American Ninja Warrior

There's something about the City Finals that are more exciting than Vegas. Of course, Vegas is the most important, and it's the main event, but the City Finals separate people. While Vegas has all the best people and big names in one place, the City Finals allow for a little more of the spotlight to be on others. Not on everyone because they skip a lot of people in order to show bios and interviews, but some rookies and hidden gems have a better shot to be known. I realize someone like Josh Levin is going to be talked about no matter where he is because he is a pretty great competitor, but his best friend Charlie Andrews or the Papal Ninja, Sean Bryan, got to bask in the limelight. Speaking of Charlie Andrews and the Papal Ninja: I was a little surprised to see Andrews receive the POM Wonderful Run of the Night. At first, I was worried because I thought that meant only one person finished the course, but as a rookie in the City Finals, that's really great for him. I feel...

There was a record low for Qualifying Finishers which is a testament to hold difficult this course was. Taking a look at the obstacles. I think the balance one was easier than the other cities. The paddle boards didn't take out a lot of people, and the bar doesn't spin all the way around, if you understand. The paddles moved down on either side if there was a lot of weight, like it should to make it difficult, but it seemed that as long as they hit it in the middle, there was no problem. For a lot of balance obstacles, speed is a great ally, but for this one, speed didn't seem quite as necessary, just precision. I think this was to balance out the difficulty of the second obstacle, the Ring Swing. Denver was similar to Cleveland in that the second obstacle wasn't a "slide down and grab" type. The Ring Swing actually required some strength, and if they hung there too long, which was very likely to happen, it could potentially take out a lot of energy. The ...

This was one of the most exciting cities because it had some great names. The biggest surprise was Allyssa Beird. She may have been one of the Fantastic Four, but I wasn't so sure how well she would do. She didn't strike me as exceptionally strong, but, clearly, I was wrong. She was the first woman all season to hit a buzzer, and that includes Jessie Graff. I feel like last year she barely made it into the Top 30 based on time and speed, so that's why she didn't stick out too much. This year, though, she definitely made a mark, and no one is going to forget her. I really thought that her accomplishment was overlooked a little toward the end because of Jesse Labreck. Jesse earned the POM Run of the Night, and she is pretty amazing, but after Beird ran, and a couple other people finished, she was just another finisher. Maybe that's good because she is being treated like any other athlete and not getting special attention just because she is a woman. Beird is dating a...

So, I didn't think Kansas City would be filled with too much excitement when they advertised for Lance Pekus and the Towers of Power. Don't get me wrong, I think Lance Pekus is a great competitor, and it's probably just a personal opinion, but I didn't think anyone was Drew Drechsel or Joe Moravsky level. I was definitely pleasantly surprised at the competition here though. Starting with the biggest name: the Cowboy, Lance Pekus. His story was similar to JJ Woods in the sense that it was a redemption story. I think ANW is a bit overdramatic about these types of situations because they play the really sad music during the bio and show the dramatic clips of the competitor looking defeated, and then pump it up and show them working twice as hard. Which, again, don't get me wrong, there's no doubt in my mind that they work really hard after they fall really hard, it's just over the top because I'd rather see them succeed then listen to their story of how ...