S13.E12: National Finals 3

[Lantern7]

Finale!

ETA: “Electric Enzo” makes me feel ashamed I haven’t done as much with my life than he has in a mere fifteen years.

ETA2: He just wiped out. Doesn’t make me feel better.

Edited September 14, 2021 by Lantern7

[Lantern7]

No one else is watching? So far, we got three going to Stage Three. Joe Moravsky wiped out on the first obstacle, Jake Murray came up short, and Flex is about to run.

ETA: . . . aaaaaaaaaaand Flex just wiped out on the Salmon Ladder. Damn. Not as shocking as Joe, but still disappointing.

Edited September 14, 2021 by Lantern7

[ams1001]

5 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

No one else is watching?

I'm here (though semi-distracted). I've just been typing random notes to post at the end but here's what I got for stage 2. (Profound, I know.)

Did Adam and Sean go out at the same spot? Maybe they train together too much.

Yay Austin!

Wow, Joe is mad. Damn, that sucks.

Have we had a velociraptor on the show before?

Noooooo!!!! Flex! 😭

Another teen finisher.

[Lantern7]

Kaden Lebsack joins Austin Grey, Kyle Soderman and Vance Walker. Two teens out of four. Bright side, this isn’t like 2019, where everyone and their brother made it to Stage 3.

ETA: Holy shit, Vance isn’t human. I think that Matt & Akbar were so certain he wasn’t going to fall.

Edited September 14, 2021 by Lantern7

[ams1001]

7 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

Kaden Lebsack joins Austin Grey, Kyle Soderman and Vance Walker. Two teens out of four. Bright side, this isn’t like 2019, where everyone and their brother made it to Stage 3.

Wasn't rooting for the teens and I like Austin but damn, Vance is good. Would not be the least bit upset if he wins this.

Aw, he fell on the eyeglasses. Not a bad run at all.

Okay, now I'm rooting for Austin.

[Lantern7]

Nineteen minutes left, Kaden Lebsack is the last ninja left to run. I’m thinking he clears Stage 3.

[ams1001]

Drives me crazy when they repeatedly tell us "he's never seen this obstacle before" when they're on a brand new obstacle. 

9 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

Nineteen minutes left, Kaden Lebsack is the last ninja left to run. I’m thinking he clears Stage 3.

lol...I was thinking the same thing.

Good for him. 100K at 15? Can't complain about that.

 

[srpturtle80]

Kaden was impressive. So bummed that my Ninja boyfriend (Adam Rayl) fell so close to the end of Stage 2. 😩 That blind grab was a killer. Was also bummed for Jake Murray, and Jesse made me cry. Oh and poor Joe!

I have really come to like Austin Gray. I am glad he had a good showing. Second place two years in a row must be tough on him though. 

[enoughcats]

If Meghan Martin, the rock climber, had made it past stage 2, I'd bet she could have finished stage 3.  

There were things that were predictable: on the swinging hammer, the guy who is 5'3" has short legs, too short to go around the head of the hammer, so he was guaranteed to fall there.  

Tall people; some of them can just reach from one  hold place to the next; shorter people have to fly through the air to reach the same place.  Kayden is tall, really tall for a 15 year old. 

Some of them have really fancy places to practice.  And just luck that there's an 80 foot climbing tower? (Husband guessed it was for a ROTC repelling exercise.)  Got the feeling tonight that if you had the money to travel to train or to build your own course, you had a major advantage.  Way beyond parkour. 

Did anyone win any money? The million would have been for a 30 second climb. 100K would have gone to whoever went the farthest IF no one finished the course. 

Edited September 14, 2021 by enoughcats
finally remembered Megan's last name

[SophiaD]

Boring.  Sorry.  I don't need to see a show with a bunch of over-privileged teenagers whose parents can afford to build them towers and can open gyms, so their kids succeed.  At least Vance had an interesting, inspiring backstory.  

