September 5, 2026 • 20 mins
NBC's "American Ninja Warrior" season 18 finale airs Monday, August 31 at 8/7c on NBC and streaming the next day on PeacockSeason 18 of "American Ninja Warrior" is bringing together the country's most elite athletes to conquer the world's most challenging obstacle courses. Hosts Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbajabiamila, along with co-host Zuri Hall, are back to call the action in Las Vegas. New this season is an all-new round to the competition featuring a supersized three-lane racecourse called the Tripleheader, where ninjas will go head-to-head-to-head in high-speed, side-by-side-by-side races. Continuing with the major changes from last season, the National Finals will follow an action-packed, all-racing format with the winner taking home the $250,000 grand prize.ABOUT "FRONT OFFICE SPORTS TONIGHT"Emmy-winning television host, comedian, and physician Matt Iseman is the host of Front Office Sports Studios' upcoming daily news program, Front Office Sports Tonight, a 30-minute, nationally syndicated television show that goes beyond the field of play to break down the most important cultural, entertainment, and business stories in the world of sports.Front Office Sports Tonight will launch Sept. 14, airing Monday through Friday and once on the weekend each week. The show's content will be informed by the reporting published on Front Office Sports, the leading multiplatform media and news organization covering the business of sports. The program has been cleared in more than 91% of America, including all of the top 50 markets.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:32):
Arrow, what's up?
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Hey, man, what's going on with you, Mr. Denver, Colorado?
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Yeah, you know, I was just there this past weekend
hanging with my mom, so it was great being in Denver.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
It's such a great place because we would always cruise
from Billings down there only because we would do e-litches.
And then we would just go all over that town
because it was like the party place.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
It still is a good time. It's crazy, though, how
much Denver has grown. But it's great. It still kind
of feels like home. I've been in L.A. 27 years,
but I still consider myself Denver's as my home.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Hey, I did something with American Ninja Warriors, and maybe
it's the Montanan 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. Because if
I'm sitting in the car and I can see exactly
what's going on without having a picture, that means you
(01:31):
guys are spot on.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Well, you know, I think of us almost like a
soundtrack in a movie, you know, when the When the
music swells and lets you know it's a big moment.
That's definitely Akbar and me. We are hyperbolic, I think
is the word to describe us. Enthusiastic is a better
way of saying it.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
We have a great time.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
And I think the thing for us that's really nice
about this show is if you watch the NFL and
you're listening to Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, they have
to try to be impartial, right? Because they don't want
to make one team feel like they're rooting against them.
And what's cool in Ninja Warrior is we don't have
to be impartial. We get to cheer for everybody. We
(02:10):
get to pull 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 it ain't my money.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
I want to make someone's life.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
And so 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 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
(02:40):
or whether it was, you know, getting striking someone out
in Little League.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
You did somewhere you thought that was hard. I was nervous,
but I did it.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
And I will remember that moment where you have that victory,
those little things in life that I think can define us.
And we all know those moments, 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 what's great, the thing
that I learned about our show is it's not always
(03:09):
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
four cancer or the loss of a loved one. For them,
getting to the star line is the biggest victory of all.
And I think that's one of the things about our
show that resonates with people is they watch it. And again,
(03:29):
you see these people, our athletes are... 47-year-old mothers of three.
They're people 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.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
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 him fall in the water. I mean,
I do. I want to see how that body is going.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
It's funny because our show and Wipeout, you know, we
were around the same time. And I think Wipeout 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. Those giant
red balls where you're bouncing around, your spine bending. And,
you know, our show, there was a point where we
(04:17):
did celebrate the falls a little more.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
But Arrow, you know, what we realized.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Was our show isn't about laughing at these athletes or
showing where they stumble.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Our show is about celebrating them.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
And I will tell you, the humbling moment for me
was the last two times I tried the course.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
It was over a decade ago now. I broke my
foot and broke my ankle.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
No.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
And that's when I realized like, you know what, this
is hard. I'm not laughing at anyone who tries 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.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
They ate their own foot with that fall.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
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.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
So that is absolutely true, and that's what's been– what
was cool about our show was when we started out
and we were coming up, a lot of athletes came here.
And I'm talking NFL athletes, Sean Merriman, the lights-out linebacker
for the San Diego Chargers. We had Olympic gold medalists
coming out, Harlem Globetrotters, Navy SEALs, all of whom thought–
(05:24):
their athleticism, skill, and tenacity would carry them on the course.
None of them hit a buzzer. But a guy like
Joe Moravsky, 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 and the evening
and transformed himself into the most successful ninja we've had.
