S10.E12: Minneaplis City Finals

[Lantern7]

Last episode before Las Vegas!

[enoughcats]

They started on the personal stories, and Mr. Ecats muttered that he couldn't wait until the lead in to NFL games featured personal sob stories.....

[ams1001]

"They call me the Swedish Ninja." Who are you?

This nicknaming thing is getting out of hand. Can I be the Irish-German-Sicilian-and-if-you-go-back-far-enough-probably-French Ninja?

Am I the only one hoping he'll screw up his salmon ladder trick and go for a swim?

 

Edit: lol

I'm a terrible person.

Edited August 21, 2018 by ams1001

[Lantern7]

"A ruff ending for the K9 Ninja!" No, Akbar . . . no.

Seeing an old dog's last few appearances is always going to be painful. But Roo Yori got a new friend in Danny, he even designed a course for him! With a buzzer!!!!

(Tangent: Did Alan Coneally run this year? He was on Ninja vs. Ninja, and I got to see his dog Kenobi. Kenobi is a Bernese Mountain Dog/Poodle mix . . . basically "floof" come to life. Such a sweetie. Check this out from Alan's Instagram.)

Nice for Jake Murray to come back. I like his sense of humor, but if toning it down results in better results, more power to him.

ETA: "We found Dory! We found Dory!!" How can I stay mad at Akbar??

Edited August 21, 2018 by Lantern7

[ams1001]

Stop listing muscles, Akbar. It's creepy.

 

25 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

"A ruff ending for the K9 Ninja!" No, Akbar . . . no.

Seeing an old dog's last few appearances is always going to be painful. But Roo Yori got a new friend in Danny, he even designed a course for him! With a buzzer!!!!

I can't really snark on a cute doggie backstory. The buzzer for the dog was too adorable.

But apparently I missed Ian Dory...

 

28 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

(Kenobi is a Bernese Mountain Dog/Poodle mix . . . basically "floof" come to life. Such a sweetie. Check this out from Alan's Instagram.)

Oh my, that just made my day. Thank you. :)

[AZChristian]

2 hours ago, ams1001 said:

"They call me the Swedish Ninja." Who are you?

This nicknaming thing is getting out of hand. Can I be the Irish-German-Sicilian-and-if-you-go-back-far-enough-probably-French Ninja?

Am I the only one hoping he'll screw up his salmon ladder trick and go for a swim?

 

Edit: lol

I'm a terrible person.

Great. I just cleaned my tablet screen yesterday, and now there's moscato all over it.

[ams1001]

3 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

Great. I just cleaned my tablet screen yesterday, and now there's moscato all over it.

Sorry ?

[Lantern7]

Nice wrap-up of the preliminiaries. A few usual suspects are not coming to Las Vegas, but the field should be packed. Jake Murray will return for redemption. Meagan Martin will try to kick ass while looking hot doing it. And Jon Alexis Jr. looks poised for a deep run. Too bad the teaser has one ninja fucking up an ankle.

[Nonja]

3 hours ago, ams1001 said:

Stop listing muscles, Akbar. It's creepy.

Yes. Thank you.

[Nonja]

Why WHY do they never give Ian Dory the airtime he deserves?

Good singing or not, the Joe Moravsky-in-the-shower footage is a little creepy when you realize that the camera crew was in his bathroom with him to film it.

Super impressed with Danny Bergstrom, and Julius Ferguson's nerve-wracking run was awesome. 

Can anyone tell yet who the broken ankle Ninja from the Vegas teaser was? 

[ClareWalks]

The Swedish Ninja was the WORST. Clearly he was only there to attempt to go viral. And you are NOT FROM SWEDEN, bitch. You wouldn't see me calling myself the Polish Ninja because I'm 50% Polish.

Happy for Jon Alexis Jr. He is so huge he made the course look like a kiddie playground!

[srpturtle80]

6 hours ago, Nonja said:

Good singing or not, the Joe Moravsky-in-the-shower footage is a little creepy when you realize that the camera crew was in his bathroom with him to film it.

I had the same thought. I sure hope he was wearing swim trunks ??

I was shocked that Jon Alexis Jr. finished the course but I was definitely happy for him. I love his friendship with Labreck and DiGangi. 

As has been said numerous times before, I hate when they have a finisher and barely give them any attention. Poor Ian Dory. 

Goodness Meagan was SO close! I desperately wanted her to finish. That descent on the Iron Maiden was brutal.

I felt terrible for the dude who was in 15th place before Alexis Jr.  finished and he got bumped. He looked so broken-hearted :( 

Is next week the last episode or is Vegas split up over two weeks? 

[ClareWalks]

Vegas is usually 3-4 episodes, I think.

[AZChristian]

8 hours ago, Nonja said:

Good singing or not, the Joe Moravsky-in-the-shower footage is a little creepy when you realize that the camera crew was in his bathroom with him to film it.

