Spelling words correctly can be annoying at best and excruciatingly painful at worst. But watching other people try to do it? Now there’s a good time.
With the Stanley Cup playoffs in a pre-Game 7 lull and the NBA Finals on the distant horizon, the stage belonged Thursday to the 2015 Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Needless to say, it didn’t disappoint.
Gokul Venkatachalam and Vanya Shivashankar outlasted 283 other spellers over the course of three days to be crowned as co-champions in Thursday’s finals, becoming the second pair of co-champs in the last two years after a stretch of more than five decades without the rare feat.
That result alone is pretty incredible, but it wasn’t the only awesome thing that took place at the annual spell-off. Let’s break down some of the best the bee had to offer.
LEBRON SUPERFAN HAS ICE IN HIS VEINS
Venkatachalam is really, really good at spelling. He’s also a huge fan of a certain Cleveland Cavaliers forward who’s at the top of his sport as well.
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The co-champ certainly channeled his inner LeBron while spelling the winning word. Most contestants use almost all of their allotted time, but when faced with the word “nunatak,” Venkatachalam nailed it and essentially dropped the mike.
Oh yeah, did we mention he has an amazing secret handshake?
DRAKE GETS INVOLVED, BECAUSE OF COURSE
Canadian rapper Drake is known for popping up when you least expect it, and the Spelling Bee was no exception. Here’s the rapper getting a shout-out in an example sentence for “bacchius.”
CO-CHAMP’S FATHER HAS BEST T-SHIRT EVER
Shivashankar wasn’t even the first member of her family to take home the trophy, as her sister, Kavya, won the event in 2009. That’s quite the tradition of excellence, and their father apparently is well aware.
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CONTESTANT SHUTS DOWN MOM’S KISS ATTEMPT
Cole Shafer-Ray’s mother had good intentions. But this is national TV, and you can’t have your mom going all mom on you in front of millions of people. So when she went in for the kiss after Cole was knocked out, he gave her the ultimate cold shoulder.
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@ABC
