American Ninja Warrior: Ninja vs. Ninja - General Discussion

[Kromm]

Also hoping that there's another TNW down the road, and that the female ninjas step their game up. Sure, we had the number of Warped Wall-beating women double, but a lot of the heats weren't fun to watch.

I thought the women DID step it up quite a bit here. I mean the ones who got up the wall got up AFTER a speed-based race (vs. ANW, where the rule change a few years ago that anyone who got up the wall progresses means it's less of a speed based race now).

 

I think this showed that if ANW were less obsessed with pure grip and upper body obstacles then it would be less testosterone favoring. Those have their place, but I DO think if the ANW qualifying course was resigned a bit to alternate lower upper body a bit better (maybe even making the race a bit longer so there's a real running portion), then it would benefit.  Reach-based obstacles are a problem too. Again, not that pure physical advantages need to be stamped out as a basis for doing well in a well.. physical race... but I'd like to see at least ONE consistent qualifying aspect that really gives the advantage to a small agile person. The dancing stones comes closest, I guess, but even there the big guys have simply started making long leaps over a stone or two (and missing sometimes, admittedly). 

 

Actually the thing that occurred to me is the classic standbye of obstacle courses, the belly crawl. You know what I mean--the thing where a cargo net is OVER a tight space you have to wiggle under. I think this was dismissed a long time ago as a Ninja Warrior kind of obstacle because it's such a "classic" (and is in fact part of Spartan Races), but the downside is that it clearly favors the small and agile and so it being "out" removes an equalizer for those people. Also, I suppose it's not the most dramatic viewing--all that bump and grind under there might seem slow and static compared to the big swinging obstacles we seem to see instead.

[OnceSane]

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The University of Florida battles their traditional rival, the University of Georgia; the University of Houston takes on Texas Christian University in a battle for Texas.

[Lantern7]

I'm thinking that we might get another TNW before the summer. It's not that getting college-based teams to run isn't a bad idea, but I know that most people don't want to wait nine months to see their favorite ninjas.

I might get fatigued watching the women get gassed. Cool that two scaled the Warped Wall. And they immediately go to newly-minted correspondent Kacy. I'm good with her, but I can see how she could wear on people's nerves.

[mlp]

I enjoyed the college competition.  "The Kid" who trains with Daniel Gil and the good-looking male cheerleader were impressive.  It was neat to see two of the women make it up the warped wall when doing that hadn't been achievable by females for so long.

I was dismayed to see Kacy on the team, partly because I really liked Alex Curry and partly because her voice drives me up the wall.  Kacy has seemed to me to be quite impressed with herself ever since her sudden fame a couple years ago despite the fact that she hasn't been impressive since.  She managed to talk about herself during every interview she did with people completing successful runs.

[Lantern7]

Basically, Kacy is Jesse Ventura's character from The Running Man. Sad, really.

[Chaos Theory]

52 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

Basically, Kacy is Jesse Ventura's character from The Running Man. Sad, really.

I actually think it's a good fit for her especially if she is thinking of retiring.  She still has a gym to promote and she still has her fans so having her be the on site commentator allows her to still be a part of ANW and no longer compete.

[OnceSane]

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The University of Oklahoma takes on Texas A&M; UConn battles MIT.

[SophiaD]

I think talking about herself was a sign of nerves, if anything.  I noticed as the show went on she did that less and less.

 

I also like having the sideline reporter be a former competitor.  

[Kromm]

On 11/24/2016 at 3:44 PM, SophiaD said:

I also like having the sideline reporter be a former competitor.  

I guess they had to do SOMETHING with Kacy, so she stopped embarrassing herself competing.

Not to take anything away from her original accomplishment, but already some of these college girls seem almost as good as Kacy was when she did it. The Team Ninja course is probably easier, admittedly, than those deliberately hard city qualifiers, but really... let her just serve as an inspiration from afar now. It's the best role for her.

[Lantern7]

Holy crap. Can we get the MIT ninjas on the pro circuit? Perfect record . . . did anybody from the first season pull that off?

[Chaos Theory]

MIT was awesome and they were going up against some pretty strong sports schools.  I think I am calling this season Underdog Madness.

[mlp]

That was great!  I was actually cheering for MIT.  Revenge of the Nerds indeed.  Those kids were really impressive.

Kacy did much better this week.  I can't get past her awful, awful voice though.  