Can anyone tell yet who the broken ankle Ninja from the Vegas teaser was? 

Pretty sure Joe would have been wearing a swimsuit for the shower scene.  This is NOT an HBO series.  LOL.

We backed up our DVR and stopped action on the "broken ankle Ninja" . . . we were not able to see his face.  Look for black New Balance sneakers (although LOTS of the ninjas seem to wear them).

[Lovecat]

15 hours ago, ams1001 said:

"They call me the Swedish Ninja." Who are you?

This nicknaming thing is getting out of hand. Can I be the Irish-German-Sicilian-and-if-you-go-back-far-enough-probably-French Ninja?

Am I the only one hoping he'll screw up his salmon ladder trick and go for a swim?

 

Edit: lol

I'm a terrible person.

I wasn't necessarily *hoping*...but I had a baaaaaaaaad feeling.  Serves him right for hotdogging, TBH.

 

1 hour ago, AZChristian said:

We backed up our DVR and stopped action on the "broken ankle Ninja" . . . we were not able to see his face.  Look for black New Balance sneakers (although LOTS of the ninjas seem to wear them).

I'm wondering if NB is some sort of equipment sponsor, because you're right, LOTS of ninjas are wearing them, but they seem to be the kiss of death in the spider climb thing.  I didn't notice it soon enough to keep stats, but it seemed from casual observance that a disproportionate number of ninjas that struggled with traction on the spider climb were wearing those shoes. 

[Lantern7]

3 hours ago, srpturtle80 said:

I was shocked that Jon Alexis Jr. finished the course but I was definitely happy for him. I love his friendship with Labreck and DiGangi. 

For those who didn’t catch Ninja vs. Ninja (formerly Team Ninja Warrior) earlier this year, they formed the Labreckfast Club team that won the competition.

[Morgan of Hed]

1 hour ago, Lovecat said:

I'm wondering if NB is some sort of equipment sponsor, because you're right, LOTS of ninjas are wearing them, but they seem to be the kiss of death in the spider climb thing.  I didn't notice it soon enough to keep stats, but it seemed from casual observance that a disproportionate number of ninjas that struggled with traction on the spider climb were wearing those shoes. 

I don't know why ninjas don't wear climbing or at least approach shoes.  Enough of them are rock climbers, you know they have the gear.  Those ultra-sticky soles would be a big advantage on a lot of these obstacles.

[ketchuplover]

They should just make swimming part of the course imo.

[ProfCrash]

17 minutes ago, Morgan of Hed said:

I don't know why ninjas don't wear climbing or at least approach shoes.  Enough of them are rock climbers, you know they have the gear.  Those ultra-sticky soles would be a big advantage on a lot of these obstacles.

The show might not be allowed because they have the super sticky soles.

[Morgan of Hed]

41 minutes ago, ProfCrash said:

The show might not be allowed because they have the super sticky soles.

I think they are allowed, I recall one or two wearing them.  I'm not sure why more don't wear them. 

[eel2178]

21 hours ago, ams1001 said:

Am I the only one hoping he'll screw up his salmon ladder trick and go for a swim?

Most enjoyable moment of the show!

[dmeets]

Not one but two men to hit the buzzer got the While We Were Away treatment? Screw you NBC.

[TimothyQ]

10 hours ago, dmeets said:

Not one but two men to hit the buzzer got the While We Were Away treatment? Screw you NBC.

Exactly. And yet we spend minutes with the "Swedish" Ninja and have to watch Joe Morarvsky sing in the shower.... If it weren't for the incredible athleticism of some of the top stars, this show would've lost me a long time ago. Just show the damn runs, NBC!

[VartanFan]

I believe there was one rookie who finished and we picked up the run in the middle or something.  Who is putting this show together?  Meagan is still just amazing.  I think she was so relieved once she got up the wall that she finally had fun.  

[Destiny74]

Black Jewels.  I wanted him to get past the boards, he had it damnit.  I didn't like him at the beginning of his package but was cheering for him by the end of his run.

Tears for Danny Bergstrom's story. He's smart and very efficient in his run.  Well done.

Jake Murray on a mission tonight.  No goofin.  Good to see him finish the course.

I still maintain if you finish the course you deserve to have your whole run shown.  Ian Dory has put in the time and deserves the cameratime, as do a lot of the vets they have WWWA this year.

Gillette's run as an armored car driver didn't last very long at all.  I think that was a big part of his package last year, and I think I saw it during N vs.N too?  

Morovsky is only 29?  Looks much older.  I would've swore he was mid thirties.

I've never seen Jon Alexis Jr. without a shirt.  He's nicely put together.  Made the course look easy.  I guess I always thought he would just be lanky with no real muscles that show...wrong.  I usually hate grandstanding but I giggled at his wave to the camera during the spider climb.  

