S10.E06: Minneapolis City Qualifiers 2018.07.09

[Lantern7]

Reminder: NBC has moved the start time to 8 p.m.

ETA: The Supreme Court nomination will be announced around 9 tonight. The only network scheduled to cover it is Fox . . . but I’d expect the other networks to break into programming with the spectacle news. Just want you to be aware, so you don’t have to scream, “If it’s NOT Sam Sahn, then why are you bothering us?!?”

I chose Sam’s name because of his age. That’s it. ? 

Edited July 9, 2018 by Lantern7

[enoughcats]

If I didn't know better, I'd think NBC is trying to make this "Must just miss TV".  It's summer.  Let people develop short term viewing habits.  AND, for gosh sakes, don't say an episode is going to be new and then slide a repeat in.  We notice.

[ams1001]

I really could have done without the tempura tarantulas. That is all. 

 

Okay, not really all. 

Here's something that bugs me a little - they show three people on the sidelines, clearly together, cheering on a ninja (Abby something, in this case)...but they only tell us who two of them are. Why?

 

I liked the kidney transplant guy's shirt - "Of course I'm an organ donor. Who wouldn't want a piece of this?" :)

Edited July 10, 2018 by ams1001
afterthoughts

[Lantern7]

Guess the news banner wasn’t enough. We should be wrapping up at 10:21 tonight.

ETA: Too. Many. Emotional stories. Like the producers threw a dart, then decided to proceed by flying out the bulk of those folks to Minneapolis. When a lady with alopecia gets WWWA, you know it's a Very Special Episode. She had patches of hair on her head. Of course, I immediately wondered if she's ever come into contact with Kevin Bull.

One bright side about all of the heart-tugging bakstories: no room to even throw "Johnny Bananas" a WWWA bone. I'm happy. So happy. He is a dick, and ninjas can only be so dickish.

Nobody made Mega Wall tonight. Willi it be brought out for the regional finals? There was at least one vet failing to qualify, but I can't remember. I know Jon Alexis Jr. almost didn't make the cut. And a second-year lady ninja (can I say "kunoichi"? Pretty please???) finished the course Damn shame we had to divert for even one minute, let alone 21 (give or take), but at least we're moving to the heavier stages.

Edited July 10, 2018 by Lantern7

[Quilt Fairy]

4 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Nobody made Mega Wall tonight. Willi it be brought out for the regional finals?

I was wondering about that, too.  If someone made it up in the qualifiers, will they be given a chance at another $10K in the city finals?

[Chaos Theory]

Backstories weren’t horrible.  It was kinda nice to see the lady who was originally in the wheelchair run even though she didn’t get past the floating steps.  Yes even that is a win. 

I love it when women hit buttons.  Surprised that Megan didn’t get farther but hey...still good run

[Taeolas]

We didn't see the sliders take out as many Ninjas, but that's because the Rings took out most of them. Megan going out on the sliders is certainly nothing to be disappointed or embarassed about. And she did still get to go on. 

Back stories were tolerable for the most part (doesn't mean I didn't FF through most of them). Runs were impressive. The course may have been a hair too hard with the rings and sliders both in play; but it's good to see the women continuing to put on a good show. As the female ninja talent pool continues to grow and develop, they might be able to take out the +5 women clause in a few more years. (As is, most of the gyms have had 2-3 women legit make it in the city finals).

I hope the show's still around in a few years for the Girl Ninja to get her chance to run the course like her dad did. She seems to love it all and was probably thrilled to see a course in person regardless. I hope the love continues in the years to come, even if her dad went out in the second obstacle. 

[ClareWalks]

18 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Nobody made Mega Wall tonight. Willi it be brought out for the regional finals?

I think they've already said it won't be up for City Finals. I could swear that was part of the initial announcement.

Sorry about it, possible unpopular opinion, but if I never hear about that "wife who was in a wheelchair then cured herself [with cannabis but we won't mention that] and is a ninja now" again, it will be too soon. I'm just beyond over that whole story. 

[eel2178]

2 hours ago, ClareWalks said:

Sorry about it, possible unpopular opinion, but if I never hear about that "wife who was in a wheelchair then cured herself [with cannabis but we won't mention that] and is a ninja now" again, it will be too soon. I'm just beyond over that whole story. 

Not unpopular. I totally agree with you. Also, interestingly, they didn't show her husband's run. He didn't make it to the city finals, so I'm guessing he also flamed out embarrassingly early, too.

Edited July 10, 2018 by eel2178

[srpturtle80]

Shallow note... I’m digging Jake Murray’s new hair. 

I had a pretty rough day that consisted of a lot of tears. So all the emotional backstories really got to me and there were even more tears lol. 

