Word Up 208
theodp writes "Depending on your perspective, the National Scrabble Championship is a major sporting event, an unrivalled intellectual competition, or the world's biggest dork-fest. So says Slate's Dan Wachtell, who turned to an anagram-drilling Unix program to gain an edge on the 850+ competitors. While hardly mainstream, competitive Scrabble is getting newfound attention thanks to the publication of Word Freak and release of Word Wars."
Re:Word To You, Bro (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm sure Scrabble ended up being a significant confidence booster for me, particularly when I started winning a few games.
Whatever the case, it was a cool feeling for a kid to be able to get a feeling of being "just as smart" as his parents. (Hey, they may have thrown the game in my favor, but who's to say? I don't suspect they did, but nevertheless, it was a cool feeling.)
Oh yeah, and three cheers for wooden tiles!
----
Re:Word To You, Bro (Score:3, Insightful)
From the article:
Not a sport, but... (Score:5, Insightful)
It's the same reason that ESPN's hit such a nerve with World Series of Poker. What normally isn't that great to watch can be made a lot more fun when you're 1) in the know and 2) have overly excited and knowledgeable commentators guiding you through it.
I can only imagine what else they'd try to cover.
Why (Score:5, Insightful)
UNIX program? Easy! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Why (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Why (it is part of the slashdot ecosystem) (Score:3, Insightful)
I thought so at first, but consider the source of the insult. This is Slashdot, you have to toe the line and like what everyone else likes. Obviously many of the rubes who haunt this place aren't very well rounded people. They think spelling is unimportant. They love anime, Star Trek, LOTR, and acronyms.
Or perhaps this story is just following a trend I have noticed. Slight jabs within the posted story to "fire up" the discussion. After all, the people who post responses to the discussion make up the bulk of Slashdot's content. Without the discussion, there isn't much to see here. The diatribes, rants, quips, and flames are the fuel for further diatribes, rants, quips and flames. And the occasional informed post. I mean, just look at my first paragraph. You think that won't get a few responses? :) That is just how things work around here.