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

Random albeit BBQ'ed thoughts from under the black hat....

Yours truly will be leaving town on Friday to head south to Waco, Texas to attend the Oklahoma-Baylor college football game on Saturday slated for an 11:30 a.m. kickoff on Fox Sports. If you see a black hat wandering the Sooner sideline you'll know I made it. 

After the game, I will immediately head back to Dallas to catch an early evening flight to Portland for Sunday's No Mercy PPV. 

Tazz and I have two bouts to broadcast Sunday in the Rose Garden which is one more than ECW's Todd Grisham and Matt Striker.

My wife and I watched the Vice Presidential debate Thursday night and I DVR'ed the hour long Wrestlemania special on MyNetworkTV TV. Sarah Palin seemed to exceed expectations but at the end of the contest it seemed like Joe Biden got his hand raised in the equivalent of a political, intergender match. In truth, this presentation was more entertaining than many intergender matches that I have seen but that's another story.

I still haven't decided what candidate for whom I will vote for President. It is obvious that Mrs. Palin will be hammered by the media and by the Democrats with the old "what if" something happens to John McCain and Palin is the new President of the United States train of thought. 

Oh yeah, and I'm still not a fan of intergender wrestling matches.

I have watched a great deal of WWE 24/7 On Demand and it is really amazing how much more talk there is nowadays on wrestling TV shows than back in the day. There is so much talk these days that when a show ends I am challenged to remember all the verbiage that I just heard. In years past, the most important items of business in terms of selling tickets were afforded the most TV time to speak their piece and when the show ended one was more likely to remember what was said.

I saw a trailer for the Andre the Giant movie and it was, well, not good. This movie can't be released but it may escape. Most wrestlers can't act but these actors couldn't act. 

I'm pulling for Ken Shamrock on Saturday night on CBS against hard hitting Kimbo Slice but Kenny's best chance of winning is to take Kimbo down quickly and avoid Slice's bombs. Shamrock taking too many hard shots really concerns me and to think that this might be the fight that ends Ken Shamrock's storied career isn't the way I would have preferred to see Ken exit a sport he helped pioneer. Sadly, if Shamrock does win another promoter will convince Ken to fight "one more time" for another payday no matter the collateral damage the fight may inflict on "The World's Most Dangerous Man."

Gina Carano is a much more pleasant reason to watch the fights and I have become a big fan of her work. Gina and Jenny Finch are two of my favorite, female athletes. Just because I'm on a "diet" doesn't mean I can't look at the "menu."

You may have heard yours truly on All Night w/ Todd Wright's radio show on the Sporting News radio network Thursday night talking about the Smackdown move to MyNetworkTV and the Sooners' game on Saturday. 

One of my all time favorites in the wrestling business, Terry Funk, at the tender age of 64 is apparently wrestling this weekend. That is amazing and speaks to the passion and heart of one of the greatest ever because he damn sure doesn't need the payday. Both Terry and his brother Dory should be in the WWE Hall of Fame in my opinion.

Speaking of legends, I received an autographed copy of Blackjack Mulligan's book and I am taking it on this road trip that will end Wednesday. He autographed it to me with "to the best of the best" which is so personally meaningful to me coming from a man like Bob Windham aka Blackjack Mulligan. When I am finished with this one I will give you a "book report" and so far I have enjoyed it and can hear "Mully" talk as I read his story. 

Many of you know that I am a huge ZZ Top fan and have spent many enjoyable hours with the boys in the band especially my pal Billy Gibbons.  I am also a huge fan of the Eagles and they played Green Bay the night before we were there for Friday Night Smackdown. Damn, I wish I had known and I would have flown up earlier and attended their show. Ironically, they stayed at the same hotel I stayed at while in Packerland. I would love to have had a cold brew with Joe Walsh but perhaps another day. 

It was confirmed a few hours ago that next Friday October 10, the day before the Oklahoma-Texas Red River Shootout that I will be a guest on ESPN's College Football Live. Obviously, I will be discussing the Sooners vs. the Longhorns game the next day. I hope you check it out and I'll have more info for you next week.