(05:48):
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've grown up not
as rock climbers or gymnasts, but grew up as ninja warriors.
Their skill set is so, so advanced, which is why,
(06:09):
you know. You watch a 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.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
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.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
You know, I mean, again, I mean, Akbar and I,
having been athletes, we always think you can assess and like,
you know, you can 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,
(06:56):
you know, when 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.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Know, better schemes, so they should win. It's like, no, no.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
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 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.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
You know, there are no foregone conclusions. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Can you foresee a moment? And the reason why 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 advertised
to me where their weak spot is. You have to
be able to see that as well.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
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.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
And to watch.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
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
and they don't get to touch them until they're on
the course. 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
(08:26):
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.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
My grip is not failing. I'm pushing through.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
And Jesse Flex-Lebrecht, who's one of our all-timers, she was
the one, I think, more than anyone.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Who had that ability. She could just find another gear
and refuse to quit.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
And I think that's the thing that we try to
see on the course is see kind of 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 who you think is going to have it.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
They don't look like a Navy SEAL, but boy, they
act like one.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Please do not move. There's more with Matt Eisman coming
up next. American Ninja Warrior and front office sports tonight.
We are back with the unbelievable Matt Eisman. 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
(09:40):
your body through all of that as the announcers in
the play-by-play, because that requires energy.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Arrow, I want to thank you for acknowledging the athleticism
of talking. It is, because it is, you know, we
do it. We'll go in Vegas from sunset to sunrise,
you know, anywhere from....
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Six.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Seven to sometimes nine ten hours where you're going and
obviously this is not golf.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
We are not he's approaching you.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
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
(10:29):
first one who's acknowledged it and as someone I know
as a martial artist I appreciate that Now, how.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Do you prepare for the unexpected? Because what I'll do
is I'll go out and play basketball and do play
by play for two invisible teams. And I look like
a weird guy out there, but it's so unpredictable and
you've got to be on your toes at all times.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
You know, I think the secret is just kind of
what you're describing as homework is to try to be
as prepared.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
You know, we, when a season starts for about a month,
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.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
You know, how are they feeling?
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Are they nursing any injuries? So that when the run comes,
you kind of have all that information ready to go.
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 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. You never know what's going to
(11:37):
happen or where it's going to take us.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Oh, my God.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
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? What
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.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Well, I think that's what we're seeing, you know, and
sport has brought that up as we look at analytics
where what, you know, get any edge you can. And,
you know, you look at the great quarterbacks, Peyton Manning,
Tom Brady, and they said they would relentlessly study film
looking for that edge because that edge could be the
difference of going home and going to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
And that's what the great ones do. I think they're obsessive, right?
Speaker 3 (12:16):
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.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
That's a reason why I stick to hosting.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Why is it I have never seen an ego on
this show?
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Never.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
And I'll talk to my wife about that. 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.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Well, I think our show is, Ninja Warrior is a
show where, you know, most seasons, nobody wins. Most seasons, everyone,
it ends with them falling. So I think this is
a show that humbles you. And we've seen it, even
the best ninjas. You know, we saw Jeff Britton, he
(13:07):
made the climb before Isaac Caldero back in season seven.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
He did it.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
He would have won the show if Isaac hadn't gone faster.
The next season he's in Vegas, he falls in 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.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Like, all right, play harder. You can recover. It's like, no, no, no.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
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 I 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.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Most of the time you fall.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
And so I think that humbles even the biggest egos
is that you end up falling a lot more than
you end up succeeding.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
So now, Mr. Announcer 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'll go in there and go, da, da, da, da, da, da.
And all of a sudden, they're going, we need you
to lighten up just a little bit.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Oh, yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Calm down. You know, I do.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
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. And the idea
is sports is big business. So most sports shows, you know,
they focus on highlights or the starting lineups or the rankings.
Our show's focusing on everything else. Our focus is on
the business of sport. And how many conversations are being
(14:38):
driven by sport? Because as we see, we don't watch
TV shows together. We don't see movies together anymore. Everything's
on demand.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
It's fragmented.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Sports are the thing we experience together. Because of that,
look at the WNBA, how it's driving so much and
so many political discussions about women in sports.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
The Lakers trade.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
Is– the sale of the team is going on. Wondering
is it 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,
$ 10 million as an 18-year-old and then jumping to another
team the next year. I think we're all talking about sports.
We're all talking about it's driving so many of the
(15:18):
conversations and that's where our.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Show is going to live.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
So for me, it's going to be, we've got a
team of people with front office sports. We'll be leaning
on talking about deal experts, talking about the pop culture ramifications.
