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

Thanks for stopping by and, other than asking for your business today and keeping us in mind for your upcoming Grilling functions, let's kick this thing off.

The final two fights of the UFC PPV Saturday night in Vancouver put the show over the top for me. Bottom line, good investment. Nice, solid show. I thought the crowd would be hotter and perhaps they were but it did not seem that way to me at home. Nonetheless I'm happy I invested in the show. 

With a broken left arm, southpaw Rich Franklin knocked out Iceman Chuck Liddell with a right hand on what will likely be looked back upon as one of the more emotional nights in UFC history. Most insiders are vocal of their hope that Chuck will call it a day and I totally agree with them. 

Watching Liddell, who quite likely was winning round one, get clipped on the chin by the right hand of a left handed fighter with five seconds remaining in the first round gave me all the info that I needed to know that Iceman's time has come to hang up his four ounce gloves. 

Watching Chuck, a man I have never met but feel like I know, get KO'ed was like watching my boyhood hero Mickey Mantle not be able to beat out a routine infield hit during the later days of the career of the fabled New York Yankee and #7. It was sad. That was not the memory that I wanted to remember my fellow Oklahoman. I wanted to remember the magnificent switch hitter hitting towering home runs just like I want to remember Chuck Liddell knocking people out with Government Mule toughness and tenacity. 

Liddell should have a job for life in UFC as he laid many blocks in the foundation of the fastest growing sports entity in the world. 

Your work is done Chuck. Thank you so much for all the memories. Now take your passion, charisma and knowledge and help UFC grow even bigger by focusing outside the Octagon.

The death of former pro wreslter Grizzly Smith at age 77 on Saturday did not come as a complete surprise as the once 350 pounder was allegedly down to 165 pounds upon his death of Alzheimer's related issues. Griz's last days on earth were not kind to him from what I am told. 

Grizzly was a giant of a man who stood approximately 6'10' and weighed in the 350 pound range for most of his career. Oklahoma promoter Lee Roy McGuirk did the 'challenger out of the crowd' storyline with Griz in the early 60's that allegedly gave the huge Texan, a former oil field roughneck, from Gainesville his first break. 

When Griz and Luke Brown teamed up to form the flannel shirt, blue jeans wearing Kentuckians they struck tag team gold. The money flowed even more when the Kentuckians started a near decade long rivalry with the Assassins who were Joe Hamilton and Tom Renesto. The Assassins, named after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas in 1963, never or rarely raised their menacing and evil voices on TV and scared the hell out of most fans including this one who was around 10 years old at the time. Nonetheless it was the Assassins who were driving the bus on this one as they knew exactly how to orchrestrate this issue just as Nature Boy Buddy Rogers knew how to do the same with his common opponents a decade earlier.

When the Assassins opened Grizzly up on TV the old, old school way it for some reason, made me a fan of the genre as I assumed that was when I made the all important emotional investment in these larger than life characters. TV Announcer Danny 'watch out for flying chairs' Williams was frantic inside the WKY TV studios in Oklahoma City when this indecent occurred. It made the local news and of course McGuirk, a cagey promoter, ran with this matter and it turned into box office successes all over the territory. 

The Assassins vs. the Kentuckians sold out the then new Tulsa Convention Center for the first time and I don't recall the year but i do remember it was on January 1 and a photo of the moment with referee Leo Voss standing in the middle of the four men hung on McGuirk's office wall for years. 

Griz lived a controversial life as has been documented by his son Jake Roberts and others. Griz had two children, Jake and a daughter that was mysteriously murdered, by his first wife who I never met. He had two other children, Sam Houston (Michael Smith) and Rockin' Robin (Robin Smith) from a lady named Marsha who was Jake's teenage baby sitter. Jake discussed this matter with me during a WWE DVD interview shoot many years ago that was one of the most emotionally draining nights of my life. Poor me, right, as one can only imagine what the lives of the children of Grizzly Smith must have been like at times living in dysfunction. Ironically, like Griz who gracefully mentored many wrestlers and had a really sound, wrestling mind, Jake Roberts was blessed with one of the sharpest minds for the genre that I have ever been around in my career not to mention that Jake was a supreme ring general and crowd psychologist during his generation and one of the best ever inside the ring at knowing how to manipulate an audience.      

