The following blog entry was written by Sarah Chassé, a copy editor of READ, Writing, and a whole bunch of other Weekly Reader magazines.

I am a passionate fan of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. I stumbled upon it while channel surfing a few years ago, and I've been hooked ever since. But each spring, as I gear up to watch the finals on TV, eager for a new spelling champ to be crowned, my friends and family look at me like I'm a little crazy. They say: What's so great about a SPELLING bee? And why would I want to watch one live on television? Well, here are three good reasons:

(1) If you're a word nerd, this is your Super Bowl. Learn some fun, truly bizarre words (appoggiatura! succedaneum!chiaroscurist!) that you can toss into your next essay to wow your teacher.
(2) Ding! That's the sound no speller wants to hear; it means he or she has spelled a word wrong and is out of the running to win. But for spectators safely in the audience, waiting for the bell creates big-time suspense! (Although, because the word is spelled correctly on the bottom of your TV screen, you know before the speller does whether it's right. That can be kind of painful to watch.)
(3) You never know what kind of wacky antics you'll see at the bee. Take 1997's finals, when winner Rebecca Sealfon was so excited that she pumped her arms in the air while shouting each letter to her final word (euonym):
 
Or 2006, when Akshay Buddiga was so nervous he fainted at the microphone, but still managed to spell his word alopecoid and advance to the next round!
 
Are you convinced? If so, check out the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee Championship Finals tonight at 8 p.m. ET on ABC!