American Ninja Warrior Is Going To The Olympics Back With Matt Iseman

0:00Meet the Red Bull Dragonberry Emergizer. It's one of the many new drinks out now. Who knew ice cold drinks could be so fire? Try them all only at McDonald's. So if you've been there yet, arrow.net, arro.net, a collection I'm talking 21 different podcasts to add to your day, whether it's in the car at work or just out doing you, one of the big top features is YA authors unplugged. I talked to the biggest names in YA books. Why not share it with you before you dive into that next book? Why a authors unplugged? Only on arrow.net, arro.net. Enjoy your exploration. Arrow, what's up? Hey, man, what's going on with you, Mr. Denver Colorado? Yeah, you know, I was just, I was just here this past weekend hanging with my mom, so it was great being in Denver. It's such a great place because we would always cruise

1:01from buildings down there only because we would do e-litches and then we would, we would just go all over that town because it was like the party place. It still is a good time. It's crazy though how much Denver has grown, but it is, it's great. It's still, it still kind of feels like home. I've been in LA 27 years, but I still consider myself Denver's as my home. Hey, I did something with American Ninja Warriors and maybe it's the Montana or somebody who travels to Colorado, but what I did was I changed it to an MP3 and I listened to it while driving in the car. Do you realize that you guys are the actual stars of that show because you draw the picture? You, because if I, if I'm sitting in the car and I can see exactly what's going on without having a picture, that means you guys are spot on. Well, you know, I think of this work, we're almost like a soundtrack in a movie, you know, when the, when the music swells and let you know it's a big moment. That's definitely a part of me. We are hyperbolic, I think, is the word to describe us. Enthusiastic is, is a better way of saying it. We have a great time in the, and I think the thing for us

2:07that's really nice about this show is, you know, if you watch the NFL and you're listening to Joe Buck and Troy Ackman, they have to try to be impartial, right? Because, because they don't want to make one team feel like they're rooting against them. And, and what's cool in Ninja Warrior is we don't have to be impartial. We get a cheer for everybody. Yeah. We get a poll for these athletes. We get invested in them. We want them to do well. Listen, I want to give away a quarter million dollars because today my money, I want to make someone's life. And so it's, it's really been, it's really been fun, I think, for Akbar and me. And obviously he played in the NFL. I was a college athlete, but you appreciate hard things. You appreciate when people do something athletically that's a challenge. And that's, I think, what's, what's been fun about the show for us is to see people. I always say like, you have a moment. You know, whether it's winning the Super Bowl or whether it was, you know, getting striking someone out in Little League, you did somewhere you thought that was hard. I was nervous, but I did it. And I will remember that moment where you have that victory, those little things in life that I think can define us. And, and we all know those moments.

3:10And I kind of, you know, I call it the Rocky Balboa moment, the Rudy moment, Karate Kid where you have that moment. And what's cool, I think what our show does is you get to see people having those moments. And, and what's great, the, the thing that I learned about our show is, it's not always the ones who hit the buzzer. It's not the ones who win. Sometimes it's the people who just make it to the start line, who overcame something, who overcame stage 4 cancer or the loss of a loved one. For them, getting to the start line is the biggest victory of all. And I think that's one of the things about our show that, that resonates with people is they watch it. And, and again, you see these people are athletes are, you know, 47 year old mothers of three. They're, they're people with, with jobs, they're people with struggles. And people see themselves in our athlete. And when they see them do something incredible, I think deep down when we're watching, we all feel like, maybe I can do something incredible in my life. And I think that's what the show offers people. Don't you think it's also a modern day way of doing slapstick because I got to be honest with you. I want to see it fly in the water. I mean, I do. I want to see how that body is getting wobbly.

4:12It's funny because our show and wipe out, you know, we were around the same time. And, and I think wipe out was really the one where, you know, it was like, it was like Jackass where you're taking a giant hand to the face and being knocked into the water. And then you know, you know, it was a giant red balls or your bouncing around your spine bending. And, you know, our show, there was a point where we did celebrate the falls a little more. But arrow, you know what we realized was our show isn't about laughing at these athletes or showing where they stumble. Our show is about celebrating them. And I will tell you the humbling moment for me was the last two times I tried the course. It was over a decade ago now. I broke my foot and broke. And that's when I realized like, you know what? This is hard. I'm not laughing at anyone who drives it. And so, you know, once you get humbled like that, you're a lot more like, well, you know what? That was a tough obstacle. I'm not going to laugh at the fact that, you know, they, they just ate, ate a foot. They ate their own foot with that fall. Well, I love the fact that it is year long training for every one of these people. It is their focus. It is their drive. And that to me is an honest to God authentic sport.

