J.R.'s Family Bar-B-Q

It’s nice to be back at home after a 3 day and change road trip to the northeast, that included stops in New York City, a whopping three hour car trip from MSG to Philly, and the second HD Monday Night Raw at the Wachovia Center before a large, but seemingly less than expected loud crowd in the City of Brotherly Love. No that’s not a knock on Philly, but the fans there are usually more boisterous, but perhaps they weren’t seeing what they needed to see to get them over the edge. Who knows the reasons, but there sure were a bunch of younger kids there, which works for any promoter.

The biggest news to come out of the weekend was the surprising return of John Cena, who some WWE fans seemingly dislike as much, if not more than they did before John was injured and underwent pec surgery to repair a torn tendon. As I have said before, when fans pay their hard earned cash they can cheer or boo for whomever the hell they choose. This is certainly not to say that John Cena doesn’t have a legion of fans, because I can tell you from his merchandise numbers that John does. I was backstage at MSG pretty much all afternoon Sunday and NEVER saw Cena one time. I am under the impression that John did not arrive to the arena until after the event started, but that’s an assumption. When I talked to John on Monday he said he was feeling great and was healthy, that he had rehabbed extra hard for his return and was bench pressing around 400 pounds, which sounds pretty damn healthy to me. One of Oklahoma’s strength coaches was Cena’s coach in college and said that John was strong as a bull when he arrived on campus as a freshman and spent more time in the weight room than any other player on Springfield College’s football team. That doesn’t surprise me considering Cena’s work ethic.

Broadcasting the Rumble match with 5 other announcers is a challenging piece of business. Unlike the Money in the Bank Ladder match that multiple announcers did at WM23, the Rumble match is so long and diverse with 30 multiple entrants that it is tough to maintain continuity while hearing so many voices and trying to insure that everyone has a chance to “get in the game.” I would have been happy to have sat that one out if that decision had been made even though I thoroughly enjoyed the Rumble match.

I am surprised that Cena is not waiting until Wrestlemania 24 to have his WWE Title bout with Champion Randy Orton, but with only a three week window to promote No Way Out, the Cena-Orton match is “made” and will hopefully, along with the star laden Elimination Chamber, encourage fans to invest in a PPV so soon after the Royal Rumble.

From a broadcasters point of view, at least for me, the Elimination Chamber is challenging to broadcast because of the extreme uniqueness of the event and the nature of the structure, especially the sight lines. Thank goodness for the TV monitors. No participant comes out of the Elimination Chamber unscathed I assure you. The structure is far from being wrestler friendly.

Speaking of No Way Out in Las Vegas, yours truly is heading out to Vegas early to attend the Kelly Pavlik-Jermaine Taylor rematch for the middleweight boxing championship. Pavlik is from Youngstown, Ohio and I have many friends who hail from Youngstown, including current Oklahoma head football coach Bob Stoops, who will also be attending the Pavlik fight with a group of my pals from Norman.

Ring announcer, Michael Buffer, who strolled into the Garden Sunday to do one match for what I am sure was a handsome payday, was allegedly not overly approachable on Sunday, according to some. The King said Buffer was somewhat aloof when Jerry attempted to strike up a conversation with the accomplished ring announcer, but I never had the occasion to converse with Buffer so I don’t know if he is simply reserved, somewhat introverted, or was simply jet lagged.

There is lots of interest in the Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir UFC 81 fight coming up this weekend. Insiders tell me that Lesnar is essentially a lock to win this one. I wouldn’t go so far as to guarantee a Lesnar win, but Brock winning would be really huge for the UFC at a time when they need a succession of financial, big hits. The UFC is counting on Lesnar becoming a big time success, but there are no guarantees in the MMA arena regarding who makes it and who doesn’t.

The Stone Cold Steve Austin DVD comes out on February 12, as best I recall, and I received an advance copy of the DVD about a week ago. All the content is material that Steve himself wanted to include in the release and I can assure you that Steve is such a perfectionist that much of what is perceived to be great material by many of us did not make the cut. Stone Cold fans everywhere will truly enjoy this DVD….because Good ‘Ol J.R. said so!

