I kan’t spel.

It’s a deficiency I’ve had to deal with all my life. Being a journalist makes my orthography obstacle even more obvious.

It’s like being a quarterback who is color blind, or a basketball player who can only move to the right, or Fausto Carmona.

The rule “i before e, except after c” is Greek to me.

So when I watch or read about the Scripps National Spelling Bee, I’m jealous.

These 13-year-olds can spell words like “noisette” without the use of spellcheck or dictionary.com.

Showoffs.

The biggest question coming out of all of this is whether or not you spell Spelling Bee S-P-O-R-T?

ESPN certainly does.

The sports network has covered the Bee like the NBA and NHL playoffs.

The Finals were televised on ABC — in prime time, no less.

I’m sorry. There is nothing athletic about spelling “thylacine,” except when trying to not break your nose when you faint under the pressure.

If the contestants wanted a real challenge, they should have had to spell the names of their competition.

Ramya Auroprem, Serena Skye Laine-Lobsinger, Kyle Mou, Aishwarya Pastapur, Kennyi Aouad, Kavya Shivashankar, Sidharth Chand, Tussah Heera, Neetu Chandak, Anamika Veeramani and Tim Ruiter made the finals.

I know I couldn’t compete with any of them.

How do I spell most words? W-E-B-S-T-E-R.