Spellympics

The Spellympics or Olympics of Spelling is an annual spelling tournament. It is hosted by George Plimpton.

History
Lisa is selected to go to the state Spelling Bee finals. When she wins it, she qualifies for the Spellympics.

At the Spellympics, hosted by George Plimpton, Lisa wins the semi-finals and secures a spot in the finals. The other two finalists are Sun Moon, an Asian girl, and Alex, a really cute little boy with big round glasses, whom everyone likes.

George Plimton tells Lisa about the low ratings that Spelling Bees generate and then asks her to take a dive and let Alex win. If she does it she will be given a free scholarship into any Seven Sisters college. Lisa refuses, but later she is unsure what to do.

Next day, the Spellympics finals are underway. George Plimpton asks Sun Moon to spell whether/weather and confuses her with the sentence (he uses them both) and disqualifies her when she starts "W-E...". Next is Alex's turn. He gets the word "rigged" and spells it correctly. Finally, Lisa steps up and is asked to spell "intransigence". When she sees Homer, she tells everyone that she was told to take a dive and proceeds to spell the word, but she spells it "I-N-T-R-A-N-S-I-G-A-N-C-E". She is disqualified and Alex wins.

The Spellympics finals

 * Sun Moon ("whether" / "weather")
 * Alex ("rigged")
 * Lisa ("intransigence")

Behind the Laughter

 * The Spellympics is a parody of the Olympics.