[Deianeira]

On 8/20/2018 at 8:07 PM, ams1001 said:

Am I the only one hoping he'll screw up his salmon ladder trick and go for a swim?

 

Edit: lol

I'm a terrible person.

It's a reality show standby.  If a contestant says that something is their specialty and expects to crush it, that's what gets them eliminated.  Once I saw his intro, I was expecting him to fall on the Salmon Ladder, and it was really satisfying since he was so full of himself.

On 8/20/2018 at 9:22 PM, Lantern7 said:

"We found Dory! We found Dory!!"

Kind of, but only a little since sadly he was while-we-were-awayed.

 

12 hours ago, Destiny74 said:

Gillette's run as an armored car driver didn't last very long at all.  I think that was a big part of his package last year, and I think I saw it during N vs.N too?  

Yes, I remember that.  I was relieved for him that he's not doing that anymore because it's a dangerous job.

Jon Alexis Jr:  Wow!  I don't have anything against him, but I didn't expect him to finish, and I really didn't expect him to snatch fastest time from Joe Moravsky.  Between this and Ninja vs. Ninja, he's having a great year.  Good for him!  And yes, his Spider Trap wave was cute instead of obnoxious.  "Hi, what's up?  Gotta go."

[Ilovepie]

On 8/20/2018 at 5:07 PM, ams1001 said:

This nicknaming thing is getting out of hand. Can I be the Irish-German-Sicilian-and-if-you-go-back-far-enough-probably-French Ninja?

This! I was snarking last week on the nap ninja. I like that some of the veterans have nicknames that aren't Fill-In-The-Blank Ninja . I'm not counting Drew "Real Life Ninja" because he is. I like things like Captain NBC, The Weatherman, James The Beast McGrath, The Godfather, etc. Not everyone needs or deserves a nickname and a logo t-shirt and when you're not great it's just stupid. It seems the elite ones (just generally) don't use those type of nicknames, even the newer elites don't, like Flex or The Kid. It only works when it's earned, not just made up. That being said, I do like Island Ninja (although I hope he's learned his lesson about playing to the crowd this year!), Cowboy Ninja, and Kingdom Ninja.

I must be evil because every week this show has given me a great laugh at someone that is featured and then fell. This week was the idiot salmon ladder showoff (also with a stupid ninja nickname). What a dumbass!

I yelled when Meagan fell - I want a woman to finish a finals course so bad! So many women this year got to the 9th obstacle, or even the 10th. I have my fingers crossed it happens next year!

[ClareWalks]

1 hour ago, Ilovepie said:

This! I was snarking last week on the nap ninja. I like that some of the veterans have nicknames that aren't Fill-In-The-Blank Ninja . I'm not counting Drew "Real Life Ninja" because he is. I like things like Captain NBC, The Weatherman, James The Beast McGrath, The Godfather, etc. Not everyone needs or deserves a nickname and a logo t-shirt and when you're not great it's just stupid. It seems the elite ones (just generally) don't use those type of nicknames, even the newer elites don't, like Flex or The Kid. It only works when it's earned, not just made up. That being said, I do like Island Ninja (although I hope he's learned his lesson about playing to the crowd this year!), Cowboy Ninja, and Kingdom Ninja.

I also like nicknames where they're the only one in the category. Like, Nick Hanson is the Eskimo Ninja because there are no other Eskimo ninjas on this show (although if he keeps training his community members there will be), or The Weatherman because there aren't tons of weathermen on ANW. But Pizza Ninja? All these bitches eat pizza. Come on, be creative.

[eel2178]

4 hours ago, Ilovepie said:

. I'm not counting Drew "Real Life Ninja" because he is. 

How?

[Ilovepie]

I just meant Drew can call himself whatever kind of ninja he wants because he is arguably the best.

[Nonja]

9 hours ago, ClareWalks said:

I also like nicknames where they're the only one in the category. Like, Nick Hanson is the Eskimo Ninja because there are no other Eskimo ninjas on this show (although if he keeps training his community members there will be), or The Weatherman because there aren't tons of weathermen on ANW. But Pizza Ninja? All these bitches eat pizza. Come on, be creative.

I wholeheartedly agree.

[saber5055]

On 8/21/2018 at 9:22 AM, AZChristian said:

Pretty sure Joe would have been wearing a swimsuit for the shower scene.  This is NOT an HBO series.  LOL.

I'm not so sure. A couple seasons ago, one of The Bachelor leads was filmed in the shower. People assumed he was wearing trunks, but as it turned out, he was not. He allowed the camera person in the shower with him while he was naked because "she was a lesbian." And that's an ABC show. Yeah, make up your own mind about that.

