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

Thanks for stopping by our site and paying us a visit. We appreciate your support and hope that you are sending our info to friends. We had a great weekend and hope that you did too. Random Thoughts... 

My Saints prediction in the Super Bowl came to fruition. I had NO -5 and obviously the "Who Dat Nation" came through. I have spend a huge portion of my professional career traveling though Louisiana with Bill Watts' Mid South Wrestling so this victory by the Saints is especially gratifying for all my friends there and the fans throughout the region who stood fast with the team and always kept  believing. 

Nice lesson to be learned...never stop believing in things that are important to you and never bail on your team no matter how challenging the times become. 

The Saints can be a force for years if they can keep their nucleus healthy and together. QB Drew Brees is the key ingredient as well as head coach Sean Payton who one might assume Jerry Jones will seek out to become the next head coach of the Dallas Cowboys when that day arrives. How well the Saints address free agency this off season is crucial for the Super Bowl Champions. Lots of guys like to take the money and run after winning the big one and with the life expectancy of a NFL player so short and with the threat of a lock out in 2011, one has to take the guaranteed cash and relocate if necessary.

The Mrs and I will be attending the annual Jim Thorpe Awards Banquet that honors the nation's top defensive back in college football plus this year will also honor my dear friend and 1969 Heisman Trophy winner Steve Owens. It's a black tie affair plus a black hat affair for me. I don't think I've worn a Tux send last year's WM25 weekend...not that I'm complaining.  

Chris Jericho is the undisputed King of Tweet. This guy gets on a roll and rocks Twittering. 

I'm having fun with it too and invite you to follow me regularly at http://twitter.com/JRsBBQ. I did some Twittering of my own over the weekend and especially during UFC 109 and the Super Bowl. 

Speaking of UFC....Randy Couture is best suited to fight at 205...Couture gives up too many pounds to Brock Lesnar to return to that scene of that particular crime. Plus, Randy's shelf life is longer at 205 than it is battling much larger men at this stage of Couture's life.

Mark Coleman, sadly, looks to be at the end of his active fighting career unless he goes the route of the aging wrestler who didn't save his money and fights way off Broadway simply for a payday. Coleman allegedly had an infamous dust up with Dr. Death one fateful night in Tokyo.  

Tito Ortiz did the old wrestler swerve of  trying to "steal the spotlight" and went into business for himself at UFC 109...not really a cool move ...why attempt to make an issue relevant for a fight that isn't going to occur?

UFC President Dana White was on the money when he said that at times that his role in UFC was that of a "glorified baby sitter." Oh, how I can relate to that analogy from my days of yesteryear. Dana does a magnificent job representing UFC publicly, conveys their attitudinal personality and has become a helluva sound byte. 

Looking forward to dropping by Wednesday and saying hello to those at FCW in Tampa. Not sure what's in store for me other than I know I won't be doing any in ring demo's because I don't belong in the ring and never have.  Plus, there's much more to being a success in the wrestling biz that just what goes on inside a ring or how much faux tan one applies. 

Saw where TNA was rasslin in Joplin, Missouri over the weekend and that used to be where I spent many Saturday nights when I was a young referee for LeRoy McGuirk and the large Cowboy back in the 70's. The Joplin Memorial Hall was where I first met the amazing, Wild Red Berry one of the iconic personalities ever in the wrestling business. It's also where I saw Danny Hodge stretch Jerry "The Duke" Miller, a former barber from Moline, Illinois, into a pretzel because of Miller's lackadaisical attitude in their two out of three fall main event bout.  I thought I was witnessing a murder and it was the first time in my life that I actually heard a grown man scream as if he was being executed. 

BTW my biggest "pay off" working in Joplin was a whopping $40 and that was for refereeing every bout on the card, usually getting knocked around, and dealing with passionate fans without the benefit of a security railing or uniformed cops.  Most night's I made $25 out of which I had to pay for my own travel and food. Thank goodness for the 2 cents a mile that the wrestlers would pay me to ride the round trip from Tulsa to Joplin. With two riders, I made an extra $8 which was close to half my usual pay day. That's all a part of the due's paying element that one often times needs in order to fully appreciate the wrestling business.

This might just be me but within the wrestling business as a whole it seems like many female, ring names more closely resemble porn star names than not.  

Pet peeve of the day...what ever happened to "last names," in general, for wrestlers? Is it not cool to have a last name, or as many often times say in Louisiana, a "behind name.?" 

Is Danica Patrick the NASCAR equivalent of a woman competing in the male dominated Royal Rumble? Patrick is a multi media machine who will drive Saturday night in Daytona which one can assume is making some old school drivers from the moonshine era spin in their graves.

Indeed we are looking forward to attending the Cauliflower Alley Club's annual function this April in Las Vegas. I am humbled by their honoring me with the Art Abrams Award which is a long way from working for McGuirk and Watts for $125 per week, all in. Back then I was just thrilled to be in the business in any role so hauling the ring, putting it up and taking it down, plus refereeing was like a "dream job" at the time. Thank goodness I set my sights a little higher as time went on because I don't think that I would have hung for all these years on the ring crew and wearing a stripped shirt.  

Guys from small, Oklahoma towns like Dan Hodge and the late Jack Brisco showed me that small town boys who loved the business could succeed if they never gave up their journey. Great athletes like Hodge and Brisco basically came in the front door because they were so gifted while ham and egger's like me had to find their niche in a non wrestling role which is another story unto itself.

The interest from the literary world re: me writing a autobiography is beginning to take a life of its own. I'm still mulling whether to do the book or not and thinking of how I can best organize my thoughts and who I need to speak with that is still around from the "old days." The 70's was a key time for me and I will need some help remembering some of the stories and experiences.   

I've updated all the Q&A's that made the cut. Check 'em out. Also we're having another good month with our on line business that we are working hard to grow. Thanks for all your help. 

Boomer Sooner!

J.R.