I mean, I'm happy for Kaden, who seems perfectly nice (and the fact that we're focusing on teenagers probably means there's less likelihood of a Drew-type scandal... at least, one can hope), but the physical feats of the show aren't interesting enough to pull me in, not when there are ninjas that I actually like and have been rooting for for years who either got the WWWA treatment or didn't make the finals, or both. 

Sad for Austin, bummed for Joe, Adam, and, especially, Jake, crushed for Flex.  The only flicker of light for the second half of the show was the stuntman who was thrilled to make it to the third stage in only his second year.  

[mlp]

Lots of disappointments tonight.  I hated seeing ninjas I really like - Joe, Jake, Jesse, Adam, Sean and even Vance - go out either too early or when they almost had it.  That reverse grip at the end seems almost brutal although several were able to do it.  I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of Kaden.  100K at 15 y/o is a pretty nice consolation prize.

[Fukui San]

On the one hand, it's less satisfying that the people who we've come to love weren't the ones to go the furthest. On the other hand, it's a competition and the ones who didn't fall were the ones who didn't fall.

Third Stage was tough but reasonable. I kind of think Pipe Slider should always be the last obstacle as it's the most suspenseful.  I'm glad someone made it to the 4th stage and failed, nothing against the guy who did, as I don't think anyone has failed the 4th stage yet in the American version.  

I do with LaBreck had made it further, but I do think the V-Formation and Hammer Drop would have given her trouble. 

I laughed at Joe Moravsky's failure. His hotdogging on Stage 1 cost him his Safety Pass which would have been useful on Stage 2.  

[Rickster]

5 hours ago, enoughcats said:

If Meghan Martin, the rock climber, had made it past stage 2, I'd bet she could have finished stage 3.  

There were things that were predictable: on the swinging hammer, the guy who is 5'3" has short legs, too short to go around the head of the hammer, so he was guaranteed to fall there.  

Tall people; some of them can just reach from one  hold place to the next; shorter people have to fly through the air to reach the same place.  Kayden is tall, really tall for a 15 year old. 

Some of them have really fancy places to practice.  And just luck that there's an 80 foot climbing tower? (Husband guessed it was for a ROTC repelling exercise.)  Got the feeling tonight that if you had the money to travel to train or to build your own course, you had a major advantage.  Way beyond parkour. 

Did anyone win any money? The million would have been for a 30 second climb. 100K would have gone to whoever went the farthest IF no one finished the course. 

Pretty sure Kayden gets the 100K.

[DEL901]

6 hours ago, enoughcats said:

If Meghan Martin, the rock climber, had made it past stage 2, I'd bet she could have finished stage 3.  

There were things that were predictable: on the swinging hammer, the guy who is 5'3" has short legs, too short to go around the head of the hammer, so he was guaranteed to fall there.  

Tall people; some of them can just reach from one  hold place to the next; shorter people have to fly through the air to reach the same place.  Kayden is tall, really tall for a 15 year old. 

Some of them have really fancy places to practice.  And just luck that there's an 80 foot climbing tower? (Husband guessed it was for a ROTC repelling exercise.)  Got the feeling tonight that if you had the money to travel to train or to build your own course, you had a major advantage.  Way beyond parkour. 

Did anyone win any money? The million would have been for a 30 second climb. 100K would have gone to whoever went the farthest IF no one finished the course. 

He did get the $100,000 because no one did finish the course including stage 4.   

[absnow54]

7 hours ago, SophiaD said:

Boring.  Sorry.  I don't need to see a show with a bunch of over-privileged teenagers whose parents can afford to build them towers and can open gyms, so their kids succeed.  At least Vance had an interesting, inspiring backstory.  

Agreed. I miss when building an obstacle course in your backyard was novel. Now 15 year olds have rope climbing coaches. The next generation of ninjas are going to be a bunch of rich kids whose parents paid veterans to train with them. It's been an inevitable shift since most of the OG ninjas left their day jobs to make a career out of it. 

[saber5055]

14 hours ago, srpturtle80 said:

So bummed that my Ninja boyfriend (Adam Rayl) fell so close to the end of Stage 2. 😩 That blind grab was a killer. Was also bummed for Jake Murray, and Jesse made me cry. Oh and poor Joe!