On 8/21/2018 at 1:07 PM, Morgan of Hed said:

I think they are allowed, I recall one or two wearing them.  I'm not sure why more don't wear them. 

In an interview with Isaac Caldiero, he said on one of his first tries at ANW he was wearing climbing shoes and he went down on the Jumping Spider because of them. So he switched shoes to what others were wearing. Not that I know anything about rock climbing. I was just surprised his shoes caused his fall.

I hate to say that it looks like Joe being carried out with the bad ankle. I hope not, he's a favorite of mine.

Edited August 24, 2018 by saber5055

[eel2178]

2 hours ago, saber5055 said:

In an interview with Isaac Caldiero, he said on one of his first tries at ANW he was wearing climbing shoes and he went down on the Jumping Spider because of them. So he switched shoes to what others were wearing. Not that I know anything about rock climbing. I was just surprised his shoes caused his fall.

Climbing shoes are very stiff. Being able to stick the landing on the jumping spider would take more flexibility in the sole.

[saber5055]

16 minutes ago, eel2178 said:

Climbing shoes are very stiff. Being able to stick the landing on the jumping spider would take more flexibility in the sole.

Thanks eel. That makes perfect sense. For some reason I figured climbing shoes were soft, like slippers. Shows what I (don't) know!

Edited August 24, 2018 by saber5055

[fivestone]

On 21.8.2018 at 1:48 PM, ClareWalks said:

The Swedish Ninja was the WORST. Clearly he was only there to attempt to go viral. And you are NOT FROM SWEDEN, bitch. You wouldn't see me calling myself the Polish Ninja because I'm 50% Polish.

Happy for Jon Alexis Jr. He is so huge he made the course look like a kiddie playground!

Hm, interesting. Where I live (not the U.S.), with one Polish parent, you'd likely be considered Polish (depends on the other 50%).

With a clearly Swedish name, why can't he be Swedish? If a black person whose ancestors came to America 7 or 8 generations ago from Africa can be African-American, then why can't a guy with a Swedish name with obviously Swedish roots be Swedish? #AmericanNinjaofmixedScandinavianAncestry just doesn't have the same ring to it.

But I agree with you on Jon Alexis Jr's run - it was made of win!

[ClareWalks]

10 minutes ago, fivestone said:

Hm, interesting. Where I live (not the U.S.), with one Polish parent, you'd likely be considered Polish (depends on the other 50%).

With a clearly Swedish name, why can't he be Swedish? If a black person whose ancestors came to America 7 or 8 generations ago from Africa can be African-American, then why can't a guy with a Swedish name with obviously Swedish roots be Swedish? #AmericanNinjaofmixedScandinavianAncestry just doesn't have the same ring to it.

But I agree with you on Jon Alexis Jr's run - it was made of win!

I call myself Polish if someone asks my ancestry, but I'm not, like, from Poland or whatever. I guess my point is he is not Swedish from Sweden, but he is Swedish-American, which isn't catchy enough to Ninja-Name. He could have come up with something actually interesting about himself to name. How about Salmon Ninja? It'd be accurate enough with his brand.

I would personally think it was bizarre and somehow hilarious if someone called themselves The African-American Ninja.

[Destiny74]

The Swedish Ninja thing didn't bother me.  There are people with Italian ancestry all over New York and New Jersey, Greek ancestry all over Chicagoland, Irish ancestry all over New England, etc.  Some choose to live that ancestry loud and proud and some choose to put it in their back pocket.  I know man who is half Slovak, you'd never know unless you ask, but there are people who choose to fly their ancestors flag in front of thier homes.  (Shrug)

Me?  I'm total mutt.  I actually have no idea what my ancestry is.  I choose to not donate my DNA to 21 and Me or any of those other sites becasue I just don't care that much.  I'm a damn American.

Edited August 27, 2018 by Destiny74

[Ilovepie]

I think the problem with Swedish Ninja is that it doesn’t really define who is. Unlike Island Ninja who lives in Hawaii, or Eskimo Ninja who lives in Alaska, Swedish Ninja lives in....Minnesota? It just doesn’t work. I agree with Clarewalks - it would have been better had he called himself something to do with the Salmon Ladder since that is something he’s known for.

[eel2178]

17 hours ago, Ilovepie said:

I think the problem with Swedish Ninja is that it doesn’t really define who is. Unlike Island Ninja who lives in Hawaii, or Eskimo Ninja who lives in Alaska, Swedish Ninja lives in....Minnesota? It just doesn’t work. I agree with Clarewalks - it would have been better had he called himself something to do with the Salmon Ladder since that is something he’s known for.

...and royally screwed it up on camera.

Edited August 27, 2018 by eel2178

[Nonja]

On 8/26/2018 at 4:45 PM, ClareWalks said:

I would personally think it was bizarre and somehow hilarious if someone called themselves The African-American Ninja.

LOL! Me too.