Nobody is saying that.
Yeah, that’s kind of the point. It’s anyone’s guess. I made my guess in the thread.
Note that Brent Steffenson – the guy you say is too important to leave out – didn’t get a wildcard last year. Neither did Flip Rodriguez.
My impression is that they changed their policy last season. Two seasons ago, Brent S, who had made it further than anyone else in the previous season’s finals, fell off on the salmon ladder during city finals, and got a wild card spot anyhow. And they never really said anything about how they assigned the wildcard spots.
Last year, they specifically said something like “wildcards go to the oldest competitors in each region, and the top women” or something like that, and they did NOT give wildcards to Brent S, Flip Rodriguez or Drew Dreschel, three well-known ninjas who all failed to qualify for realsies.
So if the pattern from last season is consistent, Noah Kaufman will NOT get a wildcard, but a bunch of women (presumably including both Kacy and Meagan) will.
Although of course they could change the policy again, or my analysis could just be flawed from the start.
Great run by Sam Sann. The walking bar was brutal. Glad Brett made the cut.
Brian
Gonna have to maintain my ambivalence about these painfully difficult City Finals obstacles. Okay, I get that the athletes have gotten better and that certain tasks aren’t as much of a challenge for them anymore. But here’s the thing: That’s only an issue if more than 15 competitors are clearing the course. We weren’t anywhere near that point two years ago. And then Cannonball Alley comes along and made a complete hash of things…and NBC, having completely failed to learned the lesson (or, worse, thinking that it was a good thing) has followed up with Body Prop and Walking Bar.
Yes, I firmly believe that finishing should mean something. And that’s exactly why I’m opposed to these bottlenecks…because that becomes the de facto finish point, meaning that actually finishing means NOTHING. When Kacy Catanzaro made her run for the ages, a big factor in how important it was was the little fact that, at the time, there was doubt that she wouldn’t have made it through if she didn’t finish.
Is it the patch? Is NBC so worried about giving away “cheap” patches that they’ve ramped up Round 2 to such a drastic level? I hope not…these aren’t Super Bowl rings, for crying out loud. (I can just imagine some desperate former competitor attempting to sell his patch on Ebay.)
Not much While We Were Away-ing tonight. Also, we only saw 23 competitors, and only one of the top 15 wasn’t shown (Anthony Scott). If I were to hazard a guess, I’d say that there just wasn’t a whole lot to hype up tonight. They were really scraping the bottom of the barrel for previews. Daniel Gil has the same hairstyle as his girlfriend? Really? That’s what passes for a frickin’ story now?? Still, there was more focus on the actual competition, which is always a plus.
Besides that, just a few tidbits:
- Would’ve really, really liked to have seen Slider Bar instead of Walking Bar. Still can’t believe they just plain abandoned it.
- Actually think Crazy Cliffhanger is pretty cool (and not that ridiculous, you just gotta know what you’re doing).
- Invisible Ladder is an okay substitute for Spider Climb, but it needs to be balanced out with a lower body-intensive obstacle. Do not like how upper body-centric City Finals has become.
- Try-to-succeed-where-the-other-failed subplot with Kacy Catanzaro and Brett Steffensen hit just the right note of poignancy without getting overly maudlin, a HUGE rarity for this show. I may be cynical, but credit where it’s due. I don’t see Steffensen ever repeating his breakout performance of 3 years ago, but he’s paid his dues and I wish him only the best.
- Warped Wall is just too easy compared to everything else now. Once again a grand total of one missed attempt, and it doesn’t scare anyone anymore. Remember when getting up it was what separated the men from the boys? I can understand the symbolic appeal of running up it and hitting the button, a literal conquering of the mountain, but its time as a decider is past. Make it the second obstacle.
- Outstanding run by Sam Sann. I doubt he’ll go much further, but he’s made his mark. And hey, kudos for being probably the only serious competitor who’s found a way to make money off of this!
Can’t imagine what Stage 1 is going to look like. Don’t know whether to be excited or terrified.
