In 2003, Samir captivated America by playfully breezing past boys and girls in varying stages of adolescence and finishing third at the bee. He didn’t really understand what he’d accomplished. He was 9 years old. The next summer, he was tripped up by “corposant” and finished 27th. Every year he studied harder; every trip to Washington, D.C., brought more disappointment. He peaked, by bee standards, at the age of 11 when he finished second. Now he’s 14, with nowhere to go this week when 288 tiny geniuses are in Washington fighting for the final word and maybe a two-minute spot on “Good Morning America.” The rock star of the bee will be home, his eligibility over. The TV will be off for some of the competition because his family doesn’t have cable. Maybe he’ll hum a few bars of “Mrs. Robinson,” a song that used to unclutter his head while he sat through the other spellers’ turns. Samir doesn’t know it’s the theme song from a movie about a boy trying to be a man.

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ESPN - Spelling bee icon Samir Patel moves on to next challenges - ESPN

Brings back memories of the Summer of Disillusionment - the summer after graduating from UNC, when a house full of enemployed guys spent countless hours playing Halo until our eyes bled and watching copious amounts of TV…including the entire Scripps National Spelling Bee.  There is simply no human drama like the National Spelling Bee.