Hey I was part of the national bee when I was in middle school (I just had a natural affinity to spelling). I was a competitive diver at the time too, and I was far from being a dork that spent all day reading the dictionary (maybe that's why I didn't win- haha). It was great fun doing it thought, and making a perfect verbal score on SATs and never wondering what a word means now (for the most part) doesn't hurt either.
Anyway, I too watched it last night- I love trying to spell the word before they show it.