5:19So that is absolutely true. And that's what's been what was cool about our show is when we, when we started out, we were coming, coming up a lot of athletes came here. And I'm talking NFL athletes, Sean Mariman, the lights out linebacker for the San Diego charges. We had Olympic gold medalists coming out Harlem Globetrotters Navy seals, all of whom thought their athleticism skill and tenacity would carry them on the course. None of them hit a buzzer. But a guy like Joe Moromsky, the weatherman whose athletic highlight was JV soccer in high school. He becomes obsessed with this sport to the point where despite being a father of three, despite having a job as a weatherman on local TV, he found time to train in the morning in the evening and transformed himself into the most successful ninja we've had. And I think it's one of those sports where as you mentioned it, you don't get there just on talent. You have to put in the work. You have to develop your obstacle skills. And particularly now that we've had this next generation of ninjas kids who grown up, not as rock climbers or gymnasts, but grew up as ninja warriors.

6:21Their skill set is so so advanced, which is why you know, you want to show from 10 years ago, our ninjas from today would walk through those courses. The obstacles have gotten so much harder as our athletes have gotten so much better. Do you ever stand at the end of either side of the end and sit there and try to make a projection of the season because you get to forecast the entire season, whereas everybody tunes in when they get the opportunity. But you get the full show. You know, I be again, I mean, Akbar and I, having been athletes, we always think you can assess and like, you know, you you could gut check like, hey, that person looks like an athlete, they look confident. And I've just been so wrong so many times that it's just it really is the thing of and part of the fun of this show is when you get surprised is when someone, you know, when when the the great one stumbles or the one who has no chance rises up. I think that's what we love, you know, that sports are unpredictable. That's why you have to watch that, you know, they're not played on a sheet where well this team has better offensive line and you know, better off scheme so they should win.

7:28It's like, no, no, sometimes you play the game and it just doesn't work out that way and that's what's fun on our show is you just never know what's going to happen. And so, you know, we have ideas, we, we even this year, we started making picks. And as you can see with most of us getting it wildly wrong. We don't know what's going to happen, but that's what we love about it is the fact that, you know, there are no foregone conclusions. Can you foresee a moment and the reason I bring that up is because in martial arts, when I was inside that ring during those tournaments, if I saw a foot move differently or a shoulder drop, I went, oh my God, that person's going down because they just advertise to me where their weak spot is. You have to be able to see that as well. You know, I think what you see the thing that we've really checked in on that I'm sure as a martial artist, you can appreciate is the physical element is so much easier to grasp and to watch. But it's the mental element that I think separates the great ninjas, the ones who have the discipline to do the work, but also the ones who don't panic when they're out there because again, for people who don't know, these ninjas don't know what obstacles they're going to face.

8:32And they don't get to touch them until they're on the course. So you have to have tremendous problem solving skills where you say, I think this is what I'll do, but until I get up there, I won't know, I won't know how heavy that bar is, I won't know how much it spins, I won't know how far that actually looks how I can launch myself. And so you have to have these problem solving skills, but what you also have to have is things get tough, you get tired to have that extra gear to have that ability to say not today. My grip is not failing, I'm pushing through and and Jesse flex LeBrec, who's one of our old timers, she was the one I think more than anyone who had that ability, she could just find another gear and refuse to quit. And I think that's the thing that we try to see on the course is see kind of mentally, how do they look? Are they still, are they still solving the problem? Do they still have that confidence? And that's, that's what we look for, but it's, it's so great when you see people who, you know, may not look like the person you think is going to have, they don't look like a Navy seal, but boy, they act like one.

9:33Please do not move, there's more with Matt Iceman coming up next. Extra value meals are back. American Ninja Warrior and front office sports tonight, we are back with the unbelievable Matt Iceman. You guys have got athleticism as well, because I mean for you guys to record the way you do, because we get the edited version on the flat screen, but you guys are there for hours. I don't know how you put your body through all of that as the announcers in the play by play, because that requires energy.

10:33Arrow, I want to thank you for acknowledging the athleticism of talking. It is, because it is we, you know, we do, we're, we're, we're, we'll go in Vegas from sunset to sunrise, you know, anywhere from. Six, seven, sometimes nine, ten hours, where you're going and obviously this is not golf. We're not, he's approaching. You know, it is 10 out of 10 the whole time. And so that is one of the things is I've actually, I've had to work with a heavy metal vocalist coach on how to try to preserve my voice. That and a lot of hydration as I just, my voice is already starting to crack. So it's fun. I mean, I always brag that we're tremendous athletes, but you're the first one who's acknowledged it, and as to someone I hear knows a martial artist, I appreciate that. Now, how do you prepare for the unexpected, because what I'll do is I'll go out on and play basketball and do play by play for two invisible teams, and I look like a weird guy out there, but you've been so unpredictable, and you've got to be on your toes at all times.

