Wow!
If I’d known I would have been there. Just found out this week when we received a press release from the governor’s office.
For those who don’t know about “America Nina Warrior,” the show is an obstacle course competition on NBC, and that originated in Japan. As part of its American format, different cities each season serve as hosts for city finals. Episodes of the show last season averaged more than 7 million viewers. It was the second-highest rated summer series on NBC last year.
The show features mostly young men, a couple young women, and a few middle-agers who manage to qualify, all of whom are amazingly fit and buffed, and who must run what appears to be (at least to me) an insurmountable obstacle course. They must hang right side up, upside down and sideways, crawl over and under numerous obstacles that won’t stand still, then hop, skip, jump and nearly fly over things that bump and spin, and climb up a wall with no handholds or footholds. If a competitor misses any of the above, they drop into a big pool of water.
It’s amazing.
The “American Ninja Warrior” episodes in Oklahoma City are scheduled to air June 20 and Aug. 1.
I didn’t happen upon “American Ninja Warrior” until last year. The show fascinates me. I don’t know why. I’m a nerd. I like TV shows on PBS that feature critters, history, science, etc. “American Ninja Warrior” is way out of my interest box.
It’s like “Downton Abbey” on PBS. I, and the rest of America it seems, got fascinated by “Downton Abbey,” a show about England in the first 20 or so years of the 20th century. It featured a cast of characters depicting the rich and the poor. I tried hard to figure out why “Downton Abbey” was so attractive. I never figured it out. My great-great-great-great ancestors came from there, and I often wondered if I just wanted to know what they were up to before moving to the USA, before it was the USA. Now “Downton Abbey” is over. They quit while they were ahead.
And now it’s “American Ninja Warrior.” Why am I so fascinated? A quick check on the Internet reveals most of the guys watching the TV show believe they can “do that.”
Ha, ha, ha, ha. No, I can’t do that. I don’t even want to do that.
Some may detect I like to watch good looking young men, with lots of popping muscles, jump around, through and over things, looking like Tarzan, and wearing about the same amount of clothing. Well, maybe, just a little.
But there’s a whole lot more about these youngsters to admire. First, they set the goal. Then they work every fat cell in their body off training to reach that goal. Then they perform, most usually with great humility, and most fail. They splash down, then face an interviewer who wants to know “How do you feel?” now that you have failed. I’d be tempted to push the interviewer into that same pool of water I just had to climb out of on national TV.
These intelligent young (from my perspective) athletes have a grace I should work on to develop myself.
It is their determination, their dedication, and sometimes, their delight in making it through the course that fosters hope in all of us. And if they celebrate winning with a Tarzan-like yell, who can blame them. Do they fascinate me because they demonstrate that, if we work very hard at what we wish for, we can accomplish that goal?
I’d like to hope so. I am inspired.
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