Las Vegan wins sports spelling bee trophy with L-E-B-R-O-N

Paul Chow couldn't spell "Laodicean," the word that had earned 13-year-old Kavya Shivashankar the champion's trophy a few hours earlier at the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday in Washington, D.C.

"I have no idea," Chow, a 41-year-old Las Vegan, said before guessing L-O-U-D-I-C-E-Y.

That's OK. At least he knew L-E-B-R-O-N.

By correctly spelling the first name of NBA superstar LeBron James, Chow won the second annual ESPN Zone Sports Spelling Bee at the ESPN Zone inside New York-New York.

Shivashankar received $40,000 in cash and prizes for her victory in front of a big crowd and a national television audience that watched the event tape delayed Thursday on ABC.

The sports-book smart Chow got $1,000 in merchandise from the hotel, including a free room for a night, food, drinks, $10 in slot play and other stuff that could be worth a grand only if Bernie Madoff was doing the accounting.

Chow proudly raised his trophy before a gathering that barely outnumbered the 20 contestants in the ESPN TV room, which only moments before the bee had been filled to capacity for the NBA playoff game between the Orlando Magic and Cleveland Cavaliers.

Other than the art of spelling, the bees had few similarities.

Certainly no contestants in the nation's capital held a 2-foot-tall glass filled with a fruity alcoholic beverage like sports bee runner-up Keith Hall of New Jersey did. He declined to admit the drink was his, apparently unaware that the spellers would not be drug tested.

The intellectual bee comprised 150 boys and 143 girls. Five women braved the testosterone-laden field at the ESPN Zone.

Laura Vazquez of Southern California placed third to match last weekend's Indianapolis 500 finish of Danica Patrick, whose first name was incorrectly spelled "D-A-N-I-K-A" in the third round -- by a woman.

The sports bee contestants were challenged to spell either a professional athlete's first or last name as designated by the pronouncer.

Chow had trouble with the name "Dan Eeesoo" before asking if it was actually former NBA star "Dan Issel." It was, and he spelled it right.

Chow recalled winning a local bee when he was an eighth-grader in New Jersey.

Las Vegas poker dealer Lance Guyger, 26, recalled a traumatic day in fifth grade in Gainesville, Fla., when he advanced to the state-level competition. He claimed he misspelled "inequity" only because it was mispronounced to him. His teacher protested to no avail.

Moments before the contest, Guyger demonstrated that he understood the importance of a second chance at a title and how to spell "redemption."

"P-I-S-S-E-D O-F-F," he said. "I got screwed over. I'm still bitter."

That bitterness, no doubt, continues today.

Guyger failed to make it out of the first round, eliminated when he added an "e" to the end of Houston Astros outfielder Michael Bourn's last name.

A self-described sports geek, Guyger joked that all the hours he spent poring over ESPN the Magazine and other sports publications had been wasted.

Talk about an inequity.

Contact reporter Jeff Wolf at jwolf@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0247.