So it's going to be a lot of the conversations
I think people are having because sports is just driving
so much of culture.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
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, 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.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
You know, it's, it's, I think it's, it's, it's interesting
watching a sport like the WNBA have some growing pains
as it's really reaching the next level. You know, good
problems to have. And it's, 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 and, and how, how
(16:20):
much of you know, you're looking at, you know, girl
sports and you, you know, if you're a girl, dad,
thinking about what this means for your child or a girl, mom,
you know, it's, 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 news channels
revolves around sport because it's such a shared experience. And
(16:40):
because sports, 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 it's 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 did it in Qatar was 120
(17:02):
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 fascinated by the ultra
wealthy the ultra talented the ultra athletic and i think
those are the things that we'll be covering on front
office sports tonight.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Well, 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.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
It's crazy to see how this show has grown from,
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.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Ninja Warrior is an Olympic sport.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
It's like, talk about a plant your flag in the
moon moment of this thing has 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
(18:18):
is incredible. It's like we're Abner Doubleday or James Naismith
here at the beginning. And then the Ninja Warriors will
run up the wall.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Dude, 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. We
put it out there in the universe and now that
it's here....
Speaker 3 (18:41):
It was surreal when we heard about it, when we
heard that, you know, they were talking about it and
then when it got made official. And it's so cool
that it's happening here in L.A. where so much of
Ninja has happened. And, you know, I've done the Gold
Zone for the past two Olympics with Peacock.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
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 an event
instead of just talking about the events on a studio show.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
So we'll see what happens. I'm excited.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
And, you know, we've had a lot of Ninja Warriors
now who are training the other events in this pentathlon era.
And so we're hoping that we're going to get one
of our ninja athletes competing in the Olympics in this
modern pentathlon.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
And it's going to be fun. It's exciting.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
And it's just been crazy seeing it all come together
and getting to be a part of both the Olympics
and Ninja Warrior. And now that they're coming together, it's great.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Well, it's still got to be at night. And that
water still has to be freezing cold. Come on now.
We've all grown up with that, man. So it's got
to be the same.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
You know what? I already told them.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
In LA, they said we shoot to the day i'm
like come on that's right ninja warriors at night oh my.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
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.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
You're kind, Errol.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Yeah, I'm on social media, you know, at Matt Eisman, M-A-T-T-I-S-E-M-A-N.
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.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Check it out. I appreciate everyone. Errol, thanks for sharing
the love. It's nice.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
I hope people check out Ninja, and I hope people
check out the new Front Office Sports tonight.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
I'm going to be having a good time. I hope
everyone joins me.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
You be brilliant today, okay, sir?
Speaker 2 (20:33):
God damn, this is a hype talk, Errol. I appreciate it, man.
Thank you. Bye, guys.
So have you been there yet? Arrow.net, A-R-R-O-E.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 doing you. One of the big top features
is YA Authors Unplugged. I talk to the biggest names
in YA books. Why not share it with you before
(00:22):
you dive into that next book? YA Authors Unplugged, only
on Arrow.net, A-R-R-O-E.net. Enjoy your exploration.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Arrow, what's up?
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Hey, man, what's going on with you, Mr. Denver, Colorado?
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Yeah, you know, I was just there this past weekend
hanging with my mom, so it was great being in Denver.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
It's such a great place because we would always cruise
from Billings down there only because we would do e-litches.
And then we would just go all over that town
because it was like the party place.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
It still is a good time. It's crazy, though, how
much Denver has grown. But it's great. It still kind
of feels like home. I've been in L.A. 27 years,
but I still consider myself Denver's as my home.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Hey, I did something with American Ninja Warriors, and maybe
it's the Montanan 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. Because if
I'm sitting in the car and I can see exactly
what's going on without having a picture, that means you
(01:31):
guys are spot on.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Well, you know, I think of us almost like a
soundtrack in a movie, you know, when the When the
music swells and lets you know it's a big moment.
That's definitely Akbar and me. We are hyperbolic, I think
is the word to describe us. Enthusiastic is a better
way of saying it.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
We have a great time.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
And I think the thing for us that's really nice
about this show is if you watch the NFL and
you're listening to Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, they have
to try to be impartial, right? Because they don't want
to make one team feel like they're rooting against them.
And what's cool in Ninja Warrior is we don't have
to be impartial. We get to cheer for everybody. We
(02:10):
get to pull 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 it ain't my money.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
I want to make someone's life.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
And so 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 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
(02:40):
or whether it was, you know, getting striking someone out
in Little League.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
You did somewhere you thought that was hard. I was nervous,
but I did it.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
And I will remember that moment where you have that victory,
those little things in life that I think can define us.
