(By Joe Kukura)

If you’re anything like us, you’ll get unnecessarily riled up woot-woot-ing for the Bay Area in any kind of regional representation-structured contest. If there’s a competition and any kind of trophy involved, screw it – we’re down. Add to that the factor that these kids are totally cute as hell with their awful posture and adorable lack of telegenic savvy, and the Scripps National Spelling Bee – the Super Bowl of these things – makes great entertainment.

And you know why else it’s great? Because you can bet on it. Sports books set their final odds prior to the competition yesterday, and they’ll be updated after today’s quarterfinal round. You can’t bet on individual 8-to-14 year olds (that would be awesome!), but you can wager on the winning gender, the over/under on letters in the winning word, and whether or not the winner will wear glasses. Your local rooting interests in these proceedings are San Jose’s Sylvia Shacker, described as a “12-year-old eighth grader at St. Victor School,” and Allison Koontz, an 11-year-old sixth grader representing Bristow Middle School in Brentwood.

The quarterfinals are broadcast live via webcast up ‘til 2:30 p.m. today. It’s also being liveblogged. Tomorrow the semifinals are on basic cable and the finals are on network tv at night. (Hey, wasn’t that writer’s strike supposed to be over?) The live correspondent is sideline reporter Erin Andrews, who is considered something of a sex symbol in places outside the Bay Area where the women aren’t all so exceptionally attractive. If you’re tuning in and trying to compete with the kids Jeopardy-style from your couch, try not to get depressed that they’re all so much smarter than you.