American Ninja Warrior

I watched a new show on NBC last night called American Ninja Warrior.  From what I read, it was on another network but for some reason, they decided to show the 2 hour finale on NBC.  Basically the show is a series of tough obstacle courses designed with strength and agility in mind.  The show is from Japan and it is done in many other countries as well.  It looks like it might gain some popularity in the US.

I was really excited to see this show because as a kid, I was really good at climbing on playground, jumping around and doing ninja like moves so this is my kind of event.  I would like to try out the courses now, but I'm not in nearly as good of shape as before.

So the show starts with about 10 guys who are the top qualifiers from thousands.  They go through 4 courses. If they fall off or don't meet the time, they are eliminated.  They guys were pretty good and are in really good shape.  At the end, there were only a few guys left.  The best one got near the end of course 3 but fell.  None of them made it to course 4.  In history only 3 guys from Japan have finished all the courses so that tell you how difficult they are. 

A couple things I didn't like about the show is how there is so much emphasis on upper body strength and not so much on agility.  If they are going to call it American Ninja Warrior, they should be doing ninja skills, not just upper body strength skills. I would like to see more balance, precision, and speed based skills.  Also, how about some points for style.  In my opinion if you are specializing in ninja skills, you gotta have style.  Some of these guys had no style whatsoever and it was painful to watch.

Also, the contest was sponsored by K-Swiss.  Why?  K-Swiss has nothing to do with Ninja skills.  I know they are trying to bring back their image, but all I know of K-Swiss is ugly white shoes that  kids wore in high school 10 years ago.  They should get Nike, Adidas, or some martial arts type company if they need a sponsor.

Anyway, no matter the name or the sponsor, this is a cool sport that is bringing attention to a type of skill you don't really see in most major sports.  I hope they continue to promote it and show it on tv.