Every female who attempted the warped wall succeeded and Matt and Akbar didn't make any issue of it.  I guess now that the women know they can do it, they can.

[OnceSane]

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UCLA faces off against its crosstown rival USC; Stanford takes on Colorado; the winner moves on to the first College Championship.

[Chaos Theory]

Wow were all four teams horrible.   Makes me miss last weeks "non sports team" MIT that hit 6 buzzers.  This was just a bunch of people falling into the water.  

[SophiaD]

Yes, tonight's show was kind of "meh."  Kacy did a good job, though.  

[Lantern7]

Only two more weeks of TNW left. Probably for the best, given that the college kids are basically amateurs. Last season, nobody botched the final part of the relay. After three episodes, two teams have done that, including some poor bastard from USC "airbaling" off the trampoline and not even touching the salmon ladder. Kinda sad. I mean, these kids fare better than I would, but I want to see the pros, even if the first-stringers opt out to not risk injury.

[Zeditious]

embarrassing herself

Oh, stop embarrassing yourself -- you and the gabs of other goofy gobs -- with your consistent and constant hyperbolic bollocks.

Amazing! Hooooorrrrrible! Amazing! Hooorrrrrrrible! Amazing! Hooooorrrible!

Edited December 13, 2016 by Zeditious

[OnceSane]

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In the final qualifying episode, Michigan takes on rival Ohio State, and Wisconsin battles Maryland.

[Lantern7]

True story . . . it was after 8, and I was showing my mother the latest from Sammo Hog (Jessie Graff's porcine pride and joy), and then it hit me . . . I was not watching TNW. Wound up missing one race. I'll have to DVR the repeat.

Not much happens as Wisconsin advances to next week's finale. Basically, "College Madness" is to ANW what Spring Break Challenge was to The Challenge. At least we have a crop of promising faces that might pop up in the next few years. Meanwhile, all viewers got from SBC was Camila's crazy Brazilian ass.

[OnceSane]

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The four finalists battle it out for the first-ever College Championship.

[Zeditious]

including some poor bastard from USC "airbaling" off the trampoline

The fact that he wasn't the one who ran the middle-leg ...which was the one that had the pole-thingy -- which he fucking DOMINATED both times he encountered it... had me -- doing what I've never done when it comes to NW... rooting for the other team.

Ridiculous.

Edited December 16, 2016 by Zeditious

[SophiaD]

Wow, Wisconsin.  That was dominant.  I think they're going to be hard to beat next week.

[Lyinfait]

I was rooting for MIT. I'm glad there was less shock and awe this episode that intelligent people could do well on (dominate) an athletic field. (As a fellow brainy person, I hated growing up with everyone acting like intelligence somehow completely cancelled out athletic ability. All jocks are not idiots either.) I loved how close some of the runs were.

[Lantern7]

Forgot it again at 8. Watched at 11. While I found the season to be very time-filler, the finale was stellar.

Undefeated MIT and Wisconsin kept their records pristine after the first races. MIT loses their first race by .01 seconds, but they win the next two to advance to the championship relay. Wisconsin sweeps, including one victory won by .09 seconds. In the final round, MIT takes a two obstacle lead, but Wisconsin narrowed the gap, and they narrowly beat MIT to win the Bronze Buzzer. That is a thing now. Also, I'm pretty sure the final leg caused Matt and Akbar to come, piss and shit their pants.

[Chaos Theory]

I was rooting for MIT as well.  They put on an awesome show.  They just got beat in the end. No shame in that.  The gap was incredibly narrow.   I think #2 and #5 were the only two I actually enjoyed watching.

[mlp]

I was hoping MIT would win but Wisconsin did really well too so both teams should be proud.  In fact, all the kids who competed should be proud of their accomplishments.  Training and doing well in classes at the same time is admirable.   I enjoyed the whole series and I'm looking forward to the next team competition with the regular ninjas.

[SophiaD]

That was a nice finale.  Fitting that the two strongest teams would come down to a razor-wire finish.  

I hope we see some of the alumni in ANW this summer.

Also, the Bronze Buzzer is kind of cool.  :)

[Kromm]

Pole Vaulter clearly is the ANW Secret Sauce for female competitors, isn't it? 

