Ben Nuckols is a writer and editor on the AP’s national sports staff who covers football, basketball, baseball, golf, and other sports. He has covered the Scripps National Spelling Bee since 2012. Nuckols has been an AP reporter for 25 years and before joining the sports staff, he worked in Washington and Baltimore, covering beats including politics, crime, courts, and the arts. He is a former movie critic who reviewed films for the AP and for radio stations, including WNRN-FM in Charlottesville, Virginia.