Stage 1 changes are mostly cosmetic; the core three obstacles of consequence don’t change:
Jumping Spider
Half-pipe Attack
Spinning Bridge
Recent years have added a somewhat tricky hanging drop onto a smallish raft at near the beginning, and of course the the warped wall with little room to gain momentum is tricky for some, but the majority of the difficulty is from the above “big three.”
It always starts with quintuple steps I think, and always ends with the cargo net climb thing. The variety is mostly just between the quintuple steps and the jumping spider. Sometimes it’s spin-related (log roll, jump onto spinning ring) or bullseye style of hanging off something as you slide down toward a raft.
Not sure what you’re talking about
I think it’s too iconic to change, which is a bit of a shame, because I think it’s one of the obstacles that most rewards being tall and punishes being short.
I’m not particularly bothered by how difficult the finals courses have been. And honestly, how can they really know? And if it’s difficult, then that just gives more benefit to whoever finishes the qualifying course faster (and thus gets to run later) (that is how it works, right?), and it means there’s a tension between trying to be careful and trying to go fast enough that you’ll still qualify if there’s one of the massive-fail obstacles.
I’m not sure what the “right” number of people to have finishing each city finals course is, one-to-three might be a hair low, but I think low is better than high.
What I am talking about is how Slider Bar used to be one of the obstacles on Stage 3, no one ever got to it because it was after Ultimate Cliffhanger, it got replaced by something else when Brent Steffensen made his historic run, and we’ve never seen it since. I don’t like it when an idea is wasted. If it needs to go because it’s too easy/boring/dumb/anticlimactic, I’d like to see some proof first.
Yeah, Warped Wall is too iconic to change. So make it the second obstacle. It’s pretty simple: easiest to hardest. Both because it makes sense, and because having logjams like Hourglass Drop in the early going really doesn’t benefit anyone. As it is, Daah Waww has been Bee so thoroughly that maintaining its place as a great proving ground doesn’t make much sense anymore.
And trust me, when I saw that Walking Bar/Crazy Cliffhanger/Invisible Ladder gauntlet (coming right off of Salmon Ladder, no less), I knew right then and there that it would be a meatgrinder. I was actually very surprised that anyone finished.
What’s the right number of finishers? I think half of the spots (i.e. 7 or 8) is a good starting point. Of course, if it climbs into 10-13 territory, there will be more pressure to finish, or at least get to Invisible Ladder; if it drops a bit, consistency becomes the key. (Other than anomalies like Venice Beach, I’m not really seeing a scenario in City Finals where you can hit the afterburner, fail early, and squeak through on time.) The important thing is keeping things honest for the later competitors. If Kevin Bull knows that he doesn’t even have to get up the wall to advance, what’s his incentive? Did you see how relaxed Sam Sann was getting through Walking Bar? That’s because he already knew he could fail. He made it. He was playing with the house’s money at that point.
Double Helix didn’t look too difficult, but watching it in motion, it would be very challenging because of the constant need to pull yourself up.
Cannonball Alley continues to end run after run.
Drew Dreschel. Reverse dismount?!? Wow. Amazing. Just unreal. How can you grip the edge with one leg backwards. Even watching it in replay, it is like… what!?! Awesome.
Adam Arnold. A future veteran for sure. What a great run!
The Giant. Lack of focus I think since he do so well in qualifying. I think he was thinking about the back half of the course.
Neil Craver. As always I love it when somebody beats their personal best. On top of that, what heart and grit!
Flip Rodriquez. I like the new serious Flip. He has some serious talent, speed has killed him the past. Or in other, he has been his own worst enemy. That intense look in the face! Wow. He also seemed so genuinely happy to move on. I think it felt like redemption for him.
James McGrath. It is always amazing when you see somebody make it look easy, because you know it so hard. And then, the Invisible Ladder. You know sometimes it feels like it should be a piece of cake compared to the other obstacles, but when you see The Beast struggle you know just how hard it is.
This all really speaks to Adam Arnold who seemed to have a pretty easy go overall (although The Beast was faster). Adam will be a future star.
