Archive for the ‘The Dream’ Category

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The Calm Before the Storm

Thursday, May 17th, 2012

Just a few short days before launch of American Ninja Warrior 4 this Sunday night on G4, followed the next night by its network debut on NBC, I find myself in a reflective mood about the state and fate of this quirky crazy fun obstacle course competition as it perhaps stands on the precipice of mainstream awareness.  This season represents the moment when American Ninja Warrior gets called up to the major leagues of network NBC as a prime-time summer series from its previous minor league status as a cult favorite the past three seasons on the niche G4 network otherwise notable only for its video-gaming and Cops-rerun-watching audience.

Like a lot of competitors who have been longtime fanatics of Ninja Warrior in Japan, I feel a sort of possessiveness about this competition and some sense of ownership of it.  Whether there is any merit to it or not, I perhaps feel more ownership than most because I envisioned this very moment, this very threshold, of when American Ninja Warrior might be embraced by the mainstream American public and become a cult phenomena, driving kids and adults alike to jump, climb and swing around on any obstacle they could find.  I envisioned this even before American Ninja Warrior was created, rushing out to buy the AmericanNinjaWarrior.com domain name for $10 from GoDaddy in a moment of inspiration 5 years ago when I was SURE it would one day be a hit here in America, thinking “how could it not?” because it was so transparently awesome to me.  And I wasn’t buying the domain name for financial speculation, I was buying it because as a middle-aged guy I wanted a platform to voice my passion to compete that would hopefully translate into a ticket onto the course so I could measure myself against those unforgivable obstacles I grew to love sitting on my couch.

Now with American Ninja Warrior three seasons into its existence with a growing fan and competitor base it’s poised to take a quantum leap into the mainstream awareness with its extensive coverage on both NBC and G4 this summer, and I find myself wrestling with a mix of excitement and concern.  This was the moment I foresaw 5 years ago, so you would think I would be gratified by its arrival, but I fear that this is also the moment where it might cease to be the private obsession of mine and my small cadre of ninja brethren, and we irrevocably lose our ownership of it to network producers and the teeming masses.

While I am sentimental (clearly), I am also a realist.  If ratings disappoint, NBC will not hesitate to kill American Ninja Warrior in the cradle, and I might not ever get to run again or see my beloved ninja brothers again.  If it is a success, which I believe it will be, NBC will wrest control of it away from us and whip it to whatever frenzied success it can create, leaving we early competitors behind in its wake.  And make no mistake about it, we competitors (with the exception of a small group) are largely just rats in the maze to the producers and are totally replaceable and interchangeable.  Maybe that is the root of my anxiety, my fear that if American Ninja Warrior blows up in popularity and becomes a big mainstream success there were be a tidal wave of applicants battling to compete and myself and my early ninja buddies will no longer be invited to play, kicked out of the party right when it really starts to get roaring.  Yes, that is the root of my fear, and the thought of it makes me sad.

But all weepiness aside, I’m still proud of American Ninja Warrior and proud to be a three-time competitor in this awesome competition, and proud to be called friend by the amazing people who I have met that share my passion in this crazy quirky fun obstacle course that maybe, just maybe, America is about to fall in love with as well.

The very first moment I ever stepped onto the American Ninja Warrior course. Quad Steps in ANW2 in Venice Beach, 2010.

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Posted in Ninja Warrior, The Dream | 4 Comments »

Mission Accomplished! Got to Run American Ninja Warrior 4!

Thursday, March 15th, 2012

Mission accomplished! After a few metaphorical obstacles getting an opportunity to participate, as enumerated in my recent posts, I got to attack literal obstacles yesterday as I competed in the Midwest region in American Ninja Warrior 4 in Dallas (I went to the University of Wisconsin and lived in Madison for a number of years…Go Badgers!). I was lunatic #1 lined up in the walkon queue when I arrived about 4:30 am and used a jedi mind trick to get past one of the security guards who had turned away a few earlier arrivals who wanted into the Cotton Bowl complex to line up themselves.

These are not the droids you are looking for.

In the end most walkons got to compete, but being the first guy in line no doubt increased my chances. A couple of the production folks seemed to expect me, almost certainly due to the efforts by many of my ninja brothers to help me out by mentioning my plight to folks they knew in casting and production, and just a short half hour after I finally realized that I was going to get a chance to actually compete I stood at the starting line as just the fifth guy to attack the course in Dallas. I could scarcely believe that it was happening as they counted down 5-4-3-2-1 to start my run!

