American Ninja Warrior

 Welcome to the Finals So, this week and next week are it for season 12. For what they had to work with, it's not bad. Of course, I would have much rather preferred the regular Mt. Midoriyama. The extra 10 obstacle course and the Power Tower Playoffs aren't really that great for a finale, but hey, you do what you can. I think this course wasn't anything special. It was basically a regular City Finals course, right? Honestly, I know only 4 people finished, but everything was spread out in terms of what obstacle took people out. You know, it wasn't the usual where the 8th or 9th obstacle is the season killer. Only Jody Avila went out on Slam Dunk, I think, and only 2 or 3 people fell on Dragonback. They have definitely had harder courses in the past, so I wouldn't go saying this was really "finals worthy." I guess they couldn't have made it impossible because that wouldn't have been fair. Or I should say they could  have made it impossible, but they ...

 Okay, so we're going to try something new. I'm kind of returning to my old roots, and I'm just going to write as I watch. It's going to be a little bit stream of consciousness, and I'm actually coming in a little late, but let's go. I started writing on Alex Carson's snippet. Now I'm seeing David Wright, and man, it sucks that they skipped him. They advertised him, and yet... Plus he got to The Dungeon? I think he should have been shown. I still think he'll advance. David Wright is great for the next generation. At 22, we should be seeing him again, and I do believe he could be one of the greats. He's roommates and friends with Caleb Bergstrom, so the two of them training together could give us something pretty great. So, Amir Malik. He's on my radar, for sure, and he's on my list for advancers. They're giving him a lot of time for his bio, and I actually thought they pretty much already went over this. I thought he had a bio about h...

 Let's Get Started I don't have anything to say for an introduction, so let's just dive right in! Speculations So, I have a theory. Jon Alexis Jr. was part of Season 12. We know he was on the leader board last night, and on the first night of Qualifiers. My guess is, he was on Drew's "team." I don't know what connection he had, but I would be willing to bet that he was on Drew's team, and he got cut from all this because they had to get rid of any ties to Drew, since Drew was there for filming. Now, it's also possible that Jon Alexis Jr. majorly pissed someone off post-filming, pre-editing, and I have seen this happen before. Someone is completely skimmed over--not even a "while you were away"--so, it's not so crazy to think that this would happen to The Giant. However, the fact that the same exact thing happened on night one of the semifinals, paired with him running the same course as Drew (a.k.a. Night 1), I wouldn't be surpris...

 Last Night of Qualifiers So, we finally got to see the last night of qualifiers! There's not too much to say for an intro, so let's dive right in to all the excitement of the night. The Course First, let's talk about the course. I was pretty shocked by Sideways, although it is an excellent obstacle. I just figured, as I stated last time, that I thought the bungee obstacle from week 1 would be back in place considering they repeated Ferris Wheel. Between weeks 2 and 3, the courses didn't seem too different, and I suppose that there were similarities across all the weeks that we usually don't see in a regular cross-country season. However, it just seemed weird that they would have the Ferris Wheel twice, but then have two different obstacles for the other weeks. I don't know the order that everything was filmed, and maybe that all had something to do with it, but it seems almost unfair. Typically, the entire course is different across the cities they visit, so I ...