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

 Firstly, I hope everyone had a safe and fun July 4th weekend. The Ross' certainly did here in Norman, Oklahoma as it was HOT and the BBQ was EXCELLENT. My 5 and 2 year old granddaughters got right with the program eating both brisket and ribs....chips off the old block. :)

I read a lot about "spoilers" for future events based on live event bookings. This is one of the biggest misnomers in the biz as the folks that come up with the live event cards 99% of the time have no clue as to the creative direction, say, 2-3 months out. This isn't just theory as have I not only "been there" but I still consult on matters such as this upon occasion. This isn't a big deal one way or another but it seems that some folks put more stock in "spoilers" than the info might merit.

Yours truly is still getting settled in with my new broadcast partner Mick Foley, who wore an awesome T Shirt last week on Smackdown, but I still have moments of confusion, no jokes please, regarding who is on what brand upon occasion specifically who is on Smackdown and who is on ECW. Its not a big deal to me one way or another but if it confuses me perhaps it also confusers the viewers from time to time. Mick and I have to do a better job in explaining this information including the "cooperative arrangement" between SD and ECW.

I will reiterate that moving to Smackdown has been a blessing in disguise for me. And that's no B.S.

The new Ric Flair DVD is "gold" and after watching it this weekend unless one absolutely hates "Naitch", and if so shame on you, this particular DVD is a must have for any true wrestling fan's collection. Naturally, one can make an argument as to why certain matches were included and some were left off but all in all this is a helluva DVD and I love the seemingly endless interviews and some of the classic bouts are timeless. Yes, it did feel strange that someone apparently dropped the ball by not including a sit down interview with Ricky Steamboat who Flair will readily say is Ric's greatest ever opponent. There are so many great Ric Flair bouts the WWE owns that another DVD of just classic, Flair matches could be easily assembled some day.

News flash...I learned how to download music in my iPod this weekend!! I have crawled into the present...finally.

Our new BBQ restaurant opens in Moore, Oklahoma on July 16th, as it presently stands. The new place is located on the west side of I-35 at exit 116 which is the 19th street exit in Moore. I was doing a walk thru on Thursday of last week and noticed how especially cool a couple of pieces of memorabilia were framed. One piece found on one side a personalized, autographed baseball to "Jim" from MLB HOF'er, the greatest Yankee of 'em all, Oklahoman Mickey Mantle while on the other side of the hanging piece was an autographed Floyd Mayweather glove that "Money" wore at WM24 in his fight with the Big Show. Mrs. J.R. did one helluva job decorating the new place.

BTW we have another dual framed piece hanging with signed, game jerseys from the great Bret Favre on one side and Bears' Linebacker Brian Urlacher on the other.

There is a piece of footage on www.wwe.com of J.R. confronting Michael Cole prior to Smackdown starting in Tulsa last week which was essentially done tongue in cheek (a practical joke) and for entertainment purposes only. I have said many times that I value my friendship with Cole which is a true statement. However, do I think that some Raw fans will still give Michael a hard time in his new role for a while....unfortunately, yes. A friend forwarded me an article that former WWE broadcaster, and a good one at that, Kevin Kelly wrote about Cole taking over the Monday night Raw play by play job that was very well done and on the money.

My son in law and I enjoyed the UFC PPV on Saturday night which was highlighted by Forrest Griffin upsetting Rampage Jackson to win the Light Heavyweight Title. Griffin's win via decision did not surprise me once I saw the fight but I certainly thought that the Memphis native, Jackson, would win the contest going in. Jackson is a long time fan of Jerry Lawler and even seemed to channel the late Junkyard Dog with Jackson's howling and his wearing of a dog chain a la JYD way back in the day. Griffin's kicks were startlingly effective and had to impress the judges along with Griffin's constant, aggressive nature. A re-match is naturally a guaranteed deal. Josh Koscheck should learn to utilize the fact that, seemingly, most fans don't like him for whatever reason and go with it. Fans pay big money to watch people get their asses whipped, just ask the WWE's Edge, and a great antagonist is money in the bank for any promoter. Nice to hear "Ironman" used as entrance music for one entrance during the show as it took me back to the Road Warrior days. Young Tyson Griffin seems to be on his way to stardom as the UFC seems to have another future box office fighter evolving. Joe Rogan is an excellent announcer and I hope the people making the decisions at the UFC know how valuable Rogan is to the UFC viewers. I am not overly unbiased as you would assume especially considering my on air role, but often times the announcing of specific events are overlooked or taken for granted. On the production side of things, the UFC could use a 3rd voice, and this person doesn't' have to be seen, to read the sponsor billboards and other such info to enhance the overall production values. This is no big deal but might make the presentation slicker. PXP talent Mike Goldberg is informed and prepared which yours truly certainly respects. Goldberg was once give the opportunity to sit in the PXP chair on Monday Night Raw. Some of the post match interviews come off as bush league with the fighters simply wanting to plug their sponsors and they are not as smooth at it as NASCAR drivers. I would rather, as a fan, hear more about the just completed fight than someone's new website or clothing line or where every one is going to go to drink after the show. Speaking of post match interviews, Rampage took the high road on his comments and came off as a class act. For the UFC to be accepted more universally, language used by Griffin needs to be addressed as it doesn't' send out a classy message to a mass audience even though young males may think it was cool. I mean to take nothing away from Forrest Griffin who is one tough son of a gun and is a guy that I will pay to watch fight again but coarse language won't attract big time sponsors or enhance the building of a brand that is one of the most exciting new sports in the world. Another guy that might want to consider a Sanka is right announcer Bruce Buffer who seems to be a little over dramatic at times. I know that I couldn't do Buffer's job and I do like the fact that the younger Buffer is a Texas Hold 'Em aficionado.

All in all, I felt like I got my money's worth Saturday night and that the UFC produced a solid, entertaining night of fights.

Yours truly is headed for Baton Rogue EARLY Tuesday morning and will be in BR long before noon to prepare for the Tuesday night SD taping. I sure am looking forward to visiting Baton Rogue which is a city that I spend many nights in way back in the Mid South Wrestling days. Wow...those were some crazy times I assure you and worthy of at least a chapter or two in a book if one were ever written about that period of time in wrestling.

Thanks for the business in our on-line store and for those of you that stop by J.R.'s in Norman. We sincerely appreciate the support. I swear that the improvements to our site will be up soon....and I mean it even though we have cried "wolf" it would seem too many times in the past.

Boomer Sooner!
J.R.