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NSC 2012 Commentary: Round 22

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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 22

I come into the Pacifia Ballroom this morning and Sue Grogran-Johnson was sitting at my desk holding a screwdriver. She was going to start disassembling signs that were used for registration and aren't needed anymore for the event. She said it took so very long to set them up, she might need two days to break them down again. For those not in the know, Sue has been a driving force behind the great organization and smooth operation of this NSC. We've been very lucky to have both she and Dallas on board.

Last night's Town Hall meeting revealed some news! This year's NASPA person of the Year is Michael Thelen (West Jordan, UT), very fitting! Next year's NSC will be held in Las Vegas, NV, from 27-31 July at the Riviera Hotel. Overnight room rates are slated to be $69 on weekend nights and $49 for weekday nights. Peter Sokolowski, editor at large at Merriam-Webster talked about a new dictionary app that is now in the approval process: good news! We can expect an update in our rules by the end of this year.

Two young players at board 1 in division 4: Amalan Iyengar (Chapel Hill, NC) is playing Sam Masling (Washington, DC). First off, they both play so fast! It is really incredible! I see ANISEED and SWITChER on the board and then something fantastic happens: Sam adds OO and creates SWITCHEROO to the triple for 42! On his next turn, holding AAIIDRR, he plays ARIA down the triple, front hooking to create IRID and AI for 19. Not a lot of points, but he made a play that begin to balance his rack again and scored points at the same time. And he didn't whine about his bad tiles. :) Amalan opened their game with BUTTING for 76 and won the game, 440-432.

Chris Canik (Austin, TX) and (a now ejected player) had a great board 1 game in division 3 this round. Chris played AUNTLIER to the triple from the A. A couple more Chris bingos: GENITORS and InTREPID.

A four-C game! Brian Bowman (Villa Hills, KY) vs. Steve Polatnick (Miami, FL), 579-433 for Brian. This 8-bingo game featured FAcADES, THEORIC#, MARINERS, SPEcIFY, WINDLING, RECOINED, and two late game Collins bingos: RETUITS# for Steve and VIAMETER# for Brian.

"I drew the bag," admitted Geoff Thevenot (Austin, TX) to me as his game ended with Matthew Bernardina (Durham, NC). Geoff opened with IRoNIER# and then it was pretty much him from then on out. I see SHEITANS, ECTOPIA, OUTRANGE, LEuKOMA, and UNDEFIED as a non-bingo, double-double, played through the DE.

Woo hoo for Marcia Richards (Centreville, VA)! She is 6th in the Collins division! She played TELLIEs and DOUANIER# and he played SERRANO and TRAPANA. Other fun words: FOREX# and DUGITE#. Marsh wins, 422-371.

Table 1 in division 2, Adam Ginzberg (Swarthmore, PA) vs. Gunther Jacobi (Portland, OR). Adam opened with TERTIAL for 66 and two turns later drew a challenge for HALBERTS played through the S for 76. I see Adam's MOIETIES for 72 and Gunther's NASTIER for 82. The blanks came out in late-game nonbingo plays. Adam's win, 484-261.

Jackson Smylie (Toronto ON) won his game this round with David Whitley (Monrovia, CA), 412-381. I see FAsCIST and eARNEST, but this is a pretty tight, overlapped board. They started with three small plays, which had them locked down until GEEK went down. And then, the possibilities multiplied when David played DAY/GEEKY for 47. They were having a fun endgame and discussing several play possibilities with Jackson explaining his word choice decisions well.

A musical game from a man we've heard little about this tournament. Three-time NSC champ, Joe Edley (Port Jefferson, NY) played a loud TROMBONE through his opponent's opening play. Later in the game, he got down GUITARS. Though they weren't exactly musical, WAvELETS and RULiEST were music to Joe's ears! Richard played PANTIES, but lost, 342-525. Joe said, "I bagged him."

Rafi Stern (Seattle, WA) vs. Ian Weinstein (Coral Springs, FL): eRMINES, REFUGEES, LECTORS, and the fun JAYhAWK down the triple and hARIANA. When I asked Evans Clinchy (Boston, MA) to confirm the blank for me, he said, "don't you watch college basketball, Sherrie, shish!" That's a sports writer for you.

At table 2 in division 1, Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) pulled out a 30-point win over our Jeopardy champion, Jason Keller (Highland Park, NJ), 485-455. Jason opened with peNNANT and though his E she got down HEXAGON for 64. Her next play was ZA for 65 and then LIMNETIC as a 98-point double-double. Jason played GROTTOS/pENNANTS for 67, so early on, the scores were high. Later on, Jason played TARTIeST for 74 and she had GERARDIA for 66.

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.