quijybo

ESPN has taken in recent years to broadcasting the Scrabble championships.  this amuses me greatly, because i can appreciate the irony of considering Scrabble a sport and because i am a huge nerd.  i actually like to watch competitive Scrabble and wish it was televised more often.  i've been known to play strangers online for hours at a stretch.  a while back i was particularly kicking ass and feeling generally pleased with myself until i learned that my opponent was a fourteen-year-old belgian kid for whom english was a second language.  he eventually had to forfeit the game because his mère made him get off the computer to do his homework.  d'oh!

most people might read 'word freak' and its account of the disfunctional souls that play competitive Scrabble for a living and say "gosh, i'm glad i have a, you know, life."  i read it (and read it and read it and read it - i don't even know how many times at this point) and say "i want in."  i envy the author and his opportunity to immerse himself in the Scrabble subculture to benefit his glorious career.  it seems, though, research for this most compelling book might have had some side effects.

stefan fatsis still writes about Scrabble.  and it seems he still plays, as well.  and today in slate he gives a gripping account of a remarkable - a record setting - 1,320 point game.  i can't tell you how much i'd like to have both the opportunity to play "quixotry" on a triple-triple and the knowledge that it's a legal word.