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If you live in Cleveland or Detroit, there’s a pretty good chance you have no idea who the hell Evan O’Dorney is. If you live anywhere else in the country, you just might.

Last night while those of us in the Lake Erie region were watching Lebron James and his footmen beat the Pistons in game 5 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals on cable TV’s TNT, many people elsewhere were watching Evan O’Dorney survive the grueling ordeal of the Scripps National Spelling Bee which culminated with last night’s final spell-off. Evan beat all comers in completing the two-day long national finals by correctly spelling the word “serrefine” (which apparently means forceps). The 13 year-old from Danville, California who prefers math and music to the language of letters because “the spelling is just a bunch of memorization” is a home-schooled eight grader. Evan said he knew the correct spelling of the final word immediately (and those of us who actually saw it live on freely broadcast ABC-TV could tell that he knew) and was looking forward to going to math camp this summer.

I must admit that the only reason I saw Evan’s victory live (after his fellow semi-finalist, Nate Garke, A CANADIAN, couldn’t convert on the spelling of coryza - which means profuse mucous membrane discharge), was because there was a commercial break over on the Cavaliers-Pistons broadcast. But that got me wondering…

Part of me was pleased that television executives had chosen to move the broadcast of the “Bee” to national free TV and what that says about it’s place in the rank of television viewing options. Is it possible that this country has finally recognized that the power of an adolescent’s brain is more important than the power of a freakishly tall, over paid and undereducated athlete who has way too many tattoos and (on occasion) can make a 20 foot jump shot?

Mind you, I value King James’ hardcourt prowess pretty highly (though not an NBA fan, I do enjoy a winning Cavaliers team as much as the next guy), but not near as highly as I value young Evan’s memorization skills.

Unfortunately for this city (and many others), 99% of the kids out there and their parents don’t see it that way. The likelihood that they know what the National Spelling Bee is (much less that Evan placed 14th in last year’s competition) speaks volumes about why our society continues to lose ground in the global competition of mental competence. This situation is only amplified in the inner city where a book’s value compared to a basketball is minimal. That’s why the work of organizations like PolicyBridge and their report, The Rap on Culture that we recently discussed are so important.

The point of the PolicyBridge report subtitled. “How Anti-Education Messages in Media, at Home, & on the Street Hold Back Back African American Youth” is that there is a culture that permeates the urban community that devalues education. Until that changes, our cities (and those living there) will continue to decline.

Here’s hoping that a couple of aspiring Evan O’Dorney’s families don’t get cable and that the kid got to watch the Bee instead.