TV shows that make us dumber...and ones that make us wonder...

OK.  I was hanging out with the in-laws at my house, we're in a bit of a lull in the late afternoon.  I'm flipping through the channels and stumble upon, on ESPN2, the Rock, Paper, Scissors National Championship.  That's right you heard me the USARPS League National Championship.  Seriously, they have a website!

You can tell the ESPN guy that was there was really not too happy to be there, ripping on the "expert" color commentator the whole time.  It was absolutely insane that this so called expert was talking about "strategy," and how one person in the final match was fatigued because his last three matches went to 3 sets.  A set is won when one person wins 2 out of 3 throws.  So an entire 3 set match might take...uh...3 minutes.  Fatigued? 

Even more amusing was that poker pro Phil Gordon was the official referee.  He this dude is talking about fatigue and the ref is a poker pro!  Hilarious!  I guess in Vegas this is a big deal because apparently they actually have RPS tables that people gamble on with a dealer.  Seriously there are 10 barely legal people sitting there pounding there hand into their fist, hoping their rock will crush the scissors the dealer is going to hand out.

Of course, there were interviews with the finalists, who have nicknames.  One was some white dude dressed in a boxer gown trying to sound like the old Cassius Clay/Ali.  Apparently he is one of the top ranked RPS people in the world.

When my wife found out that the winner took home $50,000, she said, "That's one of the biggest waste of resources I've ever seen."  I actually felt dumber because I watched it, but I had to because I couldn't believe ESPN2 was televising it.

I'm sure there's strategy, mind games, and whatever...but seriously I don't think RPS is going to become an Olympic sport anytime soon. 

On the other hand, I love watching Ninja Warrior.  it's a show from Japan where people go through this crazy obstacle course, essentially with the skills a ninja would have.  It's a tremendous test of strength, endurance, and mental toughness.  What's even more crazy is that they have four stages!

It starts with 100 people, and by the end of stage one maybe about 12 make it, after stage two you might have 5-7.  Stage 3 is absolutely ridiculous (including going across globe handled monkey bars...going across only using your fingers and palms around a little ball to cross the water).  I think only one person so far has ever beat the whole thing.  I'm starting to see more Americans go over and try it.  It's crazy to watch.  Half of the fun is hearing the commentator get excited in Japanese with the subtitles flying across.  Just incredible stuff to watch.

Anyway just had to write something down...