Jon Ryan: American Ninja Warrior

We here at Emerald City Swagger would consider ourselves big Jon Ryan fans. The Seattle Seahawks punter has been to two Super Bowls in a row and even has a championship ring to show for it. But he’s also as lovable and weird as anyone in the NFL. Here he is being goofy on Twitter. Here he is blowing up the internet. He even threw a touchdown pass in the greatest NFC Championship game ever played.

As you could probably guess, Ryan’s not stopping there. No, the big ginger is at it again, this time taking his talents to the entertainment sector. Or do we call it the ninja sector? Either way, Ryan’s going to be competing on American Ninja Warrior. This is going to be awesome.

What, you ask, is this American Ninja Warrior thing, exactly? Glad you asked! American Ninja Warrior is a television show where normal, non-ninja human beings compete in a series of vastly more ninja-like activities than are performed in day-to-day life. Obstacle courses, more or less, but, like, really cool ones. Hard, too. The show’s course is rather famously difficult.

Ryan will be competing against other professional athletes for the chance to win $500,000 for a charity of their choice. Ryan’s chosen charity is his own, the Bob Ryan Scholarship Fund. The money goes towards scholarships and cancer research. Are you getting the feeling that Ryan is just the best dude? Pretty sure this dude is just the best dude.

Best of all is that you won’t have to wait long to watch this excellence. The show airs tomorrow, Monday the 25th at 8pm PST on NBC. How does Ryan feel about all this? Is he ready? According to him, “in football, I know what I’m doing. Out here, I don’t know what I’m doing.”

So be excited. I’m excited. Are you excited? You’re excited. Here’s a sneak preview of what’s to come:

Screen grab of @JonRyan9 #ginganinja on @ninjawarrior - airs Monday in US thank u @kimholcomb for making our Friday! pic.twitter.com/2dGhT426Qg
— GearUp with Jon Ryan (@JonRyanGearUp) May 22, 2015

Awesome. Go Seahawks.