These courses have seen so one-note to me lately. Like the last four/five obstacles are all arm strength. Couldn’t they mix it up more?
This was one of the best non-Mt-Midoriyama episodes ever… all the important or prominent runs they showed in full, and seeing two different top ninjas get so close to the top of the invisible ladder and fail, and then James McGrath seem on the verge of the same thing… epic.
I’m surprised no one tried the foot approach to cannonball alley. Not like they haven’t seen it, given how often it’s been replayed.
Mt Midoriyama is pretty much all arm strength, all the time. It only makes sense to do the same thing for the prelims.
I don’t think Flip has any real chance to finish it all. He’s a parkour guy competing in a rock climbing contest. Only the climbers have any kind of realistic shot.
Although I mainly agree Akiyama Kazuhiko’s athletic background was soldiering and greco-roman wrestling (although the counterpoint is he won Sasuke 4). That’s one of the things I like about ANW, it really is open to many different types of athletic backgrounds. However, clearly, there are certain types of exercises / training that are vital and parkour by itself doesn’t have these.
The thing that really stood out for me (other than #7 being the big tipping point for the second week in a row, something I’m kinda hoping doesn’t become a trend) was the overall tone of the show, particularly regarding the stories. I mean, let’s be honest here: the reason you don’t hear all kinds of tales of woe and heartache and struggle among sports superstars is that those kind of terrible burdens would’ve probably prevented them from becoming superstars! If anything, they’re the ones causing misery. So what we were left with in Orlando were 30 strong, fit guys with lives that were at worst not bad. Meaning that the stories were more simple, honest, down to earth. This man moved in with his friend to train. This man had to wait a really, really long time to get his shot. This man is a successful doctor, so you know he understands the importance of being in shape. This man is just larger than life and a favorite to go far. This man teaches stunt jumps to kids, and wow, it’s pretty amazing, isn’t it? It actually was not unlike an actual pregame show, and FAR more bearable than the mindless pap we were constantly subjected to in qualifying. Let’s hope this continues. It probably WON’T, I’m just hoping!
MaxTheVool - The unusual thing about this week was that it was feast or famine. Of the 24 runs NBC showed (one more than last week, for the record), 16 got as far as Cannonball Alley, while 5 didn’t even make it to Warped Wall. This allowed NBC to save time by showing the early exits while chopping down or 3WA-ing some of the CA runs.
Personally, I’m against the highlight reel approach to reality TV because 1. what the producers find cool very, very rarely jibes with what I want to watch, and 2. there are all kinds of moments which, while technically “bad”, can be pretty entertaining or darkly funny and I really don’t mind seeing just that one time. I’ve said more than once that I’d gladly pay for a full, uncut first season of American Idol, and I’d love to see a huge America’s Got Talent outtake reel (on mute, so I wouldn’t have to listen to the stupid insipid judges’ blather and neverending BOOOOOOOOing).
But, given the way ANW is made, this is probably as good as it’s going to get.
Ellis Dee - If you look at Sasuke, even the recent ones, you’ll see that it’s always been a comprehensive test, and speed and balance count for a lot. Justifying City Finals being upper-body intensive because Stages 2 and 3 are like that strikes me as the tail wagging the dog, and more than a bit wrongheaded in any case. One thing’s for certain: If NBC wants to continue highlighting strong, fearless, capable women who can do what men can, they’d better de-emphasize the upper body come next season.
Of course, the obvious solution would be to have different contests for different body types/skill levels, but of course that’s a stupid idea that will never work.
As for Flip, if I was a betting man (which I won’t be in a million billion quillion years, mind you), I’d say he goes out in Stage 2. He’ll get through Stage 1, he’ll look decent and regain his confidence and not embarrass himself, but he just doesn’t have the speed or strength to make it any farther.
BeepKillBeep - I’ve been trying to figure out what’s so formidable about Cannonball Alley, and from what I can tell, smooth round objects are just really hard to hold onto. Make them free swinging as well, and there is absolutely no margin for error. I think a fairer contest would have them fixed or on hinges.