I can’t share how I did…understandably production wants total secrecy to create more suspense for the show this summer (they did say that I could share that I in fact competed), but it was an honor as always to step onto the course and compete with (not against, with) so many amazing athletes and people. I had a blast seeing my fellow ninja brothers and sisters…I love running the course, but the camaraderie of the competitors is the most amazing element of the experience. Many people wished me luck in getting to compete, and that fortified my will to make it happen, but I wanted to extend heartfelt special thanks to certain people who worked hard to make it happen by spreading the word and talking to people on my behalf like Brian Corcoran, Arsenette, David Gabel, Chris Okruhlik, Thomas “Texas Ninja”, Jaret Salas, and Ryoga Vee (forgive me if I forgot anybody who took specific actions on my behalf…I still have love for you!). Thank you everybody for helping me make this happen, it was an emotional few days traveling to Dallas with my family not knowing if I would get a chance to compete, but the love and support of many readers, fans and fellow competitors made me more determined to make it happen and sweetened the feeling when I humbly stepped on the course to give it my best!

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Posted in Getting In, Ninja Warrior | 8 Comments »

Without an Invite, Gonna Try for a Walkon

Monday, March 12th, 2012

After a bit of false hope yesterday, I found out definitively today that I do NOT have an invite. Major bummer…having gotten through all the rounds of the application process except obviously the last one, and seeing pretty much all my ninjas buddies get invitations, I’m at a loss for why I didn’t earn a spot. As one of the true superfans who foresaw American Ninja Warrior before it even was created, and has written a blog about my pursuit that has been read by literally tens of thousands of people, it hurts to not get invited.

But after about an hour of feeling sorry for myself, mostly as I continued my drive south for the third straight day towards Dallas with our car stuffed to the gills with my wife, my three little boys, and all our luggage as we headed there for our spring break (so my kids could watch me compete, instead of going to Disneyland), I pulled up my mental britches and resolved to try for one of the few elusive walkon spots in the competition. All I can do is try, and at every step of this quest to compete I’ve thought about what lessons I can teach my boys, and I guess the lessons here are that (1) sometimes things don’t go your way despite your best efforts, and (2) even when things don’t go your way you give your best and exhaust all options if it’s important to you. So despite the long odds, I’ll be doing my best until the horn sounds, whether it is on the course or standing in line hoping for a miracle.

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Posted in Getting In | 6 Comments »

In Need of a Miracle…

Sunday, March 11th, 2012

With the event just a few short days away, I’m still waiting on an invite to go run regionals in Dallas that go down Wednesday and Thursday of this upcoming week. It seems like most of the invites, if not all, have already been handed out, and pretty much every ninja I know that applied has already secured their invite. I’m wondering if there is something they don’t like about me :-( I’d think that a 40 year old middle-aged dad who is competitive would be more interesting to the viewers than another twenty-something year old parkour instructor of which they already have a few hundred (no offense to my many twenty-something year old parkour instructor friends who I love!).

I don’t really know, but I am very disheartened that I haven’t gotten an invite and I’m halfway to Dallas with the entire family in tow on the Roadtrip-from-Hell so I can have my adorable three little boys sit in the stands and watch their dad compete in their favorite TV show. Gonna feel like a big fool if I spend a few thousand dollars and a week-and-a-half on this family trip centered around my kids watching me compete in Dallas and I don’t get in.

I think at this point I need a miracle to get a spot.

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Posted in Getting In, Ninja Warrior | 4 Comments »

Just Waiting by the Phone…

Friday, March 2nd, 2012

Just waiting by the phone, all alone, hoping for a call. With less than 2 weeks before the regional competitions in Dallas, the excitement and anticipation is getting pretty extreme. Not just for me, but for all aspiring competitors. And with the first day of regionals in Los Angeles today, and some of my ninja brethren running on the course at this very moment, it suddenly feels tangible and on the horizon, yet still far from my reach. All I can be is patient, and politely and promptly provide the hard-working casting folks whatever information and forms they need. And cross my fingers. And ask for good karma from anybody who will send it my way.

The release forms for ANW4 are some serious business, and my desire to stay on the “right side” of compliance in disclosing information means that I’ll be providing pretty much no specific information from here on out about my, or anybody else’s, experience in the competition until it airs and is public information. While I enjoy blogging about my obsession to compete in American Ninja Warrior, the actual competing in American Ninja Warrior is much more important than blogging about it! So forgive me if my posts from here on out are few-and-far-between, and stick to public information like the dates of the show airing and publicity around the event. Man…I don’t even know if I can tell you if I’ve even gotten in to compete!

Click LIKE if you are a fellow ninja waiting to hear if you’ve gotten into ANW4!

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Submission Video for American Ninja Warrior 4

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012

Here’s my submission video for American Ninja Warrior 4. Hope they see the value in a 40 year old father-of-three that can bring the heat despite long odds! Check it out and let me know if you appreciate my crazy-ass obstacle course obsession!

