Evan O'Dorney, a 13-year-old from Danville, Calif., became the 2007 Scripps National Spelling Bee champion last night. His winning word was "serrefine" -- a noun describing small forceps used for approximating the edges of a wound -- which he successfully spelled after a long, tense final showdown with Nate Gartke of Spruce Grove, Alberta. Gartke had hoped to become the first Canadian to win the bee.

If anyone out there watched the last few rounds live on ABC, it was quite the tense evening. The Bee may not get the respect of major sporting events, but it holds all the drama, heartbreak and tension of any athletic competition we've witnessed. How can you not flinch when the tiny little bell goes ding!, signaling a missed answer?

We'll be honest, we didn't really want Evan M. O'Dorney to win. We were rooting for the Bobby Hill lookalike, Connor W. Spencer, 14, of Platte City, Mo., who joyfully high-fived every contestant at any opportunity. This kid was at least enjoying himself. Or even the last girl standing, adorable Isabel A. Jacobson, the 14-year-old from Madison, Wis. and her awesome collection of 25 good-luck bracelets.

What we did love though, was Evan's post game interview. The ABC correspondent gamely tried to engage Evan into admitting he enjoyed "the Bee" more now that he was the big winner. Evan grudgingly responded, "maybe a little bit, " before adding that he still thought it was "only just memorization."

Now in its 80th year, the bee is held annually at the Grand Hyatt Washington in downtown D.C. Full results for the bee can be found here, including every word given. Annoy your friends and co-workers for hours by quizzing them on their spelling skills! ABC hasn't released any video to the Internet yet, but you can watch a report on the bee, including the interview with O'Dorney on their Web site.

Hemal Jhaveri contributed to this post.