Agree with this, and agree with others who aren't happy about privileged teens being catered to by wealthy parents so the kid can attain his "dream." I was irritated the camera kept focusing on Kaden's mom, a person I don't care about one whit. I was on and off again this season, mostly off, because I am not interested in watching kids compete. Isn't there a Ninja Junior show for that? I want to see the ninjas I've been invested in over the years. Heck, I was even shouting at my teevee when Jake Murray ran ... then fell. I really wanted him -- or any veteran ninja -- to win this.

Got a kick at the end though when they compared Kaden's rope-climbing to Isaac's. That was a real treat back then, when Isaac was the first winner. Heck, I didn't even mind Gill winning. The other guy winning though, he always bugged me so I'm glad he is gone at least.

[ams1001]

6 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

Isn't there a Ninja Junior show for that?

Junior only goes up to age 14. I guess that's why they lowered it to 15, since there was a gap there. I'd still rather keep it at 18 (or even 21 like it used to be) for this version. (If only so they stop screaming about "THE YOUNGEST EVER" to do [thing that they just happen to be the first in their age group to do because they weren't allowed in before now].)

[absnow54]

Just now, ams1001 said:

(If only so they stop screaming about "THE YOUNGEST EVER" to do [thing that they just happen to be the first in their age group to do because they weren't allowed in before now].)

Well they're running out of "firsts" for the female athletes, so they had to broaden the competitor pool again to open up new triumphs. 

[saber5055]

So the American Ninja Warrior Winner can't go anywhere unless he's driven by his parents. There's something just not right about that.

[ams1001]

3 minutes ago, absnow54 said:

Well they're running out of "firsts" for the female athletes, so they had to broaden the competitor pool again to open up new triumphs. 

My favorite was when they made a big deal about the youngest ever who just happened to be the first sixteen-year-old to run in the qualifiers...then ten minutes later the first fifteen-year-old ran and was the new youngest to do the same thing. Sorry, but there's only so much excitement you can get out of that (if you're not hyped-up Matt & Akbar, at least). Especially when most of these kids have been doing this since they were in preschool. It would be more impressive if it was still a new sport. By season 13, after they grew up watching it and going to the gyms? Meh.

[Taeolas]

Well, to be fair the "Youngest ever" superlatives are basically exhausted now since a teen Ninja made it all the way to Stage 4. There's only one left and it's a VERY elite group (actually beating Stage 4). Though they can probably stretch it by using the "Youngest Woman" superlatives next season. 

 

All in all, I'm fine with the results we saw. Maybe a few more getting past Stage 2 to run on Stage 3 would have been better, but it was a good challenge. Eyeglasses is a nice twist on the hanging obstacle, as was Stalactites. I think Stalactites should have 1 more set of hooks to have to reach before dismounting though; it felt they were getting through it too fast, usually in 3 hooks I think. 

 

It is a little tiring that both Stage 2 and Stage 3 are predominantly upper body strength stages; but I can tell there is one major difference between them. Stage 2 is more about momentum control. Most of the obstacles are basically laches where the main strength is controlling your momentum and grip strength enough to not be torn off the obstacle when you land after the jump. 

Stage 3 is more climbing/endurance based. There are a lot fewer jumps that would tend to jerk you off of the obstacle, and it is more about how long you can hang and move smoothly from one stage to the next. 

[Fukui San]

14 minutes ago, Taeolas said:

It is a little tiring that both Stage 2 and Stage 3 are predominantly upper body strength stages; but I can tell there is one major difference between them. Stage 2 is more about momentum control. Most of the obstacles are basically laches where the main strength is controlling your momentum and grip strength enough to not be torn off the obstacle when you land after the jump. 

My kingdom for the Balance Tank or Barrel Roll on Stage 2! Just for a change of pace make them teeter on a rolling cylinder. 

[eel21788]

32 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

 most of these kids have been doing this since they were in preschool. It would be more impressive if it was still a new sport. By season 13, after they grew up watching it and going to the gyms? Meh.