5 foot 6 isn't really all that tall either... the girl just has extremely long legs for her height, and the commentators (who don't always key into actual effective Ninja techniques) did seem to key properly into the fact that how she used her legs was a key (not just longer strides, but also for leverage.momentum on a lot of obstacles... getting body position and momentum on her side every time). 

[OnceSane]

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Defending champion, Party Time, takes on teams led by Grant McCartney and David Campbell.

[Lantern7]

Tuesdays at 10 is Agents Of SHIELD for me. That's why I didn't watch the episode until today.

I'm thinking that this episode was not the first set of matches to be filmed because of the exit of the defending champions, Party Time. I know Brian Arnold can split a room, but Jake Murray is fun to watch, and he can back up his antics. And he didn't hurt himself this time. In his vein, the team making the next round: Golden Hearts. That's Natalie Duran and the bromance between Neil "Crazy" Craver (who is still training with fire) and Grant McCartney. Grant still dances, and Neil is lovably psycho. Party Time and Tre’s Amigoz (captained by Tremayne Dortch) are eliminated, and the Golden Hearts beat NorCal Ninjas (David "The Godfather" Campbell). Also, Natalie finally gets to scale the Warped Wall. And Ring of Fire starts messing up the pros like it did with the college crowd in the last edition.

[mlp]

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I'm thinking that this episode was not the first set of matches to be filmed because of the exit of the defending champions, Party Time.

I'm not saying you're wrong because I have no idea but I don't understand your reasoning.  Each set of matches is self-contained with one winning team only going forward so why would the order matter?  

I was happy that Neil, Grant and Natalie won but I was also sorry for Jake and Tremayne whom I also like very much.  The blonde girl from UC Davis was quite impressive (Anna?).  I wonder if we'll see her again during the regular competition.

I was very happy to see Alex Curry back.  I don't care for the woman who is on the regular season and I can barely stand to listen to Kacy because her voice is so awful.

Edited April 20, 2017 by mlp
Forgot to add...............

[Lantern7]

I meant that this particular episode might not have been shot first, and that the producers thought we needed the shock ousting of Party Time right away. I'm probably wrong about that.

[OnceSane]

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Teams led by Meagan Martin and Travis Rosen highlight the second week of qualifying.

[Infie]

I loved the episode.  I found the College stuff somewhat disappointing, which was a surprise because of how much I loved the Team competition last year, but now I think it's just the competitive level of the people competing that makes the difference.  There's so much more intensity with the top level folks.  So much fun to watch!

[Lantern7]

This week: Travis Rosen advances with a new Team TNT (Brett Sims and MaryBeth Wang.) They defeated The Wings in the relay, made up of ninjas (Thomas Stillings, David Yarter, Melanie Hunt) I can't remember watching on ANW. Mi-Dory-Ama is reincarnated as Mega Crushers, with Meagan Martin as captain and Ian Dory in a supporting role. They won the first match, but then got upset by Wings. Meagan did her part well, though, pulling up some impressive moves on the bungee steps. Also in the also-ran category: Team Tarzan, comprised of Ben Melick, Travis Weinand, and Rose Wetzel. I feel bad for Rose . . . she's supposed to be a top-flight Spartan racer, but she's not a great ninja. I do realize that she could whup my ass on this show. Any of these people could whup my ass on this course. Sammo Hog would have a 50/50 shot against me.

Included: Matt & Akbar flipping out, scenes of the Wolf Pack working out, and a few seconds of Isaac. Next week: Jessie Graf!

[jhlipton]

Are these being shown in a different order somewhere.  I could have sworn I saw Graf's team a week or two ago.  Was that season 1?

[Lantern7]

7 minutes ago, jhlipton said:

Are these being shown in a different order somewhere.  I could have sworn I saw Graf's team a week or two ago.  Was that season 1?

That might be the case.

[mlp]

Meagan Martin is my favorite female ninja so I hated to see her team go down.  

Travis Rosen is one of my favorite males so I was delighted to see him do well, especially after his defeat last year.  I didn't remember Brett Sims being as good as he was on the final course.  He made that invisible ladder look almost easy.

[jhlipton]

2 hours ago, mlp said:

Meagan Martin is my favorite female ninja so I hated to see her team go down. 

Megan and Jessie are my top two females ninjas (and among my top 5 ninjas overall).  I hope Jessie gets through this year.

[OnceSane]

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Ninja superstars Jessie Graff and Jamie Rahn lead their teams in the third week of qualifying.