I actually saw Robin at the CAC in Vegas but I did not recognize her. She has grown into a beautiful, classy, businesswoman who has over come a great deal. I know that I stared at her trying to figure out who she was and now that I know I will hopefully be able to say hello the next time our paths cross. 

Grizzly Smith figuratively dodged many bullets in his controversial life and one can only hope and pray that in the after life that "Red" will live in peace.  We sincerely hope and pray that his family will endure this loss and our condolences go out to them and all that knew Griz and considered him a friend. 

The death of this man whose life was unique, to say the least, and whose life affected his own children make the release of Daniel Bryan somewhat pale in comparison.

Without question, the Daniel Bryan release from WWE has struck a significant chord with many fans that visit this and other websites.   

Bryan's release from WWE was a head scratcher but none of us likely know exactly what caused this matter to occur. I know that I don't. I do know that I am a fan of the young man's work and wouldn't be surprised to see him back in WWE in the future. If he made a mistake, hopefully it was simply a human error and those sorts of indiscretions are forgivable over time or at least they are in my eyes.

BTW I am not going to sign any petitions demanding Bryan's return, stop the pain please, sent to this website and suggest that this exercise, no matter how magnanimous it may seem, is a waste of time. Nonetheless it's a free country so have at it. 

Bryan was arguably the most talked about, most talented guy on NXT's first season and  I just don't think that we've seen the last of him in WWE and that is not 'official' but merely my opinion. Bryan can become a star in WWE and I hope that opportunity presents itself for this respectful, young man of high character who is deserving of all the good things that can come his way. Call me an optimist if you choose but I think that this matter will have a happy ending.  

If you want to know more about what others are saying about this matter go to our Q&A section or to my latest blogs and read the feedback.

Emailer...Yes, the Hot BBQ Sauce will be much HOTTER and we should have our first shipment of it in a few days. Folks that wanted Hot are going to get what they asked for. 

Emailer...Yes without question Alabama is the cream of the crop in the SEC and I don't see OU going there but instead to the new, PAC16 instead. This should or could be official by mid week as the Oklahoma Regents meet in Norman on Wednesday. BTW Alabama is my choice to repeat at National Champions because Coach Nick Saban teaches/coaches great defense and for his team to not turn the ball over. My football philosphy includes this: Players that have fumble issues need time on the sideline to reflect (Please, no Adrian Peterson cracks). Saban's high paid staff recruits great players and how can one not respect the heritage of the Bear Bryant influenced university. I have been a Bear fan for as long as I can recall and as my Dad always said that "Bear Bryant is a man's man, son, and he's the only man that I would allow you to play college football for outside of the state of Oklahoma." If only I had the ability to have to make that decision.  I would love to see Saban and Bob Stoops, two friends, hook it up in the National Championship game in January.

Emailer...the only 'guaranteed' Wrestlemania main event that I would bet a case of the world's greatest Beef Jerky on is Undertaker vs. Cena. It's only a matter of when (No, I don't know) and where. BTW, I will take the Deadman and lay the points.

Emailer...Yes announcing wrestling today is challenging and one has to serve many 'masters' and address many platforms. My biggest pet peeve are individuals who are 'playing the role' of an announcer and not being natural extensions of themselves. It seems as if I hear a fair amount of this from time to time but that might simply be me and my egocentric ears.  Also,  if any announcer is only trying to get better at their job only when they are at work then they are backing up to the pay window and are not 'emotionally invested' in their work. At least, that's my two cents. 

Q&A's are updated and you can catch up with my Tweets at http://twitter.com/JRsBBQ. I did my share of Twittering until early morning. Big night for Tweets. 

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Boomer Sooner!

J.R.