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Posted in Ninja Warrior, The Dream | 6 Comments »

The Ninja Warrior World Re-Aligns

Saturday, February 11th, 2012

We’re all geeks for Ninja Warrior, right? If we weren’t, we wouldn’t be here right now, reading some random blog from some random guy about his delusional middle-aged aspirations to become the first American Ninja Warrior. Well, for those of us who love Ninja Warrior, the earth has shook and the planetary rotation of the Ninja Warrior orb has been turned on its axis as the entire structure and premise of American Ninja Warrior has changed in the last few weeks. Most of us came to love Ninja Warrior by watching re-runs of Sasuke (incorrectly translated as “Ninja Warrior”) on G4 of the epic competitions in Japan to find the world’s best obstacle course runner. And, yes, it was to find the world’s best obstacle course runner, because although most of the competitors have been Japanese, the producers of the show have always tried to bring in the world’s best foreigners to compete, extending invitations to Olympic athletes in various disciplines to come and try their hands at the increasingly difficult course. They too, like many others, ran and failed at some point in the 4 stage course we learned to love named Mount Midoriyama. In recent years competitions like Sasuke Malaysia and American Ninja Warrior have sprouted up around the globe to become their own events to select the top competitors to get their shot running Sasuke on the hallowed grounds in Japan. For all Ninja Warrior aspirants around the world it was all about getting a shot somehow to run that course in Japan.

Now all that has changed (at least for we Americans). With the uncertainty of future competitions in Japan, and the relative success of American Ninja Warrior the last couple of years here in America, the NBC/Comcast entertainment conglomerate has secured the rights to produce American Ninja Warrior as a standalone network program here in the U.S. No longer is American Ninja Warrior a feeder competition for Ninja Warrior Japan, but it is (for the time-being at least) its own bad self standing on its own bad own. Meaning that instead of having 10 Americans going to compete in Japan at Sasuke against the legendary Japanese group of competitors, there will be 100 Americans that will arise out of 6 regional competitions to compete in a new mega-course they are building in Las Vegas. That’s right, Vegas baby. The owners/producers of Ninja Warrior Japan are consulting on the building of the course, which is good news for American Ninja Warrior competitors who have pointed out that in recent U.S.-based competitions the quality of some of the obstacles was lacking. Whether it will be an exact replica of Mt. Midoriyama is unclear, but I believe most expectations are that it will be very similar, and will certainly be composed of many of the iconic obstacles we all love and fear like the Salmon Ladder, the Warped Wall, and the Ultimate Cliffhanger.

So 6 regional competitions going down in 3 cities (LA, Dallas, Miami), each with reportedly 125 runners, will happen throughout March to pick the top 100 guys to compete in Las Vegas on this new course reportedly on April 21-22. I believe that there will be some coverage of these regional competitions on G4 before they (for certain) show the 100 person final in Las Vegas over several weeks on NBC this summer. This is supposedly NBC’s competitor for ABC’s very popular Wipeout (although the surest way to see an American Ninja Warrior competitor go apoplectic is to ask them if their competition is similar to Wipeout).

This is a major shift in the structure and identity of American Ninja Warrior. It now stands alone, and is no longer the cable network feeder program for Ninja Warrior Japan, but its own bad self (did I say that already?). Competitors and fans have mixed emotions about this, with much loyalty and love being reserved for the original Japanese competition. While I myself am saddened at what is an increasing likelihood that Ninja Warrior Japan will “go away” at some point, I’m glad that there is a strengthened competition here in America that could keep the spirit alive even as the Mother Ship goes into retirement.

For those of you seeking to compete in American Ninja Warrior 4, go to this page on G4 to learn about the application process. Below are the locations of the regional competitions, the submission dates for the videos, and the estimated competition dates for those locations (they will confirm and narrow these dates soon).

LOS ANGELES (Northwest and Southwest Regions) – Video Submission by Feb. 14th, Competition Window is March 1-5

DALLAS (Midwest and South-Central Regions) – Video Submission by Feb. 27th, Competition Window is March 14-18

MIAMI (Northeast and Southeast Regions) – Video Submission by March 8th, Competition Window is March 27 – April 1

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Posted in Getting In, Ninja Warrior, The Competition | 2 Comments »

American Ninja Warrior 4 is Alive! It’s Alive!

Thursday, January 19th, 2012

After months of uncertainty concerning the future of American Ninja Warrior in light of the bankruptcy proceedings of the Japanese company Monster 9 which owns the rights to Ninja Warrior, apparently the powers-that-be are beginning preparations for the next American Ninja Warrior to be produced (American Ninja Warrior 4). Competitors from the last season of American Ninja Warrior (myself and my buddy Ron included) were contacted in the last couple of days by Smith & Co., the casting agency for American Ninja Warrior, in order to tell us to start getting our submission videos ready for American Ninja Warrior 4 later this year. No additional information was provided, like if this 100% means there will be another Sasuke/Ninja Warrior in Japan, or when any event will actually happen. They said they will contact everybody again in a few weeks with more details, but the fact that they are bothering to call past competitors to make certain that they are getting a jump-start on preparing their submission videos can only be seen as a very positive sign about the likelihood that another American Ninja Warrior will actually happen (although it is not a guarantee, of course).

