Spelling Bee Champ Tired Of Being Disrespected

MEDINA, MN--12-year-old Tyler Maxwell, last year’s national spelling bee champ, is tired of being disrespected by his family members and peers. Though he won the competition handily and is considered one of the best spellers in the nation, the youngster feels he’s still not getting the credit he deserves.

“Nobody respects me. Nobody gives me any credit,” said Maxwell. “You hear all the time about little Sarah Lipman, who won it in 2002, and that Indian kid who fainted last year and recovered to spell the word, but you never hear about Tyler Maxwell. He-lo! I spelled ‘chiaroscurist’ like it was a day at the frigging beach. I didn’t even ask for the definition. But for some reason, I’m still underrated. The spelling business is a harsh mistress.”

Maxwell has taken a back seat to many of his flashier peers this year, such as 11-year-old Maria Macias, who wowed judges in the semifinals by spelling “acrocyanosis” both frontward and backwards. Then there was Sanjeh Mehta, who spelled each word in three different languages. Neither, however, had the staying power to win the championship. That honor belonged to Tyler Maxwell.

“I’m just the kind of kid who flies under the radar,” Maxwell said. “No matter what I do, no matter how much I accomplish, there are always going to be haters out there. Like today when I went to the bookstore, the lady at the desk didn’t even know who I was. How can you work at a bookstore and you not know who the national spelling bee champ is? Please. Do your homework, lady.”

At home young Tyler says he is treated like any other 12-year-old, even though he is the 2004 national spelling bee champ. Apparently, his parents are among the people who are overlooking his accomplishments.

“I love my mom and dad, but they’re treating me like shit,” Maxwell said. “They made me clean out the garage the other day. Do you know how messy it was in there? Just moving my dad’s porn collection took two hours, although I did learn a few new words I’d never heard of.”

Tyler’s parents deny that they disrespect their son. In fact, they claim to have an entire room set aside for his trophies and awards.

“We couldn’t be more proud of Tyler,” said his father, Darren. “He’s worked extremely hard to get where he is today. He’s one of the best spellers in the country—sorry, the best speller in the country. I don’t know why he has this hang up about being disrespected. He is so sensitive. Just the other day we were playing Scrabble and I was trash talking, you know, just joking around about how I was going to beat him. Well, he got really mad and started yelling at me, saying I was being disrespectful. Then he just went into this state of Zen-like concentration and kicked the living shit out of me the rest of the game.”

Tyler says it’s not his place to determine where he ranks among the world’s best spellers, but he hopes that someday people will see him as one of the greatest of all time.

“I can’t say that about myself. That’s for other people to decide,” he said. “All I can do is go out there and do my best and hope that people recognize me for it. There will always be someone out there who is trying to bring you down, someone sad and pathetic who is jealous of all your success. In my case it’s my dad. But that’s OK. I knew when I became spelling bee champ that I’d be a lighting rod for controversy.”

Another place where Maxwell is consistently disrespected is his middle school, where he is beaten and kicked by bullies on an daily basis.

“The school—that’s the worst,” he said. “These kids have no respect whatsoever for my spelling abilities. They’re so envious that they beat the shit out of me almost every day. I’ll teach them a lesson someday, though. When they’re out in the world working their 9 to 5 jobs, I’ll be a former spelling bee champ with no job at all.”