 

13 hours ago, enoughcats said:

Some of them have really fancy places to practice.  And just luck that there's an 80 foot climbing tower? (Husband guessed it was for a ROTC repelling exercise.)  Got the feeling tonight that if you had the money to travel to train or to build your own course, you had a major advantage.  Way beyond parkour. 

That's why so many made it to stage 2 but couldn't make it to stage 3. The stage 1 obstacles were all things the mutant ninjas have been practicing for over a decade. They really need to replace the warped wall and the jumping spider with something new. Remember when those we considered to be difficult?

When they got to stage 2, it was 6 new obstacles, so anyone who trained on specific obstacles instead of technical skills couldn't make it. Next year, you can bet that everyone in the competition will have done plenty of practice on the blind shelf grab!

[eel21788]

16 hours ago, ams1001 said:

Have we had a velociraptor on the show before?

The last year they filmed at Universal Studios he got a big cameo in costume for his backstory.

[eel21788]

11 hours ago, Fukui San said:

I laughed at Joe Moravsky's failure. His hotdogging on Stage 1 cost him his Safety Pass which would have been useful on Stage 2.  

Also, he is such a sore loser. I do agree with him: it is time to pass the torch!

[eel21788]

16 hours ago, ams1001 said:

Good for him. 100K at 15? Can't complain about that.

Hopefully, his parents will give him a grand or two to play with and put the rest in to a college fund. 

I'd hate to see them blow the whole 100K building new obstacles for his gym.

[eel21788]

12 hours ago, Fukui San said:

 I'm glad someone made it to the 4th stage and failed, nothing against the guy who did, as I don't think anyone has failed the 4th stage yet in the American version.  

Daniel Gill, and since they won't acknowledge that Drew Dreschel ever existed, it has gone into the annals as Daniel made it to Stage 4 but couldn't complete it, and, therefore, no one won.

[realdancemom]

5 minutes ago, eel21788 said:

Hopefully, his parents will give him a grand or two to play with and put the rest in to a college fund. 

I'd hate to see them blow the whole 100K building new obstacles for his gym.

I also hope that it mostly goes to his college fund.  But I have a feeling that some will go towards new obstacles for their gym since that's his "dream".  I'm conflicted since the teen seems like a nice guy and he does put a lot of the work and hours in to be a good Ninja.  However it is becoming a privileged sport where his parents can open a gym for him and hire a private coach.  I guess that's how a lot of things are in life.  I was more impressed at the teen that had to travel really far to go train at a Ninja gym.

Disappointed with some of the veteran Ninjas falling like Flex, Jake, Adam, etc.  I think with Flex, making it to Stage 3 was a hope/wish but I don't think she expected to go out on the Salmon Ladder.    

[enoughcats]

Insert evil chortle.

I can solve the blind grab: both the narrow shelves face inwards....and are so close together that forearms must cross.

Grabs are at most six inches wide and with a vertical displacement of twelve inches.

Hand holds are spaced six feet horizontally with a vertical beam to be landed on inbetween.

And the rolling cylinder? Not a 360 roll, more length for a 2 1/2 times roll: 900 degree roll. 

A salmon ladder that descends. 

 

 

 

[saber5055]

1 hour ago, Taeolas said:

Though they can probably stretch it by using the "Youngest Woman" superlatives next season. 

And don't forget the Youngest Mother if the show wants to go there. Or Youngest Adopted Kid. The list could go on.

[eel21788]

7 minutes ago, enoughcats said:

A salmon ladder that descends. 

The salmon ladder is another obstacle that I think is ready to go to the retirement junk yard.

[eel21788]

5 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

And don't forget the Youngest Mother if the show wants to go there. Or Youngest Adopted Kid. The list could go on.

Yeah, but when the youngest mother becomes a 15-year-old, I think they will have second thoughts about making such a big deal out of it.

[Fukui San]

1 hour ago, eel21788 said:

Yeah, but when the youngest mother becomes a 15-year-old, I think they will have second thoughts about making such a big deal out of it.

They'll just roll it into a crossover with Teen Mom.