Lance has never been one of my faves (keep your shirt on dude) but I’m happy his wife was able to be there. 

I was hoping to see Meaghan hit the buzzer but she still had a great run. Abby Clark was awesome. It was cute how excited her boyfriend was watching her. Love seeing the women kicking ass this season!

Joe was the only one to really come close on the Mega Wall. I wish someone had been able to do it! 

[mlp]

Quote

Sorry about it, possible unpopular opinion, but if I never hear about that "wife who was in a wheelchair then cured herself [with cannabis but we won't mention that] and is a ninja now" again, it will be too soon. I'm just beyond over that whole story. 

I find that whole story suspect but I can't quite put my finger on why.  In any event, I don't think she should have been allowed to run at all.  She clearly wasn't going to succeed and she took the slot of someone who had been working his butt off to participate and ended up left in the walk on line.

I was hoping Jake and Joe would make it up the mega wall and I was disappointed for Meagan whom I just love.  I'm glad she made it to the city finals.

[EVS]

The woman who beat cancer had me in tears during her run, but I could have done without the long backstory, specifically the dramatic re-enactment of her attempting to get up the practice warped wall (which symbolized everything she had to overcome) and failing, followed by her successful attempt, complete with dramatic music. 

[CrazyDog]

14 hours ago, mlp said:

I find that whole story suspect but I can't quite put my finger on why.  In any event, I don't think she should have been allowed to run at all.  She clearly wasn't going to succeed and she took the slot of someone who had been working his butt off to participate and ended up left in the walk on line.

I was hoping Jake and Joe would make it up the mega wall and I was disappointed for Meagan whom I just love.  I'm glad she made it to the city finals.

I feel totally horrible writing it, but I agree. Something just seems weird about them. I read a bit about the disease, and the (admittedly little bit I read) was confusing. It sounds like there are a lot of variations, and it takes different forms for different people. I'm not clear on how/why it was so serious for her, and why they thought she might not last long. If the cannabis really worked for her, that's amazing though. 

I find the story of Lance and his poor wife with MS more compelling. I hope she can find some sort of treatment that works well for her.

May the bug guy and his tempura spiders never grace my TV screen again.

I've grown to like Jake Murray and his new hair. 

Thank goodness Jon Alexis made the cut. 

I can't remember the name of the woman who completed the course, but she's definitely one to watch.

I will always, always love everyman Joe the Weatherman. It's just fun to watch someone so consistent and I love that he went for it last night.

On 7/9/2018 at 6:22 PM, Lantern7 said:

One bright side about all of the heart-tugging bakstories: no room to even throw "Johnny Bananas" a WWWA bone. I'm happy. So happy. He is a dick, and ninjas can only be so dickish.

OMG. He was there? And they didn't even show him? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

[eel2178]

18 hours ago, mlp said:

I find that whole story suspect but I can't quite put my finger on why.  In any event, I don't think she should have been allowed to run at all.  She clearly wasn't going to succeed and she took the slot of someone who had been working his butt off to participate and ended up left in the walk on line.

I'm hoping that story has now been exhausted and neither she nor her husband will be invited back. If he wants another attempt at the course, he should be relegated back to waiting weeks in the walk-on line.

[frogzapper]

10 hours ago, CrazyDog said:

I will always, always love everyman Joe the Weatherman. It's just fun to watch someone so consistent and I love that he went for it last night.

I am always impressed by how deceptively easy he makes it look! He was sooooo close on the 18ft Warped Wall - I was really hoping he would make it!

[VartanFan]

Quote

Lance has never been one of my faves (keep your shirt on dude) but I’m happy his wife was able to be there.

I at least 'got' why he took it off this time because of wanting more skin contact on those rotating cylinders...and I agree that I feel much more emotion toward him and his wife than wheelchair woman.  A lot of posters, if I recall correctly, side-eyed the story even the first year Stanger was on.  I do hope her health continues to improve, however.

I used to love the weatherman and if I stuck to just the show, I probably still would.  I mean..he does just look like any guy next to you on a plane.  I just lost a lot of respect for him when he espoused his political beliefs.  The break in the show caused my DVR to fail and I lost the last few runs.  Thankfully I was able to watch them online.  

[ILoveReading]

20 hours ago, CrazyDog said:

I feel totally horrible writing it, but I agree. Something just seems weird about them. I read a bit about the disease, and the (admittedly little bit I read) was confusing. It sounds like there are a lot of variations, and it takes different forms for different people. I'm not clear on how/why it was so serious for her, and why they thought she might not last long. If the cannabis really worked for her, that's amazing though. 

I think for me it comes across as a storyline.  We hear that the guy got in shape to take care of his wife.  Then the next year we find out both their daughters had the disease, then they find a treatment plan that works and suddenly she's competing. 

