NFL analyst Mina Kimes is hoping to bring a “big-game” feel to this week’s Scripps National Spelling Bee, which she will host for the first time.Fresh off a million-dollar win for charity in “Celebrity Jeopardy,” Kimes is taking her knowledge to Constitution Hall in downtown Washington, where 247 spellers will compete for a trophy and more than $50,000 in cash and prizes in Scripps’ 98th national spelling bee.Although she never competed on the national stage, Kimes did compete in local elementary school spelling bees. Kimes, who graduated from Yale with an English degree in 2007 and has worked at ESPN since 2014, is a lead analyst on “NFL Live” and also hosts “The Mina Kimes Show.”The bee kicks off Tuesday with the preliminary round and continues with Wednesday morning’s quarterfinals. Kimes will host Wednesday evening’s semifinals and Thursday’s finals, both of which will broadcast on ION beginning at 8 p.m. ET.Kimes recently spoke with The Athletic about hosting the bee and her best comparisons between spelling expertise and football prowess (plus, which current player and coach she’d like to see test their spelling aptitude).How did the opportunity to host the bee come about?It’s actually related to “Jeopardy” because the company that makes “Jeopardy,” Embassy Row, is producing the spelling bee this year for the first time. So, Michael Davies, who runs that company, reached out to me. We got to know each other a little bit, not just through this season of “Celebrity Jeopardy” but the prior one I did, and he might have gotten an inkling that I have a little bit of a nerdy side to me in that process.He didn’t know that I competed in spelling bees growing up. When he reached out, I was ecstatic. I love the spelling bee. I’ve always loved the spelling bee. I think it’s one of our finest American competitions, and I’m so excited to be a part of it this year because if I had told my younger self I’d be doing this, she wouldn’t believe it.Tell me about your experiences participating in spelling bees. I saw you were a three-time champion?My dad dug up three winning prizes or photos because I didn’t really remember which ones I had done. The one I remembered is the photo that I published of myself in second grade, which was in San Pedro — I live in Los Angeles now — but it was the city spelling bee that year. I remember that one very vividly because I remember getting the trophy. It was the biggest trophy I had ever received, which, ironically, ‘received’ was my winning word. I also did geography bees. Growing up, my family was very passionate about geography. I played soccer, but I would say spelling and geography were my other two sports.