were traded in. Joel Sherman points out that this a good time to just try to shake things up by taking a zero score to get better tiles.

Holding LORUUVV, Westport traded in LOUUVV.

Holding AEEELNN, Atlanta opted to trade in EENN.

Westport then played the game's first play: RATIO.

Atlanta played IDEA.

Westport played TIC.

Atlanta played UGLY.

Through UGLY, Westport played JURY.

Joel points up they are using up the ugly UY combinations early.

Score, 56-39, Westport's favor.

Atlanta played CAVY.

Westport played SAVIOR for 30 points.

86-63, Westport's lead.

We are having trouble seeing the racks this finals game and the big board that we usually have in this room to replicate the game as it is being played is being used as a backdrop in the players room.

Joel tells us that SAVIOR can be spelled with a U: SAVIOUR, which anagrams to VARIOUS.

An Atlanta play goes down, WOP*, which is not in the Official SCRABBLE Players Dictionary, 4th Edition,, but it goes unchallenged. All four of these players are NSA-rated and have played in tournaments that use a slightly different dictionary. It is not unusual to have some confusion about what word is in which dictionary.

Westport goes on to play TOED, creating IT/WOO/ORE.

Atlanta gets doen BOITE, hooking to make OTIC.

Westport then plays FED, and it is a 140-108 lead for them.

Atlanta doesn't like their rack: AAEIUNG, so they pass AUI, get new tiles and record 0 score for this play.

We finally see a blank, and Westport slaps down MUSTIeR for 74.

A 32-point lead balloons into a 214-108 Westport lead.

An unplayable bingo on their rack, Atlanta settles for AH.

Westport, now holding the second blank, plays WITH.

Atlanta continues to play small with DREG. The tiles are not cooperating for them this round.

Westport is in a "too many duplicate tiles" situation holding AAELNN? and plays NA to unduplicate.

Atlanta plays UNMEW for 30, which cleans up their rack a bit.

The unduplication worked for Westport and the game's second bingo then came down: ELUANtS for 68.

Demoralized, Atlanta played BAN for 10.

And with Westport's next play, we can feel the momentum of this game, which has been inching toward Westport steadily, just take a mammoth leap. Westport played QUOD for 48. The room said, "ahhhhhh."

369-198, Westport's lead.

Atlanta's turn: Joey and Dorian just shake their heads. They hold GINKOLA. Joe Edley offers it is a mix of GINKO and GRANOLA, he is kidding. They play GINK.

On the screen, we can see Matt and Ben lean in towards each other, whispering into their hands so that Atlanta can neither hear nor lip mread. The play FOOL.

LEZ* goes across the bottom middle triple for 39 by Atlanta and "challenge" is called by Westport. The clock is paused, Westport writes down the word(s) it wants to challenge The challenge was performed by John Chew, who typed the challenged word into his laptop, which he then carried over the table, where the players remained seated. He typed in the word, faced the laptop toward the players (and the camera operators), hit the tab button, and the red giant letters came blazing across the screen "No, the play is Unacceptable." The students in the theater room cheered. The play is challenged off. Atlanta loses their turn.

Westford has to block that spot and slaps down PEP along the triple.

Atlanta then plays AXON for 48.

415-274, Westport lead.

AEEINRS is shown on the screen, Westport's rack. Joel Sherman lists many 8-letter words that can be made with these letters, there there are no 7-letter words. They play RASE, creating AGA/XIS/CONE for 39.

Atlanta plays ZEE.

Westport's last play: LOIN.

Atlanta plays out: LET, front hooking to create TAXON.

Westport wins: 458-301.

This is the first returning champion in National School SCRABBLE Championship history. In the finals room, the players are congratulated by John D. Williams, Jr., and others in the room.

While the students have their microphones removed, Logan Rosen of the winning team leaned over and asked if we in the theater room had heard his stomach. I said we had no finals room audio in our room, and assured him that his hungry stomach rumbling had missed us. An ESPN camera operator leaned over and said that their cameras weren't sensitive enough to have picked it up either. Logan smiled gratefully.

The players were given a few minutes to decompress and then led into the front of the theater room to the left of the stage. John D. Williams, Jr., and the four final players climbed onto the stage to the thunderous applause of all in the room. Everyone was standing and cheering. John thanked Joey and Dorian for a great game and then presented the big check to the winners. They posed with the $5,000 check and countless flashes went off as they smiled and posed.

Then the prize ceremony began. Ben Greenwood took to the stage and handed out High Win prizes for a 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and a mixed grade team. The students received wrapped Hasbro games for prizes and they came to the stage to pose. One High Loss prize and a Sportsmanship prize were presented. And then the top 10 teams, from 10th place up to 1st place were called up to the stage, one by one with their coach, and presented trophies and games. Prizewinning checks will be mailed to each of the students. Check out the Prizes pages and photos of the recipients!

After Westport SCRABBLE Club (CT) came up to get their trophy cups, more applause and then the NSSC 2008 was over. We all had a fantastic time this year and look forward to NSSC 2009!