11:33You know, I think the secret is just kind of what you're describing as homework is to try to be is prepared, you know, we, when a season starts for about a month, a month and a half leading up, we're going to be start looking at, you know, we're going to look at the submission videos. We're going to look at their bio forms. We're going to check out their social media. See what's going on with their lives, physically, how are they doing? I'm trying to learn about the course, and when we get there, we talk to the athletes and try to get a sense of what their approach is, what their mindset is, you know, how are they feeling? Are they nursing and injuries? So that when, when the run comes, you kind of have all that information ready to go. It's it's a lot of homework to be ready so that when something happens, you're like, okay, I'm ready for this. Let's go with it. But, but again, what I love, I love being surprised, and that's one of the fun things is, you know, it keeps you on your toes, which is why I love it. It's, you never know what's going to happen or where it's going to take us. Oh my God, you just said that you meet them face to face. Well, as a martial artist, what I would do is go there and watch how they're breathing. Is it from the chest? Is it from the stomach? What are they doing? How are they doing with their arms? I am studying every inch of that person that's going to be in that ring with me because one of us is going home and one is going to the hospital.

12:40Well, I think that's what we're seeing, you know, in sport has brought that up as we look at analytics where what, you know, get any edge you can. You know, you're looking at the great quarterbacks, Peyton Mannington Brady, and they said they would relentlessly study film looking for that edge because that edge can be the difference of going home and going to the Super Bowl. And that's what the great ones do. I think they're obsessive, right? They look to get that little edge in as many areas as possible because right, you get 1% better in 10 different areas. All of a sudden, you know, you've gotten a whole lot better cumulatively. And so I think that's what the great ninjas do. And that's a reason why I'm not a great ninja. That's a reason why I stick to hosting. Why is it I have never seen an ego on this show never? And I'll talk to my wife about that. I'm going I need to be studying this because I got to figure out where they're stuffing that dang ego because we all have one. They just don't display it. Well, I think our show is a ninja warrior is a show where you know most seasons nobody wins. Most seasons everyone it ends with them falling.

13:45So I think this is a show that humbles you in and we've seen it even the best ninjas. You know, we saw Jeff Britain. He made the climb before Isaac called Jeroback in season seven. He did it. He would have won the show if Isaac hadn't gone faster. The next season is in Vegas. He falls on the very first obstacle. The very first obstacle. You're like, oh my god, the guy who made it all the way falls on a little balance obstacle. And you just see it's hard. It's going to happen because you know, if you make a mistake, it's not like, all right, play harder. You can recover. It's like, no, no, your season's over. That misstep ended a year of work. And so the stakes are so high and it's, you know, my mom always says, oh, I feel so bad. You tell a story. You get us to care about someone and they fall and they go, but that's why it means something when they hit a buzzer because it's hard because most of the time you don't do it. Most of the time you fall. And so I think that humbles even the biggest egos is that you end up falling a lot more than you end up succeeding. So now, Mr. Announce your guy who we know on American Ninja Warrior. You're also shifting over there to front office sports. How do you handle that different personality change? Because you know how we are. We're going there.

14:55Going, and all of a sudden they're going, we need you to lighten up just a little. Oh, yeah, calm down. I think what's well, here's what's cool is Ninja Warrior right like I'm the voice of it. What's cool with front office sports? For those who don't know, front office sports is a digital platform been around for a decade. The idea sports is big business. So most sports shows, you know, they focus on highlights or the starting lineups or the rankings, our shows focusing on everything else, our focusing on the business of sport. And how many conversations are being driven by sport because as we see nobody, we don't watch TV shows together. We don't see movies together anymore. Everything's on demand. It's fragmented sports are the thing we experienced together because of that. Look at the WMBA how it's driving so much in so many political discussions about women and sports how the Lakers trade is the sale of the team is going on. One thing is going to influence the Dodgers billions of dollars at stake here looking at college sports with this NIL collective where now, you know, these athletes are getting paid $6, $7 million is an 18 year old and then jumping to another team the next year.

