Congratulations Dave Wiegand

Dave Wiegand defeated Panupol Sujjayakorn today in an exciting best of five match to win the 2005 National Scrabble Championship.

Panupol won the first two games, and only needed to win one of the last three games to clinch the championship. But Dave was able to win out all three for an amazing and exciting comeback. I can't wait to see the ESPN broadcast.

Some people have suggested that the American media was relieved that a non-native speaker of English did not win. Apparently, Panupol is not entirely fluent in English. But he can sure play Scrabble! Personally, I think the media would have had a field day with that angle.

I haven't gone through the games yet, but from what I have seen, there were some amazing words being played along with incredible tactical and strategic thinking.