At no time did I ever…EVER say that Chris Jericho’s return wasn’t “passion worthy” and as anyone who reads this blog should know I think the world of Chris. Hell, I wrote the foreword for his book for goodness sakes! My point is this….every moment of any show can’t be the “greatest night in the history of wrestling moment.” There are only a few “bottom of the 9th” moments on any given show. For the record, I went back and listened to the Jericho return in Ft. Lauderdale and I am of the strong, personal opinion that I did NOT down sell Chris’ return whatsoever.
Wrestling announcers are much akin to wrestlers in that each are compelled to tell interesting and attention worthy stories to the audience, both live and those watching at home. To do this correctly one must exercise changes of pace, delivery, tone, tenor, and frame of mind. What we see on our monitor dictates what we describe and how we describe it. Obviously, drama and suspense are documented differently than humor or a “let me up moment.”
Sometimes my natural instincts are different than those of management, but I run the plays that are called because that is my job and I am not so stupid as to die on an unnecessary hill.
Nonetheless, wrestling announcing is subjective and every announcer isn’t going to be everyone’s favorite. All we can do is be diligent, give the effort that the product deserves, prepare thoroughly, and have fun. Some nights are going to be better than others, especially when one broadcasts a live, two hour, prime time program 51 weeks a year.
But to infer that your truly has lost his “passion” for the product, which essentially means I would no longer be a fan of wrestling, is wrong and downright ignorant.
J.R.
According to everyone I have been in contact with this week, the Oklahoma Sooners have had an exceptional week of practice in preparation for Saturday’s Big 12 Championship Showdown against the #1 ranked team in the nation, the Missouri Tigers.
The Sooners has been focused and intense in their practices, and to a man are looking forward to flying to San Antonio Friday afternoon for a return match with the explosive Tigers, who OU defeated on October 13. Seven days after beating Texas, by the way, 41-31, in Norman.
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We received three particularly interesting comments over the past few days that our webmaster decided not to include here, which was his call that I don’t disagree with, but that I would like to address.
The first one was from Spyros who posted a comment at 4:13 a.m. on November 24 who said, “As a long time WWE fan I feel compelled to say that your commentating is not as good nowadays as before.I believe you have lost your passion.” Spyros was also disappointed in my reaction to Jericho’s return.
Mike wrote, “What is wrong with you? Lately you have become a company stooge. This site used to be fine where you told things as you saw.”
And finally, Brian wrote “Are you getting too old to color the matches? You completely let out that the olympic runner was going to get laid out before it happened. Maybe time to hand up the boots/mic?”
No issues here with any one expressing their opinion of my work or our site. I have had much worse said about my broadcast skills, or lack thereof, and our website is still a work in progress that will continue to get better and better. (more…)
Greetings from under the 200X, black Resistol hat from a barbecue-loving, Oklahoma Sooner football fan who is sweating out the upcoming showdown for the Big 12 Title this Saturday in San Antonio and counting down the days until the three-hour, 15th Anniversary broadcast of Monday Night Raw.
Even a village idiot could ascertain who this week’s Raw Superstar of the Week is going to be … and that would be the incomparable “Nature Boy” Ric Flair, who helped provide one of the most memorable moments on Monday Night Raw in a good while with his “must win or lose his career” match against WWE Champion Randy Orton in the heart of “Flair Country,” Charlotte, N.C.
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My esteemed colleagues Ray Frager and Peter Schmuck are by no means pro wrestling fans, but they did indirectly give me the idea for this blog entry. In Frager’s sports media blog, Medium Well (I don’t get the title, either), he wrote yesterday about a poll in The Sports Business Journal on people’s favorite sportscasters. And last night on The Steve Davis Show on WBAL radio, Schmuck and Davis discussed sports.aol.com’s Worst Sports Announcer tournament.
As usual, my mind never strays too far from the squared circle, so the best and worst sportscasters topic got me to thinking about the best and worst wrestling announcers. Dividing the field into two categories – play-by-play men and color commentators – I have selected my three favorite and three least-favorite announcers in each. This is not meant to be a definitive list of the best and worst of all-time, just my personal opinion. There are plenty of wrestling announcers that I haven’t heard enough of to consider for the list.
With that disclaimer out of the way, here’s the play-by-play announcers portion of the list. I’ll post the color commentators portion tomorrow. I look forward to your comments and your own best and worst lists:
BEST
1. Jim Ross: With a vast knowledge of wrestling history as well as a passion for the business that comes across in his performances, Ross has set the standard for wrestling announcers for more than 20 years, whether he was working for WWE, WCW or Mid-South. Ross will always be remembered for being the voice of WWE during the biggest boom period in the history of the industry (the late 1990s to the read the rest of the story at baltimoresun.com »
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We hope every one had a great Thanksgiving and didn’t eat too much. I can’t say I heeded my own advise but I sure had a super time with family, friends, food, and football! We are excited about how well our Redneck Gift Buckets are selling. Keep the orders coming as our shippers have been instructed to do whatever it takes to get your orders out within hours of receiving them. The feedback we have received from those who have received their products has been overwhelmingly positive and we are more certain than ever that our new Gift Buckets make not only wonderful holiday gifts but great gifts for any occasion. Please check out our Store before you leave the site….And thanks for everything you do for all of us that work hard to make this website as entertaining and informative as we possibly can.
