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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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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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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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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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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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Got My Invite to Compete in American Ninja Warrior 3

Tuesday, May 10th, 2011

After a long stretch of anxiety wondering whether I’d get an invitation to compete in American Ninja Warrior 3 that’s going down in just 6 short days, I finally got my  invitation today!  I’m ecstatic!  Words can’t express how giddy I am to have gotten my slot to run after so much uncertainty the last few weeks.  Yes, it is just a silly obstacle course competition, but STFU I love it!

I fly out with my good buddy Ron, who also got an invite today, on Sunday afternoon and will bunk down just a half mile from the course at Venice Beach at a cool old art deco hotel (the Cadillac Hotel).  Then Monday and Tuesday will be the opening rounds (I requested a Tuesday run slot but will obviously take whatever they give me), and then the top 30 times from the opening round will advance to the semi-finals on Wednesday.  From the 30 semi-finalists only 15 finalists will advance to the boot camp section to pick out the 10 strongest competitors to go to Ninja Warrior in Japan to compete.  Anyway, just elated to have gotten my golden ticket to compete!

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Competition a Week Away, Still Waiting Invite

Monday, May 9th, 2011

With American Ninja Warrior 3 starting in just one week, I’m still waiting on pins and needles for my official invitation.  The semi-finalists from last year, the top 30 times from the opening round, were given automatic invitations to ANW3, but everybody else is still waiting for official word with the competition just one short week away.  A few weeks ago I heard from casting asking me to fill out a 10 page questionnaire and release form that seemed to be a good indication of their interest…last year they only sent the same form AFTER we had been accepted.  But it seems like the bar has been raised for acceptance into ANW3, perhaps because of an increase in applicants, perhaps because they are thinking about ANW’s future as a major network show.

I did get a call last week on Thursday from casting which I had foolishly interpreted as my invitation call.  Earlier that week several of my friends in the competitor community had gotten calls with their official invite, so when they called me I assumed the same.  We had a 10 minute conversation during which the very nice lady from casting asked me more profile questions.  I was happy and chatty during the call, thinking I had my invitation wrapped up.  It was only at the end of the call that I realized I hadn’t.

Her:  ”OK, we’ll let you know next week.”

Me:  ”Let me know what?  My run time?”

Her:  ”Noooo….I’m sorry….whether you will be invited or not.”

Me:  ”Doh!”

She felt badly that I had misinterpreted the purpose of the call as an invitation as opposed to just a chat to get more information from me, and perhaps hear whether I was charismatic or not in a conversation.  She assured me that the call “was a good thing” and they’d only be talking to me further at this point if they were interested, but I still left the call with a lot of trepidation about whether I’d be invited or not.

I’ve subsequently learned that a lot of other competitors have been getting this “additional profiling” chat, more than those that have received an actual invite, so I have a lot of company in this awkward situation of not knowing whether I’m going to get a chance to compete in American Ninja Warrior 3 that starts in just one short week.  I’m sitting here by my phone with my fingers crossed hoping I hear from them…the suspense is killing me!  I feel very prepared for this competition and have all my travel arrangements, hopefully it won’t all be for naught.

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My Submission Video

Thursday, April 7th, 2011

With the video submission deadline around the corner, I was finally able to complete and edit my submission video. The opening introductory sequence where I talk about myself for like 30 seconds is kind of dark, just had to hastily shoot it this morning, but I think the rest of it is pretty good video quality. My goal was to demonstrate that I had the overall skills and ability on specific obstacles to be a serious competitor. Please let me know what you think!

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Posted in Getting In, The Competition | 1 Comment »

My Friend Ron’s Submission Video

Wednesday, April 6th, 2011

Those of you who have ever read some of my earliest blog posts will be familiar with my friend Ron. Ron and I first started watching Ninja Warrior together about 4 years ago, and since then he and I have been training to compete mostly through rock-climbing (and more recently parkour). He’s a good buddy and a comrade-in-arms in my Ninja Warrior quest. He got accepted to compete in American Ninja Warrior 2 last summer, but a new job situation prevented him from attending. Anyway, he’s back again this year and really hoping to get invited. Here’s his submission video.

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