[absnow54]

5 hours ago, eel21788 said:

The salmon ladder is another obstacle that I think is ready to go to the retirement junk yard.

To be fair, opening the top cradle of the salmon ladder this year threw a lot of people off. It’ll be trained to death for next season though. 

[Vermicious Knid]

Welp, that's done with. I feel sorry for all the people from earlier seasons who got the furthest but won nothing because they hadn't started the $100K payout. Think they will change the obstacle with pulling the triangle up the latches because so many were able to jump two at a time. I was just pondering how we hadn't seen them force anyone through a field of poles, when the poles appeared. Love the tiny ledges. That says ANW to me. And as usual, Mt Midoriyama is a huge letdown. After all the crazy obstacles, it's a rope climb. A really long one, but just an ordinary rope climb.

[questionfear]

18 hours ago, realdancemom said:

I also hope that it mostly goes to his college fund.  But I have a feeling that some will go towards new obstacles for their gym since that's his "dream".  I'm conflicted since the teen seems like a nice guy and he does put a lot of the work and hours in to be a good Ninja.  However it is becoming a privileged sport where his parents can open a gym for him and hire a private coach.  I guess that's how a lot of things are in life.  I was more impressed at the teen that had to travel really far to go train at a Ninja gym.

Disappointed with some of the veteran Ninjas falling like Flex, Jake, Adam, etc.  I think with Flex, making it to Stage 3 was a hope/wish but I don't think she expected to go out on the Salmon Ladder.    

That's the case for a lot of sports though, it just doesn't require building obstacle courses so you don't think about it as much. Most golfers who are successful at a very young age likely had parents who were at a minimum able to be members of a decent golf course and pay for lessons. I would guess if you had a handy parent or a bunch of handy friends, you could spend about the same on building a ninja course as you could on membership to a country club and golf lessons, the difference being it's far more obvious when you build a ninja course. 

[VartanFan]

Quote

Sorry.  I don't need to see a show with a bunch of over-privileged teenagers whose parents can afford to build them towers and can open gyms, so their kids succeed.  

Another cosigner on this.  And the mothers who do the bend over, hands over mouth, crying routine (even Rayl's mom bugs me).  I mean - great that they have supportive families, but I kept thinking...ok, so what if a kid wins 100k or 1 million - how will it change their lives?  Probably not at all.  So what if Lebsak is allowed to spend every penny?  He won't suffer for it.  I just didn't give a crap that he won 100k because I know it won't change his life in the least.  Now they've opened the door to these kids and they won't close it again.  The show has just lost a bit of its sparkle for me.  Paging Rosen, Mr. Travis Rosen!  Loved him because he was an athlete but he had and kept his job and stable family.  

[saber5055]

A thousand LIKES to your post @VartanFan. ANW used to be must-see tv but no more. Not that ANW cares if I'm in or out. But your post sums up why I'm out. If BIP hadn't been so horrible this season I wouldn't have stopped in here at all.

[realdancemom]

On 9/15/2021 at 7:11 AM, questionfear said:

That's the case for a lot of sports though, it just doesn't require building obstacle courses so you don't think about it as much. Most golfers who are successful at a very young age likely had parents who were at a minimum able to be members of a decent golf course and pay for lessons. I would guess if you had a handy parent or a bunch of handy friends, you could spend about the same on building a ninja course as you could on membership to a country club and golf lessons, the difference being it's far more obvious when you build a ninja course. 

I agree which is why I wrote, "I guess that's how a lot of things are in life. ".  I wrote life since I know it's not just sports.  It's the same with dance and any performing arts. 

I actually think it's great when families build obstacle courses in their backyards because building them was a family activity they enjoyed.  I think this teen's family is richer since they opened up a Ninja gym which probably did NOT have DYI obstacles and also hired a private coach for him.  I will say that he did not act like a spoiled privileged teen though.  As Jake mentioned, he was quiet and Jake seemed like the kid in their friendship.  As I previously mentioned, he also put in the time and work.