This year a new casting company is handling American Ninja Warrior, and they are well aware of how badly the previous casting company handled their competitor pool, and it appears they are working hard to be more professional and considerate this year (last year many submission videos were lost and they only notified us 3 weeks before the competition that we had been accepted to compete). The new casting company seemed genuinely enthusiastic about working on American Ninja Warrior, and we’re happy to have them!

Rumor also has it that NBC will be more involved than ever, so there is a possibility that more of ANW will be shown on NBC beyond the final stage in Sasuke Japan. No details here…but anything that further promotes ANW and increases the possibility that it will live a long healthy life is welcome!

Click LIKE or re-tweet if you are happy to hear that news that there will be another American Ninja Warrior in the future! Yippee!

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American Ninja Warrior 4, Here I Come!

Friday, September 9th, 2011

Just like after American Ninja Warrior 2, I received more than a few questions from friends and family after American Ninja Warrior 3 about whether I planned to keep competing in Ninja Warrior competitions or I planned to hang it up. My response is the same every time, an incredulous “Why would I ever voluntarily stop? This sh*t is awesome!” I guess these inquirers just don’t have a sense of how much fun it is as a grown man to leap, climb and scamper around random obstacles. It must look like work to most people, while for the competitors it is pure fun. I’m DEFINITELY going to be back trying to get into American Ninja Warrior 4 and see if I can work, sweat and compete my way to a shot at running on the hallowed ground of Mt. Midoriyama at Sasuke in Japan.

I immediately “started” my training for American Ninja Warrior 4 the day I got back from Venice Beach at ANW3 back in May. I took a bit of a break this summer, or at least slowed down, for a couple of months when my training buddy Ron fractured his foot and I coincidentally also had a crazy spike in my job work, but I am back on the horse trying to get faster, strong, and smarter for whenever ANW4 goes down. With the popularity of ANW3 on G4 and then the big airing of the season finale on NBC, I expect a huge surge in applications to compete for ANW4, which means my submission video to get accepted has to be better than ever. I’m already mentally working on it…more to come in the future.

And for training, how am I going to prepare? I plan on continuing with my core training of rock-climbing and parkour, with some yoga and strength-training support. I also hope to get more time working on actual obstacles, which no doubt is a big differentiator between the top guys with courses in their back yards and “leisure competitors” like myself who train but don’t have a warped wall or salmon ladder in their back yard! I might have access to a couple of courses from guys I know here in New Mexico, and plan to take a trip or two up to train with the hard-core APEX guys at Boulder. Overall my training is similar to previous years…lots of grip and upper body strength combined with the intuitive speed and approach of the parkour demons (that’s my goal, at least), and then throw in more obstacle-specific work wherever I can.

Who knows if ANW4 will happen later in 2011, if the networks decide that they want to send Team America to the very next Sasuke (which happens twice a year), or it will happen in the summer of 2012 for the ‘standard’ once-a-year trip that ANW has offered so far in its three seasons. In any case, when it happens is out of my hands…the only thing I can control is whether I’m getting ready for it whenever it does down! As always, thanks for your support readers, it means a lot.

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Posted in Ninja Warrior, The Dream, Training | No Comments »

Season Finale of American Ninja Warrior 3 Tonight

Monday, August 22nd, 2011

Click ‘Like’ if you watched the season finale and admire our American competitors who gave it their all in Japan! Let’s spread the word, and please comment here to let me know what most stood out for you from this season.

Tonight the finale of this past American Ninja Warrior competition where the top ten Americans go to Japan to compete in the world’s toughest obstacle course airs on NBC in primetime. Although I didn’t make it that far, a couple good friends did, and it is a surprisingly compelling piece of television to watch them pursue their dreams to be the first American (and only 4th person ever) to complete this insane multi-stage course. These competitors dream and train hard for this, so their achievement of even getting to run in Ninja Warrior Japan (Sasuke) is something to be celebrated, and their attempts to push the boundaries of what they can do on the course is something to be admired and applauded.

Here’s a great article in today’s USA Today that talks more about this competition. Both articles like this one and the premier of American Ninja Warrior on network TV tonight represent a broadening interest in and exposure to this great competition and its amazing competitors. Below are some more articles from media sources about the competition tonight, although some are just glamorized TV listings. The USA Today article is probably the “best” article in terms of coverage and mainstream exposure:

Chicago Tribune
Times Reporter
NBC Philadelphia
LA Times

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Posted in Ninja Warrior, The Dream | 5 Comments »

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