The Five-Minute Sports Spelling Bee
What happens when the world’s top spellers collide with the world’s top athletes and leave you to clean up the mess?
Not every athlete has a short and easy-to-spell name like Tom Brady or Serena Williams. Some of them are a bit tougher, like Sokratis Papastathopoulous or Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Yeah, have fun fitting one of those onto a jersey! Some names aren’t even that long but still give fans all sorts of spelling problems — JJ Redick and Skylar Diggins come to mind.
So what?
Well, the best ESPN event of the entire year is airing in the next two days… It’s the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee!
This week 285 children age 6 (!!) to 14 will compete in Washington, D.C., and just one will be crowned champion by nightfall Thursday. These kids are highly-trained athletes — yeah that’s right, if we’re counting poker players and racecar drivers as athletes in 2016, then superstar spellers count too.
Do yourself a favor and tune in to the finals Thursday night 8–10pm ET on ESPN. These kids are amazing! In the meantime, how about a quick spelling test featuring some of the athletes you know and talk about each day?
Let’s start with some shorter names and go from there. Grab a paper and write down the numbers 1 through 20. The answers are at the end.
1. That dude from the jeans commercial:
A) Brett Farve ……… B) Brett Favre C) Bret Farve ……… D) Brett Farvre
2. Unstoppable Cubs pitching force:
A) Jake Arieta ……… B) Jake Arietta C) Jake Arrieta ……… D) Jake Arrietta
3. U.S. soccer star and hat trick scorer extraordinaire:
A) Carly Lloyd ……… B) Carli Lloyd C) Karly Lloyd ……… D) Karli Lloyd
4. The Great One:
A) Wayne Gretsky B) Wayne Gretxky C) Wayne Gretzky D) Wayne Gretszky
5. “Rowdy” MMA star:
A) Ronda Rousey B) Ronda Roussey C) Ronda Rousy D) Ronda Roussy
Alright, are you feeling pretty good about yourself? Great, let’s move on to some of the guys you’ve been watching in the NBA this year.
6. Miami Heat legend:
A) Dwayne Wade ……… B) Dwyane Wade C) Duane Wade ……… D) DeWayne Wade
7. New York Knicks legend-to-be:
A) Kristaps Porzangas ……… B) Kristaps Porzingas C) Kristaps Porzingas ……… D) Kristaps Porzingis
8. #WeTheNorth budding playoff legend:
A) Bismarck Biyombo ……… B) Bismarck Beyombo C) Bismack Biyombo ……… D) Bismack Beyombo
9. Miami Heat rookie forward / center / point guard:
A) Justice Winslow ……… B) Justise Winslow C) Justace Winslow ……… D) Justiss Winslow
10. The Greek Freak:
A) Giannis Antetokoumpo ……… B) Giannis Antetokounpo C) Giannis Antetokunmpo ……… D) Giannis Antetokounmpo
Ok, take a deep breath... You’re halfway home.
Let’s do five more team players who are at the top of their game.
11. Pittsburgh QB star:
A) Ben Rothlisberger ……… B) Ben Roethlesberger C) Ben Rothlesberger ……… D) Ben Roethlisburger
12. Pittsburgh hockey star:
A) Mario Lemeiux ……… B) Mario Lemieux C) Mario Lemeuix ……… D) Mario Lemiuex
13. Reining WNBA MVP:
A) Elena Delle Donne ……… B) Elena Della Donne C) Elena Delledonne ……… D) Elena Delladonne
14. You knew it was coming… Duke men’s hoops coach:
A) Mike Kryzewski B) Mike Krzyewski C) Mike Krzyzewski D) Mike Shashefsky
.
15. The best soccer player in the world:
A) Christiano Ronaldo ……… B) Cristiano Renaldo C) Cristiano Renaldo ……… D) Lionel Messi
Almost there! Five more individual athletes that lead their sport…
16. World #1 men’s tennis player:
A) Novak Jokavic ……… B) Novak Djokavic C) Novak Jokovic ……… D) Novak Djokovic
17. World #2 women’s tennis player:
A) Agnieszka Radwanska ……… B) Agniezska Radwanska C) Agniezka Radwanska ……… D) Agnieska Radwanska
18. World #3 men’s golfer:
A) Rory MacIlroy ……… B) Rory McIlroy C) Rory MacElroy ……… D) Rory McElroy
19. Boxing sensation:
A) Manny Paquio ……… B) Manny Paquiao C) Manny Pacquio ……… D) Manny Pacquiao
20. Horses are athletes too:
A) American Pharoah ……… B) American Pharaoh C) American Pharoh ……… D) Americanpharaoh
You made it! Now let’s see how you did. Check for correct answers and then add up your score below.
CORRECT ANSWERS: 1.B … 2.C … 3.B … 4.C … 5.A … 6.B … 7.D … 8.C … 9.B … 10.D 11.None of the above, had to make sure you were paying attention. It’s Ben Roethlisberger. Give yourself 2 points if you wrote that down! 12.B … 13.A … 14.C … 15.D … 16.D … 17.A … 18.B … 19.D … 20.A
Alright, how many points did you get?!
0 to 5 — Literally would’ve been better off just guessing B for every answer
6 to 8 — You may want to consider expanding your sports horizons
9 to 11 — Not bad! You’re clearly a legit sports fan / speller
12 to 15 — Ok, you should probably turn off the TV and get outside once and awhile, you obviously know these people too well
16–18 — Please contact me if you are looking for a part-time editing job
19–21 — Oh hey last year’s co-champs Vanya Shivashankar and Gokul Venkatachalam (pictured at top)! What are y’all doing here? I was sure you’d be in D.C. watching this year’s show! Say hi to Dr. Bailly for me, will ya?
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