Dr. Death Steve Williams will be wrestling in OKC this Saturday night in the Capitol Hill area. The local promoter has bouts in OKC somewhat frequently and Doc is making another appearance inside the ropes come Saturday night. I remain amazed that Doc is able to continue to compete after such a battle that he had with throat cancer. God does some amazing things.

I read where some establishments do not air WWE PPVs any longer. I don’t know the details regarding that one or how accurate that statement may be, but we air all the WWE PPVs at J.R.’s Family Bar-B-Q Restaurant at I-35 and Main Street in Norman. We had a packed house Sunday night from what I am told for the Royal Rumble. For the record, we never charge a cover, but do appreciate folks eating dinner and not just enjoying just a single glass of sweet tea for 2-3 hours. :)

National signing day for college football incoming class is just about a week away and is one of my favorite times of the year. Most college football fans look at recruiting as simply “another season." Oklahoma has a top ten ranked class from their list of non binding, verbal commitments and if all the kids keep their word, this class is going to be one of OU’s best in years. Apparently Florida and Miami have the top rated classes projected, from what I have been able to ascertain and Texas always does well with so much great talent in their state. Foley, Alabama’s Julio Jones was in Norman over the weekend visiting OU and the 5 star wide receiver would certainly make this 2008 recruiting class even more spectacular.

Speaking of Texas, Monday Night RAW rolls into Austin, Texas this week and I would bet some delicious J.R.’s Bar-B-Q Sauce or our new J.R.’s Peanut Brittle that yours truly will be booed when I walk to my broadcast position with my theme music of “Boomer Sooner” blaring. As I said earlier, when folks pay their hard earned cash to attend an event they should be able to boo or cheer whomever they choose and I am a big boy and can handle it. As a matter of fact I am actually looking forward to the short flight to Austin which, for the record, is a helluva town to visit. From what I gather, two Monday night Raws will be produced in Austin so the fans in that area will truly get a Texas-sized version of Monday Night Raw and tickets are selling well, from what I am told. Yours truly will be in Austin on Sunday to be able to catch the Super Bowl game and still get a good night’s sleep to prepare for the “double-header” come Monday night. For the RAW fans in Austin who are planning on attending the event, be aware of the special starting time.

Nice line by the entertaining Santino Marella about “J.R. erecting a monument, a small monument, nonetheless (somebody must have seen me swimming naked when the water was cold), in his pants thinking about Maria posing for Playboy Magazine.” These days I’ll take the occasional “on camera” any way they come my way. The fact that my old face isn’t exactly HD friendly isn’t a piece of new news sports fans. However, perhaps Marella doth protest too loudly as the smart money is on Maria doing a classy shoot in Playboy sooner than later.

Cody Rhodes actually wore those new, blue boots for the first time Sunday at the Rumble. Prior to Sunday Cody was wearing his dad’s old boots or hand me downs from Cody’s brother Dustin. Cody is only 22 and is going to be a BTP (big time player) if he can stay healthy. He is a really bright kid who was a state wrestling champion twice in Georgia. Cody’s Mama was a helluva athlete. :)

I thought many young WWE Superstars had impressive outings during the Rumble match including Cody, John Morrison and C.M. Punk, among others, who all have potential.

The Super Bowl media blitz this week is almost too overwhelming. I have no dog in this fight but I lean toward the Pats, but not by the 12 points that they are favored. If the G-Men can harass Tom Brady like the folks from TMZ seemingly do, then New York has an excellent chance in winning. NYG establishing a consistent running game and keeping Touchdown Tommy and his crew on the sideline for long periods of time will go a long way in assisting the Giants in scoring the upset and not allowing New England to make history by running the table.

Our post holiday business is doing well and our Valentine’s Day offers are some of the best deals we have ever had. If you casually like Peanut Brittle, I can honestly say you will love our brittle, that is authentically “homemade." Plus, have you ordered your “I’ve Got Big Nuts” T shirts yet? I hope you will simply take a moment and check them out in our store that never sleeps.

We will have more blogs this week and will do our best to address some of your emails with updated Q&As this week, too.

BOOMER SOONER!
J.R.