Dan's Papers - July 18, 2008

First there was the chess championship. Then came sand castle competitions, ping-pong tournaments and air guitar battles. But nothing trumped the advent of the Nintendo World Championships - young players white-knuckling controllers in an attempt to beat the Legend of Zelda within the timeframe of six minutes and 21 seconds - until now. Welcome to the second annual LG National Texting Championship. The prized thumbs receive $50,000 (double what the prize was last year) from the company that put this whole thing together, basking in the glow of the motto, "Life's Good."

On July 9, out-texting more than 15,000 entrants, Nathan Schwartz, 20, from Clyde, Ohio, took home the title of "fastest texter in the country," not to mention the $50,000 check and bragging rights for his high-speed thumbs. Schwartz's winning phrase was "Does everybody here know the alphabet? Let's text. Here it goes...AbcDeFghiJKlmNoPQrStuvWXy & Z! Now I know my A-B-Cs, next time won't you text with me?"

$50,000 for a "Sesame Street" spin-off of the ABCs? That's more than most people make in a year. He completed the phrase in 60 seconds without a single error. Similar to the 2007 competition, contestants were asked to type out phrases on their LG handsets exactly as they appeared on an overhead LG plasma screens, without typos or abbreviations. Last year, the championship was won by 13-year-old Morgan Pozgar from Claysburg, Pennsylvania, who successfully texted, "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! Even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious. If you say it loud enough you'll always sound precocious," in 42 seconds without a single typo.

In this competition, however, there's no shorthand lingo - no lol, omg, wth, or l8r - and time is not the only factor these "thumbs of fury" are battling with, as accuracy is just as crucial. Pozgar said she sends over 100 text messages a day, while her mother said it's at least "10,000 messages per month."

This year, regional qualifiers came from Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami and New York City. On lgtext.com you can view the qualifier profiles, which include their nicknames, number of texts per month and a statement about what they would do if they won the $50,000. One of the more memorable profiles includes Alex Kalvin from Atlanta, Georgia. His nickname is "Quick Thumbs Kalvin," he sends 1,200 texts per month and plans to use the money to "pay off student loans and get a motorcycle." Not a bad idea. It all began on June 10-13, when texters from coast to coast, perhaps from the comfort of their homes, perhaps school buses, went to LG's website, waited for a phrase to appear, and then texted the phrase to the number on-screen as quickly as possible. The fastest texter each day would win an enV2 from LG and qualify for the next head-to-head round where, if successful, they would fly out to New York City for the $50,000 championship that took place last week at the Roseland Ballroom.

Missing out on the competition were many fast-texting AT&T and BlackBerry users. This was an LG and Verizon-only game. In order to be eligible, there were other requirements. Contestants had to be 13 years of age or older - those under 18 had to be accompanied by a parent or guardian in order to attend the New York event, and bring a copy of a signed consent form. Players had to compete with a Verizon Wireless-activated, text-message-capable, LG QWERTY cell phone. The following cell phones were eligible for competition: LG V, LG enV, LG enV2, LG Voyager.

But you might be asking yourself, what is a QWERTY cell phone? QWERTY is the type of keypad. Some QWERTY keypads have two letters per key, whereas others give you a full set of individual keys. A full set of keys is easier to adapt to if you're a keyboard veteran, but the two-letters-per-key system can speed up your typing using predictive text. And you'll get all the benefits of ten-finger typing - no strains and intuitive knowledge of the layout for fast typing using the thumbs, without the delays of having to move a finger in a horizontal plane in order to make a stroke.

There's no denying the popularity of text messaging, even on the amateur level. One texter, Genevieve Salamone of Mastic Beach, explained, "I send upward to 50 texts per day. But I've got unlimited, so it's okay." Kelly Merritt of Eastport said, "I hate talking on the phone. Texting gets right to the point and on my time, too."

As communication evolves with technology and person-to-person exchanges vary in format - texting, blogging, webcams, Skype, Twitters - it's important to be innovative and take risks, just like Schwartz and Pozgar, who are LOLing all the way to the bank. I've gotta go brush up on my ABCs.