What made Double Helix so tough was simply how long it takes to get through it. Same deal as Doorknob Arch. Just draining.
Here’s hoping John Alexis Jr. gets a wildcard. I want to see a big guy tackle Stage 1. Kinda missing Bull Bullard.
That new guy (Geoff someone?) was pretty amazing. Breezed through the entire course, barely looked winded. Made Joe Moravsky look like an also-ran, and everyone else look like an amateur.
This really is NOT the year of the woman, compared to last year. Lots of embarrassing failures in the city finals, only Jessie Graff qualifying as a non-wildcard (if I’m remembering correctly).
It is definitely the larger balls that seem to give a bigger problem so I think it is pretty much a grip issue. Although the trick, if you want to call it that, seems to be draw it close and grab it sideways.
Last night’s show was good as usual. This definitely seems like a harder year all-around. Invisible ladder seems to be a killer for the usual finishers. Of course, this means people will train for it, so we’ll see more people succeed next year. And the cycle continues!
Geoff Britten was crazy good. It was amazing how easy he made it look. And that’s cool. If everybody fails you always wonder, did they go to far? But if somebody succeeds it says “See it can be done, you just need to train harder you lazy ninja!” I kid of course, these guys are amazing, I don’t think I could get by the quintuple steps.
Another very harsh CF. This time at least the wealth was spread out a little more, with nine going out on Monkey Bars and four on Doorknob Arch. Out of 150 qualifiers so far, a grand total of TEN have gone the distance, and only six others have made it to Invisible Ladder. It’s starting to look like the order of the day is not to worry about finishing, just get far enough and don’t injure yourself.
Geoff Britten looked amazingly strong tonight and has to be considered one of the favorites. I’ll wait until he gets past Stages 1 and 2 before I start getting excited, however. As upper body-centric as this contest has become, you still need to know how to run if you want to have a chance.
Max - I know it’s been a bit of a letdown, but let’s please keep things in perspective. Neither Martin (out on 4th obstacle) or Warnky (out on Salmon Ladder) made it on their own power in 2014, and Graff was out with an injury. Catanzaro was the only one who looked really impressive, and on a course nowhere near as tough as this year’s Houston CF. She caught a bit of a bad break on that shifting net thingy this year; if she made it, she’d actually have an outside chance of getting through; all she’d need to do is get through Salmon Ladder reasonably quickly. Anyway, the bottom line is that we have the same number of female qualifiers this year as the last, one. I’m not seeing any letdown.
And “embarrassing failures”? Really? You’re imposing flippin’ expectations on them now?? As you may recall, the great appeal of this contest is the sportsmanship, the respect the athletes have for one another, the ability to forget about politics and hype and bitterness and just be thrilled by the incredible spectacle in front of your eyes. I’d like to keep it that way, thank you.
BKB - Yeah, they’ll be ready for it next year, but I think we’ve reached the point where technique can’t really take them any further. From here on out it’s a bitter, grueling arms race, and getting through Stage 3 is going to take every last ounce of everyone’s strength. It might reach the point where you have to be a bonafide professional-level athlete to have a chance.
Not really. You just have to be a rock climber.
The thing that makes Stage 3 so impossible is that jumping bar thing, which looks to require crazy amounts of luck to get through.
God forbid anyone completes stage 3, though, as stage 4 appears to be virtually impossible.
Well, of the top 4 female competitors, 3 went out in ways that had to be viewed as underperforming.
I guess it’s mainly a contrast to last year, where not just one but many women suddenly did way better than any woman had done before. And this year, things stayed about the same, maybe a bit worse, so it feels like a big step backwards.
I’m hoping we’ll see a woman make a serious run at beating stage 1 of Mt. Midoriyama, which I think several of them definitely have the potential to do.
Bit of an anticlimactic episode… if I was paying attention properly, some people who failed on the SALMON LADDER ended up in the top 15?
Then we have a week off before Mt. Midoriyama begins. Boo! Bring on the national finals!