I've intentionally avoided this thread until today... I don't have cable television, so I always saw the show the day after everyone else, once History.com posted it on the web. As such, I tried to avoid any potential spoilers.
I'm very happy with the people who made it to the final four in season 3, and I'm really glad that Jake wasn't among them. All of the finalists seemed to be good, sportsmen-like competitors, and you couldn't have asked for a nicer winner than Dustin... he really seemed like the underdog at first, but I was really pulling for him after a couple of weeks of watching him shoot.
Of course, as a Coloradan, I was kind of hoping to see the Conifer resident in the final shootout, but he still did really good for himself!
I'd happily throw my hat in the ring for a season of this show... it would be one heck of an awesome experience!
It is easy to sit here and critique these guys, and I've been guilty of it myself. Many of the shots they've taken are commonplace shots that many of us take on a regular basis. For instance, I shoot rifle a lot, and wasn't overly impressed by a lot of the rifle shots in this show. Why not add some smaller targets at much longer distance? Our local club-level "steel dogs" matches have prairie dog sized targets out to 550 yards, for instance.
BUT, even with that said, these guys are doing it with weapons they are handed without any real chance for adjustment and familiarization. They are also shooting across various disciplines, against competitors with different levels of expertise in each discipline. And, they are also shooting with the knowledge that millions of people will be watching their performance (for good or for bad). That's not even to mention that there's still the issue of the $100K that must be stuck in the back of their minds.
It sounds easy from the comfort of my couch, and I'd love the chance to try it out for myself, but I'm not entirely convinced that it is as easy as it seems. For example, I could pluck golf balls with boring monotony with some of my rifles at 100 yards. But, could I do it under the pressure of competition with a rifle that someone else had sighted, and then handed me right off of the rack with no chance to familiarize myself with it? Well, I don't know. I'd love to find out though
Barring Jake, this was a good season leaving me with only one request for future shows: Quit throwing stuff. Not knives, not tommyhawks, certainly not ROCKS.
This is Top SHOT after all.
^Agreed.
The throwing stuff is silly, and looks more like carnival tricks. A person's ability to throw a rock has no bearing on their ability to shoot. The logic that the competitors have to be good with "any weapon" doesn't pass my litmus test as far as the rock throwing is concerned... at least not unless they are going to add a boxing competition to the next Top Shot season.
It's supposed to be about shooting. Not throwing things.