“J.R.’s Nuts” are Big!!!!
Bar-B-Qed feedback time:
Steve- Nebraska coach Bill Callahan certainly seems like a jerk. His disrespect of Dr. Tom Osborne was unprofessional and unnecessary. Now that Callahan is gone, the great tradition of Cornhusker football needs to be jump started. Perhaps they can hire Tazz as he seems to be a husker fan, most weeks. Seriously, the Nebraska job is a plum of a job and with the athletic director Peterson gone perhaps Bo Pelini who is at LSU will try once again to get the head job in Huskerland on a full time basis.
Kelvin-thanks for the props regarding the call of the Orton-HBK match at Survivor series. Most announcers only have experience doing today’s sports entertainment while I have had the opportunity to work in the territories where classic wrestling matches were always the goal. I am still a believer than there are a good many fans would prefer to see more wrestling and physicality over some types of humor especially when the humor isn’t properly executed and thus isn’t that funny. Back to HBK-Orton, the call would not have been worth talking about it the two talents had not put on such a strong performance. (more…)
Thanks for stopping by again here at our ever growing website. It is amazing how fast this site is growing and that is really a tribute to the many of you that stop by on a regular basis and especially those of you that shop with us in our store. We are shipping your orders as quickly as possible, usually within hours of receiving them. Our J.R.’s Redneck Gift Buckets are selling great and are excellent gift ideas, not only the holidays, but for any occasion.
Feedback time:
Minnesota Viking running back Adrian Peterson is referred to as “A.D.” instead of “A.P.” because Adrian’s Dad nicknamed him “All Day” when Adrian was a kid because he had the energy to run all day long. We all called him “A.D.” here in Oklahoma even when he visited the OU campus as a high school senior.
With Edge’s return at the Survivor Series, it would seem that the former multiple time champion will be back in the ring as early as this weekend.
Someone asked me if I knew the whereabouts of Tiger Ali Singh. No, and I’m not likely to research it, but I assume he is still living in the Toronto area. (more…)
First of all, Happy Thanksgiving to all Sooner Football fans and here’s hoping you enjoy the holiday with your family and friends. Regardless of the heartbreaking loss at Texas Tech last week, all of us still have a great deal to be thankful for as it relates to our favorite football team.
Also, please don’t forget to include our troops in your prayers and thoughts this weekend. Many of us will be fortunate enough to be able to see OU play Oklahoma State Saturday, either in person or on TV, while many Oklahomans serving our country will have other priorities with which to address.
There is not much more that can be said about the disappointing play of the Sooners last Saturday down in Lubbock that hasn’t been already been repeated over and over. The team’s sense of urgency, or seemingly their lack thereof, was disheartening against Tech especially with so much at stake, including the opportunity to play for another national title on January 7. However, the Big 12 Championship and a BCS Bowl Game are still within reach with a Sooner win on Saturday in Norman against our in-state rival, who has designs on breaking hearts in the Sooners’ house Saturday at 2:30 pm.
J.R.
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Random thoughts from under the black, 200X Resistol hat from suddenly chilly Oklahoma, as your resident barbeque aficionado is preparing for the annual Bedlam Football Game between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State this Saturday in Norman and still thinking about the 21st Survivor Series last Sunday.
I really enjoyed the 21st Survivor Series last Sunday in Miami and felt that many of WWE’s most valuable Superstars really stepped up to the plate in their respective bouts. The Hell in a Cell Match was wrought with physicality and drama. You gotta love it, as Undertaker and Batista beat the hell out of each other, but it was the returning Edge who seemingly got the last word. WWE Champion Randy Orton and Shawn Michaels put on a clinic of a wrestling bout, which took me back to days of yesteryear when great, pure wrestling matches were the order of the day more often than not. The Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match was exciting and showcased several talents who needed the extra exposure, and none of them failed to deliver. Even the use of three announce teams in the Elimination Match worked well, as that journey could have certainly been a train wreck of individual agendas and people talking over each other, but that was not the case.
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Bar-B-Qed Feedback from J.R. to you…
Kevin- The CNN snafu on their piece on wrestling and drug use contained very little new info and was simply an OK piece of business, production quality wise, but the altering of John Cena’s statements was disturbing and discredited the entire broadcast. However, for anyone to put the blame on Ted Turner for this matter is wrong. Ted’s not involved with CNN, as best I know.
Milan- As I understand it, Gregory Helms’ estimated return date is March of 2008. My advice to Gregory would be to not rush it and make double sure that he is 100%, as neck surgeries are nothing on which to compromise the healing time.
Clint- I really like Mizzou’s team that OU beat by 10 in Norman earlier this season, but until someone puts a loss on Kansas I have to lean toward the Fighting Manginos against MU for the game to be played at Arrowhead Stadium in K.C. The Big 12 North has most likely never had a bigger game played in their division since the Big 12 was formed. This year’s Big 12 Title game on December 1 in San Antonio should be a real classic. (more…)
