2003 was probably the most frustrating year of my tournament
career. I was playing a tougher crowd consistently in the
expert divisions and suffered with some negative thoughts
about my play. The game can be greatly affected by
psychological factors. It is almost as if the lower you get,
the worse you draw. A vicious cycle. I finished the year
with a dismal 29-49 record, bottoming out during the
Eureka Springs, Arkansas tournament, breaking even with
an 8-8 record in a weak top division. Unfortunately, as I
was standing out in the hallway cussing to myself, calling
my fellow opponents “morons,” a reporter doing a story
for the Arkansas Democrat Gazette happen to be there
to document the moment. To his credit, the story was
wonderful, realistic of the occasional intense frustration of
the game, but it doubtlessly did not endear me to my fellow
Arkansan tournament players.
My first couple of tournaments of 2004 were uneventful; I
finished 7-8 and 5-6 respectively, though actually gaining
a few rating points because I was playing higher rated
players. The second tourney in Lampasas, Texas ended
in interesting fashion. With a record of 4-6, I won my last
game with a score of 623 points, a personal high score for
me to this day.
That summer of 2004 was probably the highlight of my
tournament career. The National Scrabble Championship
was in a wonderful venue, New Orleans. Because of the
success of Stefan Fatsis’ book WORD FREAK and the film
WORD WARS, ESPN covered the tournament. I was on top
of my game. Outrated by most of my opponents, I went
17-13, finishing a respectable 46th out of 173 players in
Division 1. A bonus for the last game was that the player
who won the game got to keep the board. I basically had
it wrapped up after four moves. I played bingos four times
in a row to start (two of which were challenged by my
opponent) and finished with an easy win and a new board.
Besides finishing highly, even higher than my roommate,
reigning national champion Joel Sherman, I even made
brief appearances on the ESPN broadcast and on Bill Geist’s
segment on CBS SUNDAY MORNING. Moreover, I made
many new friends and got to experience the beauty of an
amazing place before a natural disaster would wreak
unprecedented havoc the next year.