 

[SophiaD]

1 hour ago, realdancemom said:

I will say that he did not act like a spoiled privileged teen though.  As Jake mentioned, he was quiet and Jake seemed like the kid in their friendship.  As I previously mentioned, he also put in the time and work.

I agree that the teens themselves are mostly fine.  They put in the work, they have causes they support, they seem like nice young people.  I'm not just thrilled at it becoming the "American Ninja Warrior Family show" featuring affluent families who can afford to support their kids' ninja habits, rather than quirky adults who figure out a way to train and have a life.

OTOH, I suspect that the whole Drew mess had a lot to do with the shift in focus.

With the influx of teens, though, the whole Safety Pass thing (faster is better) and the consistent (over) use of upper body strength in Stages 2 and 3, I'm not sure any women are going to progress much further than we've already seen, which makes the show even less interesting to me.  Then again, I'm not its target demographic anyway.  

Maybe some of the young women coming in will be the next Flex/Jesse Graf.  I hope so.  Right now, it's pretty much just Flex, at least it was this season, especially with Jesse hurt, Meaghan wiping out on the first obstacle, and Allyssa not being competitive this year.  

[Rickster]

On 9/14/2021 at 8:39 AM, absnow54 said:

Agreed. I miss when building an obstacle course in your backyard was novel. Now 15 year olds have rope climbing coaches. The next generation of ninjas are going to be a bunch of rich kids whose parents paid veterans to train with them. It's been an inevitable shift since most of the OG ninjas left their day jobs to make a career out of it. 

Agreed, and it would happen even if they kept the age limit at 18 or 21. It really doesn’t have anything to do with teens. It’s the success of the show that allowed competitors who once lived out of their cars to open gyms and make a living training kids.

[IvySpice]

I don't care how fancy your coach is, you still have to train your tuchus off to get good at this. These kids earned their progress. All I care about is that _I_ didn't have to pay for the ninja coach, while I am forced as a taxpayer to pay for tons of football and basketball coaches (in high school, not just college). The highest paid public employee in 40 of the 50 states is an athletic coach. Screw that. So spend millions if you want to, Lebsack's Mom! It doesn't take a nickel out of my pocket, and I get to be entertained watching your kid to boot.

[RedbirdNelly]

I enjoyed this season. All sports give the advantage to people from rich families--or families that mortgage the whole family on the kid's success. I also didn't mind the teens because they delivered. If they had wasted space with tons of teens who went out early, I would think otherwise. I like the vets but I don't want to watch a show that just shows us vets because we like/feel like we know them. 

My youngest is 15 so I kept trying to imagine him competing at that level. My kids are not athletic so it's never been a question of "do we sign them up for super expensive this or that"--clear answer "no." But it was weird to imagine someone his age was competing. I don't mind the moms because I get it. It's not atypical for a mom to get super nervous about her kid--regardless of his age. I've watched more than one tense moment hiding behind my hands. I know if my kid was an Olympic athlete I would be that mom with embarrassing footage. In my opinion, these moms are pretty normal. 

[Hanahope]

On 9/16/2021 at 4:23 PM, SophiaD said:

I agree that the teens themselves are mostly fine.  They put in the work, they have causes they support, they seem like nice young people.  I'm not just thrilled at it becoming the "American Ninja Warrior Family show" featuring affluent families who can afford to support their kids' ninja habits, rather than quirky adults who figure out a way to train and have a life.

OTOH, I suspect that the whole Drew mess had a lot to do with the shift in focus.

With the influx of teens, though, the whole Safety Pass thing (faster is better) and the consistent (over) use of upper body strength in Stages 2 and 3, I'm not sure any women are going to progress much further than we've already seen, which makes the show even less interesting to me.  Then again, I'm not its target demographic anyway.  

Maybe some of the young women coming in will be the next Flex/Jesse Graf.  I hope so.  Right now, it's pretty much just Flex, at least it was this season, especially with Jesse hurt, Meaghan wiping out on the first obstacle, and Allyssa not being competitive this year.  

 we are getting the ANW Family Show sometime this year, so um yippee.

 Nice that someone got to stage 4 at least.