[Lantern7]

Fun episode. Didn't think Jamie Rahn would kick that much ass getting Superhero Squad (I guess "The Rahn-Aways" wasn't a keeper) to the final. But The Think Tank (led by Noah Kaufman) wound up winning after a double splash-down, leading to a duel between Jamie and Matt Wilder, who was on fire throughout the episode, pulling his team to the win.

Jessie Graff's G-Force did okay, but the captain wound up losing her first run of the episode, getting shocked by Kirsti Pratt of Average Jojo's (JoJo Bynum). The Ring of Fire continues to be a bitch of an obstacle, though the Bar Hop got beaten by ninjas insisted on the long dismount. Thank goodness for the mats . . . but I figure that the possibility of injury is still there even with those in play.

ETA: According to a recap of the latest episode, we'll be getting Lab Rats (captain: Chris Wilczewski; accompanied by brother Brian and Michelle Warnky) next week, along with Team Grit (Kevin Bull, with Spartan teammate/TNW1 flameout Lance Pekus), The Iron Grip (Daniel Gil) and Phoenix Force (Najee Richardson, not afraid of getting Marvel Comics' lawyers riled up).

[OnceSane]

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Daniel Gil, Kevin Bull, and Michelle Warnky are featured on the fourth week of qualifying.

[jhlipton]

I wanted Jessie's team to win -- I love her!  Failing that, I wanted Jamie's team to win.  Oh well, at least it was fun to watch.

I like TNW better than the original.

[mlp]

This was an exciting episode with so many surprising mistakes and lead changes.  I was sorry to see Jessie Graff and Nicholas Coolridge lose out.  Matt Wilder was really impressive.  I don't remember seeing him on the regular season.  If I did, his name didn't stick in my mind.

[OnceSane]

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Ninja favorites Kacy Catanzaro and Joe Moravsky lead their teams in the fifth week of qualifying.

[Lantern7]

Nobody? Dang.

Well, at least Lance Pekus got a win, but Team Grit wound up coming up short. Also, he lost to a substitute for the older Wilczewski brother, who got hurt in the first round.

The Lab Rats advanced to the relay, but were narrowly defeated by Daniel Gil and his Iron Grip. His mentor Sam Sahn wasn't there, and I'm betting he kept declining  offers to form a team with Jon Stewart.

I think we had the first two-point race between women, as well as separate genders racing each other in the first two legs of the relay.

[mlp]

I was sorry to see Kevin Bull go out so soon - and he messed up twice on the same obstacle.  Daniel Gil is one of my favorites so I was very happy he and his team pulled out a win.  The 5' girl he selected (forgot her name) may be a contender.

[Lantern7]

Apologies for not commenting last week. I'll try to rectify that. But this week? Was bananas.

The Labreckfast Club, headed by Jesse "Flex" Labreck, had swept the first round and took a 2-0 lead on The Ballers (Lorin Ball). But then Jon Alexis Jr. (aka "The Giant") biffed an obstacle, and Paul Kasemir ("Mr. Consistency") finished the course. They had a rematch, and Jon wiped out, giving the Ballers the upset win.

The Ballers wound up taking on Real Life Beasts (Drew Drechsel, James McGrath, and Erica Cook), and they had a commanding lead going into the final leg. But Kasemir wiped out on the salmon ladder, and RLB got the unexpected win.

Next week: The final preliminary runs, with the returns of Team Ronin and Ninja Brittens.

[Lantern7]

I'll try to rewatch this episode. I'm going by this recap. Short story: Storm Team Moravsky (Joe Moracvky with Josh Levin and Allyssa Beird) advanced, winning two rounds with sudden death matches against Flowmingo (captain: Alan Conneally) and Team Alpha (Brent Steffensen, with Kacy Caanzaro). In the final against Karsten's Fast Kats (Karsten Williams), Allyssa splashed in the first leg, but her teammates made up the ten-secound penalty for the win.

[mlp]

This was an exciting week for sure.  I liked so many of the competitors that it was hard to decide who to root for.  I've always liked Paul Kasemir so I felt sorry for him when he fell at the end.  Drew always gives it everything he's got so he deserved his win.

I love Matt and Akbar as hosts.  They're not doing the shows just for the paycheck.  It's clear that they know the ninjas and they really get into the competition.  Watching them go bonkers when unexpected things happen always amuses me.