And we all know those moments, 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 what's great, the thing
that I learned about our show is it's not always
(03:09):
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
four cancer or the loss of a loved one. For them,
getting to the star line is the biggest victory of all.
And I think that's one of the things about our
show that resonates with people is they watch it. And again,
(03:29):
you see these people, our athletes are... 47-year-old mothers of three.
They're people 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.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
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 him fall in the water. I mean,
I do. I want to see how that body is going.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
It's funny because our show and Wipeout, you know, we
were around the same time. And I think Wipeout 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. Those giant
red balls where you're bouncing around, your spine bending. And,
you know, our show, there was a point where we
(04:17):
did celebrate the falls a little more.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
But Arrow, you know, what we realized.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Was our show isn't about laughing at these athletes or
showing where they stumble.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Our show is about celebrating them.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
And I will tell you, the humbling moment for me
was the last two times I tried the course.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
It was over a decade ago now. I broke my
foot and broke my ankle.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
No.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
And that's when I realized like, you know what, this
is hard. I'm not laughing at anyone who tries 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.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
They ate their own foot with that fall.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
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.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
So that is absolutely true, and that's what's been– what
was cool about our show was when we started out
and we were coming up, a lot of athletes came here.
And I'm talking NFL athletes, Sean Merriman, the lights-out linebacker
for the San Diego Chargers. We had Olympic gold medalists
coming out, Harlem Globetrotters, Navy SEALs, all of whom thought–
(05:24):
their athleticism, skill, and tenacity would carry them on the course.
None of them hit a buzzer. But a guy like
Joe Moravsky, 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 and the evening
and transformed himself into the most successful ninja we've had.
(05:48):
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've grown up not
as rock climbers or gymnasts, but grew up as ninja warriors.
Their skill set is so, so advanced, which is why,
(06:09):
you know. You watch a 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.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
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.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
You know, I mean, again, I mean, Akbar and I,
having been athletes, we always think you can assess and like,
you know, you can 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,
(06:56):
you know, when 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.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Know, better schemes, so they should win. It's like, no, no.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
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 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.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
You know, there are no foregone conclusions. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Can you foresee a moment? And the reason why 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 advertised
to me where their weak spot is. You have to
be able to see that as well.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
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.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
And to watch.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
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
and they don't get to touch them until they're on
the course. 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
(08:26):
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.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
My grip is not failing. I'm pushing through.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
And Jesse Flex-Lebrecht, who's one of our all-timers, she was
the one, I think, more than anyone.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Who had that ability. She could just find another gear
and refuse to quit.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
And I think that's the thing that we try to
see on the course is see kind of 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 who you think is going to have it.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
They don't look like a Navy SEAL, but boy, they
act like one.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Please do not move. There's more with Matt Eisman coming
up next. American Ninja Warrior and front office sports tonight.
We are back with the unbelievable Matt Eisman. 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
(09:40):
your body through all of that as the announcers in
the play-by-play, because that requires energy.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Arrow, I want to thank you for acknowledging the athleticism
of talking. It is, because it is, you know, we
do it. We'll go in Vegas from sunset to sunrise,
you know, anywhere from....
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Six.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Seven to sometimes nine ten hours where you're going and
obviously this is not golf.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
We are not he's approaching you.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
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
(10:29):
first one who's acknowledged it and as someone I know
as a martial artist I appreciate that Now, how.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Do you prepare for the unexpected? Because what I'll do
is I'll go out and play basketball and do play
by play for two invisible teams. And I look like
a weird guy out there, but it's so unpredictable and
you've got to be on your toes at all times.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
You know, I think the secret is just kind of
what you're describing as homework is to try to be
as prepared.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
You know, we, when a season starts for about a month,
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.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
You know, how are they feeling?
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Are they nursing any injuries? So that when the run comes,
you kind of have all that information ready to go.
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 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. You never know what's going to
(11:37):
happen or where it's going to take us.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Oh, my God.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
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? What
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.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Well, I think that's what we're seeing, you know, and
sport has brought that up as we look at analytics
where what, you know, get any edge you can. And,
you know, you look at the great quarterbacks, Peyton Manning,
Tom Brady, and they said they would relentlessly study film
looking for that edge because that edge could be the
difference of going home and going to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
And that's what the great ones do. I think they're obsessive, right?
Speaker 3 (12:16):
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.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
That's a reason why I stick to hosting.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Why is it I have never seen an ego on
this show?