15:59So I think we're all talking about sports. We're all talking about it's driving so many of the conversations and that's where our show is going to live. So for me, it's going to be what we've got a team of people with follow up sports will be leaning on talking about deal experts talking about the pop culture ramifications. So it's going to be a lot of the conversation that think people are having because sports is just driving so much of culture. I would love to see the research on what they're doing at American Ninja Warrior when it comes to because we do seem to be into this age right now. I love me some Sophie Cunningham. I love Caitlin, but to be at each other that the way that they are with other players, I don't ever want to see that on American Ninja Warrior. I want to believe that everybody is in love with the sport and we are here because we're grateful for being here. You know, it's I think it's it's interesting watching a sport like the WNBA have some growing pains is really reaching the next level. You know, good problems to have and it's it, but it's fascinating. I think as we look at it and we all have opinions on it, it's just amazing that you see how how much conversation comes out of this.

17:04Yes. And how how much of you know, you're looking at, you know, girl sports and you know, if you're a girl dad, think about what this means for your child or a girl mom, you know, it's incredible to see again how sports is driving so many of the political conversations and so much of what people are talking about on New Year's Eve. People are talking about on news channels revolves around sport because it's such a shared experience and because so much of society eventually comes down to what we experience in sport on a smaller scale, the World Cup, you know, as we're looking at its discussions of immigration and discussions of tariffs and discussions of the big business of it and trying to figure out how to finance it and you know that they added timeouts for TV timeouts, but they're saying it's for hydration because it's too hot. They didn't even guitar was 120 degrees and didn't have it. It's money. It's all money and it's trying to figure that out. And I think there's so much at stake that it's fun to be in that world because we're all fascinated by it, right? That's the show's succession where we're fastated by the ultra wealthy, the ultra talent in the ultra athletic. And I think those are the things that we'll be covering on front office sports tonight.

18:08Well, I'm fascinated with the fact that I can sit down with a 10 year old or a 75 year old and we can talk about American Ninja Warrior like it is a NFL game or professional wrestling. We all have our inside and we're all talking about it. It's crazy to see how this show has grown from a, you know, we started out on a cable network G4 that doesn't exist as a knockoff of a Japanese show. And now, you know, in 2028, Ninja Warrior is going to be a part of the modern pentathlon and the Olympics here in LA. Ninja Warrior is an Olympic sport. It's like, talk about a plant, your flag in the moon moment of this thing is gone from a reality TV show to now an Olympic sport. It's amazing to have been a part of it and to see the growth and to see how many people, how many kids grow up, not as soccer players or gymnasts or baseball players, but as Ninja Warriors now. And to feel like we've gotten to be a part of the growth of this is incredible. It's like for Abner, double day or James Nase Smith here at the beginning of and then Ninja Warrior, so run up the walk.

19:11Dude, I've got, I've got recordings of you seven years ago where you and I were talking about the Olympics and the attitude was, yeah, I hope, I hope, I hope maybe one day one day. God dang, it's here, dude. Yeah, we, we put it out there in the universe. And now that it's here. It's, it was surreal when we heard about it. When we heard that, you know, they were talking about it and then when it got, got made official and it's so cool that it's happening here in LA where so much of Ninja has happened. And, you know, and I've done the gold zone for the past two Olympics with peacock and I'm, you know, I'm probably going to be doing that again. But I definitely want to be involved in this modern pentathlon era. It's like, this is my chance. This is my chance to really be at the Olympics and covering it events instead of just talking about the events on a studio show. So we'll see what happens. I'm excited. And, you know, we've had a lot of Ninja Warriors now who are training the other events in this pentathlon. And so hoping, we're hoping that we're going to get one of our Ninja athletes competing in the Olympics in this modern pentathlon. And it's, it's going to be fun. It's exciting. And it's just been crazy.

20:16You know, seeing it all come together and getting to be a part of both the Olympics and Ninja Word. And now that they're coming together, it's great. Well, it's still got to be at night and that water still has to be freezing cold. Come on now. That's what we've all grown up with that. Man, so it's got to be the same. You know what? I already told them in LA. They said we shoot during the day. I'm like, come on. That's right. Ninja Warriors at night. Oh my God. Where can people go to find out more about you, Mad? Because you're very active with your creativity. You understand your gift and you're so willing to give it away. You're you're kind arrow. Yeah, I'm on social media, you know, at that. I'm an MATT ISEMAN. Front office sports tonight. Go to front office sports tonight. There's a station locator find out where it's airing in your neck of the woods. American Ninja Warrior. The finale is this Monday. Check it out. I appreciate everyone. Arrow, thanks for sharing the love. It's it's nice. I hope people check out Ninja and I hope people check out the new front office sports night. I'm going to be having a good time. I hope everyone joins me. You be brilliant today. Okay, sir. God damn. This is a hype talk. Arrow, I appreciate it. Man, thank you. Bye, guys.