I'm not saying their story isn't genuine and I do hope her health continues to improve.  They seem like a nice couple, but it feels like the plot of a life time movie.

And I feel bad writing that too.

Edited July 12, 2018 by ILoveReading

[Destiny74]

On 7/9/2018 at 7:22 PM, Lantern7 said:

 

One bright side about all of the heart-tugging bakstories: no room to even throw "Johnny Bananas" a WWWA bone. I'm happy. So happy. He is a dick, and ninjas can only be so dickish.

Who?  Do tell, please?

I DVR the show to watch while on the treadmill.  If course, I miss the last half hour or so do to special breaking news.  I know I can watch it on NBC on demand but I can't FF and I don't know if I want to rewatch the first 3/4 of the show.  I probably will...I am weak.

I love Jake Murray and I loved his package.  Dropping through the front door defeated...that was hilarious.  I love his haircut.  I love that he "lost 35 pounds". ?. He's a cut up and if I was getting married I would sooooo hire him just to meet him.  Only thing better would've been him winning 10k.

I like the bug Guy.  Bugs don't bother me.  Not that I am going to eat a spider though.  Akbar can have my share.

I've always liked Lance.  I am glad his family found a good doctor to work with.

I wish the best for the lady who was in a wheelchair last year who ran this year.  I wish the best for her and her daughters.  However, I side eye her miraculous recovery.  Good on her, though.  Hope she continues to improve.

Those rings just screwed a whole bunch of people.  They were tough last year but deadly to the runs this year.  We will see them again, I am sure.

[SophiaD]

That episode was seriously kind of meh.  I think I said it last year - the whole health care angle, both for Lance and his wife, and the Stanglers is borderline exploitative.  That said, I'm glad Mrs. Stangler is doing so much better, but hope they find a way to retire that storyline.   I hope Mrs. Pekus' doctor continues to be supportive.  

They should have shown Tyler Gillette's (and least that's who I think it was) whole run.  Other than that, the only real highlights for me were the Weatherman (even though his politics make me wince) and Abby Clark.  I was so impressed with her and so happy she made it up the wall.  

I hope now that we're into the finals, we can see more runs and hear fewer stories.

[enoughcats]

8 hours ago, SophiaD said:

Abby Clark.  I was so impressed with her and so happy she made it up the wall.

For her, it wasn't just (ha, ?just? let's start over..

Abby Clark was impressive in an awesome way.  She came back to do what she couldn't finish last year. And she did it. That's a great story right there.

But she went all the way. And her Father was there cheering for her.  That's something a lot of women wish they had in their memories. And her boyfriend's enthusiasm was so great and he made me smile with them.

Now about the spiders.  I don't give a rat's rear end that the guy says he's going to get his PhD in bugs. First he needs to learn a few things about spiders.  When spiders die, their legs contract severely and they look like a little ball.  Big spiders, little spiders, it doesn't matter, all their legs contract.  We will presume that the dude fried dead spiders.  Their legs should have been tightly contracted, but they weren't.  They were spread out like collection mounts.  I really would wonder what he gave the announcers to eat: to me it looked like pureed meat formed by a squeeze container onto a silicon pad to dry, and then fried. 

I live near some woods and our end of summer spiders are big.  I guess he wouldn't appreciate receiving  fresh lunch in the mail one day.

Edited July 15, 2018 by enoughcats

[Lantern7]

In regard to Johnny, responding in particular to this post:

On 7/11/2018 at 1:20 PM, CrazyDog said:

OMG. He was there? And they didn't even show him? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Well, it turns out he's going to be the hot of 1st Look. That's the entertainment program that runs after Saturday Night Live. Anyway, he's been doing lots of stuff, and he got on the course. It just wasn't in an official capacity. Oh, and if any of you hopped off The Challenge, you'll be happy to know Johnny is still an asshole who hates when anybody plays dirty, even if they are mostly the exact tactics he has used in the past.

[simplyme]

On 7/12/2018 at 12:22 PM, Destiny74 said:

I wish the best for the lady who was in a wheelchair last year who ran this year.  I wish the best for her and her daughters.  However, I side eye her miraculous recovery.  Good on her, though.  Hope she continues to improve.

Yeah. If I recall correctly, she has EDS, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which has a bunch of subtypes and varies a lot from person to person. It can be extremely painful and debilitating. (A friend of a friend whose blog I used to follow had EDS.)

I echo your sentiments about wishing her and her daughters the best but remaining skeptical about her amazing recovery. (And frankly, with most versions of EDS, your doctors would bleeping shoot you if you even considered ANW.)

Link to the Ehlers-Danlos society website to better explain it:

https://www.ehlers-danlos.com/what-is-eds/