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Never.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
And I'll talk to my wife about that. 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.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Well, I think our show is, Ninja Warrior is a
show where, you know, most seasons, nobody wins. Most seasons, everyone,
it ends with them falling. So I think this is
a show that humbles you. And we've seen it, even
the best ninjas. You know, we saw Jeff Britton, he
(13:07):
made the climb before Isaac Caldero back in season seven.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
He did it.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
He would have won the show if Isaac hadn't gone faster.
The next season he's in Vegas, he falls in 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.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Like, all right, play harder. You can recover. It's like, no, no, no.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
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 I 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.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Most of the time you fall.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
And so I think that humbles even the biggest egos
is that you end up falling a lot more than
you end up succeeding.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
So now, Mr. Announcer 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'll go in there and go, da, da, da, da, da, da.
And all of a sudden, they're going, we need you
to lighten up just a little bit.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Oh, yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Calm down. You know, I do.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
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. And the idea
is sports is big business. So most sports shows, you know,
they focus on highlights or the starting lineups or the rankings.
Our show's focusing on everything else. Our focus is on
the business of sport. And how many conversations are being
(14:38):
driven by sport? Because as we see, we don't watch
TV shows together. We don't see movies together anymore. Everything's
on demand.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
It's fragmented.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Sports are the thing we experience together. Because of that,
look at the WNBA, how it's driving so much and
so many political discussions about women in sports.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
The Lakers trade.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
Is– the sale of the team is going on. Wondering
is it 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,
$ 10 million as an 18-year-old and then jumping to another
team the next year. I think we're all talking about sports.
We're all talking about it's driving so many of the
(15:18):
conversations and that's where our.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Show is going to live.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
So for me, it's going to be, we've got a
team of people with front office sports. We'll be leaning
on talking about deal experts, talking about the pop culture ramifications.
So it's going to be a lot of the conversations
I think people are having because sports is just driving
so much of culture.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
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, 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.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
You know, it's, it's, I think it's, it's, it's interesting
watching a sport like the WNBA have some growing pains
as it's really reaching the next level. You know, good
problems to have. And it's, 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 and, and how, how
(16:20):
much of you know, you're looking at, you know, girl
sports and you, you know, if you're a girl, dad,
thinking about what this means for your child or a girl, mom,
you know, it's, 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 news channels
revolves around sport because it's such a shared experience. And
(16:40):
because sports, 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 it's 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 did it in Qatar was 120
(17:02):
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 fascinated by the ultra
wealthy the ultra talented the ultra athletic and i think
those are the things that we'll be covering on front
office sports tonight.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Well, 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.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
It's crazy to see how this show has grown from,
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.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Ninja Warrior is an Olympic sport.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
It's like, talk about a plant your flag in the
moon moment of this thing has 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
(18:18):
is incredible. It's like we're Abner Doubleday or James Naismith
here at the beginning. And then the Ninja Warriors will
run up the wall.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Dude, 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. We
put it out there in the universe and now that
it's here....
Speaker 3 (18:41):
It was surreal when we heard about it, when we
heard that, you know, they were talking about it and
then when it got made official. And it's so cool
that it's happening here in L.A. where so much of
Ninja has happened. And, you know, I've done the Gold
Zone for the past two Olympics with Peacock.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
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 an event
instead of just talking about the events on a studio show.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
So we'll see what happens. I'm excited.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
And, you know, we've had a lot of Ninja Warriors
now who are training the other events in this pentathlon era.
And so we're hoping that we're going to get one
of our ninja athletes competing in the Olympics in this
modern pentathlon.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
And it's going to be fun. It's exciting.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
And it's just been crazy seeing it all come together
and getting to be a part of both the Olympics
and Ninja Warrior. And now that they're coming together, it's great.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Well, it's still got to be at night. And that
water still has to be freezing cold. Come on now.
We've all grown up with that, man. So it's got
to be the same.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
You know what? I already told them.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
In LA, they said we shoot to the day i'm
like come on that's right ninja warriors at night oh my.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
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.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
You're kind, Errol.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Yeah, I'm on social media, you know, at Matt Eisman, M-A-T-T-I-S-E-M-A-N.
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.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Check it out. I appreciate everyone. Errol, thanks for sharing
the love. It's nice.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
I hope people check out Ninja, and I hope people
check out the new Front Office Sports tonight.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
I'm going to be having a good time. I hope
everyone joins me.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
You be brilliant today, okay, sir?
Speaker 2 (20:33):
God damn, this is a hype talk, Errol. I appreciate it, man.
Thank you. Bye, guys.
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