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

Nice to be back from Seattle where I flew up Friday to take in the Oklahoma- Washington college football game Saturday night in Huskie Stadium. Sooners won the game 55-14 and moved to #2 in the national rankings behind Southern Cal who took care of Ohio State convincingly Saturday night in L.A. I was in regular contact during the game with one of the WWE's biggest all time stars.

Stone Cold Steve Austin, who I have recruited to become an OU football fan,  and I did some texting during the Sooner game as he kept me updated on the Ohio State game.  Steve is getting ready to begin production on a movie project soon and enjoys his Saturdays watching college football. Some can't understand why many of us prefer the college game over the NFL but growing up in traditional college football hotbeds like Oklahoma and Texas make the college game so much more personal. I love the NFL but if forced to make a choice I would pick the college game any day.

For those of you that are interested and in the spirit of perpetrating more rumors, Stone Cold is reportedly in awesome, physical condition as he prepares for his film role which will apparently be physically demanding. No, this doesn't mean that Austin is returning to the ring any time soon. Or does it??  

I had the pleasure of flying on the team plane back from Seattle and arrived back in OKC at 3:30 a.m. which put me in my house at 4:30 and where I made the mistake of "taking a quick look" at the Sooner game via DVR and ended up going to bed at 6 Sunday morning. Perhaps one cold say that I have made an emotional investment in my college team of choice.

If wrestlers who want to be stars can create that emotional bond with their fans to where the fans make the all important emotional commitment in the wrestler,  then PPV main events, championships and money are all likely to follow. 

While standing on the OU sideline prior to kickoff I was surprised to see former wrestling announcer Jon Horton aka Craig Johnson who lives in Seattle and is in the sports production business in Seattle and manages the scoreboard at Huskie Stadium. It was good catching up with Jon who is happily married with two kids.  Many long time fans will remember Jon working with Joe Pedicino's Global Wrestling group and calling bouts with old friend Scott Hudson. 

The Washington Stadium sits in a beautiful area and the fans of U-Dub are a classy bunch, however, PAC 10 football officiating is substandard. l am not referring to the judgment of the men in stripes but of their indecisive nature and their officiating mechanics reek of small ball.  

I read a blurb on the 'net about Smackdown "edits" which struck me as somewhat unique. These "edits" are done every week for the record with some weeks more prominent than others.  It just didn't seem like much of a news item but it certainly proved that many fans really pay close attention to the product and some have ample free time.    I do audio fixes from home late night every Wednesday for Friday Night Smackdown which isn't big news either and simply goes with the territory of broadcasting a program "live to tape."

Manu speaks....the son of WWE HOF'er Afa the Wild Samoan mentioned that he was a college man on his first promo as best I recall which might clear up the confusion as to the differences in the persona's of Manu and Umaga. I really liked Manu's ring attire the Raw after Manu's PPV debut. Manu was a highly recruited defensive lineman coming out of high school and was courted by most teams in the Big East among others. 

Speaking of second, make that 3rd generation wrestlers, it looks as if both sons of Mike Rotundo and the grandsons of Blackjack Mulligan will sign with the WWE as the younger Taylor has apparently inked a developmental deal while Wyndham is playing football at Troy University starting at center in the O-Line.  Some younger fans don't remember or know just how good a two sport athlete Mike "IRS" Rotundo was at Syracuse. Mike was a defensive lineman and a heavyweight wrestler which made Rotundo one of the best, two sport athletes to ever compete at Syracuse.

The WWE signing kids with a wrestling legacy and a basic understanding of the biz is smart,  long term thinking in my view. Being a 2nd or 3rd generation competitor is no guarantee for success but it damn sure doesn't hurt. 

Why is it that there are rarely  "draws" in wrestling nowadays?  It could be because no one uses time limits except on rare occasions. Funny that when time limits are used it generally makes the matches more exciting or at least that's my impression.  It just seems to me that using time limits puts more of a sense of urgency on the bouts and adds a needed element especially when matches have no back story. 

Monday Night Raw will feature a World Title Bout inside a steel cage between new champ Chris Jericho and former title holder C.M. Punk. Raw GM Mike Adamle seemed to pull the sting quickly on the cage stipulation.  Nonetheless it will be interesting to see what fate awaits Memphis' own Jerry Lawler in his home town Monday night.  Count on it not being simply another "night at the office" for the King. 

Friday Night Smackdown will be taped Tuesday in Nashville as the build to "No Mercy" continues.  Tennessee Titans troubled QB Vince Young should join us for the event as I can almost guarantee the former UT Longhorn signal caller that he would leave the event in a good mood. That is, of course, if Vince didn' t have a long chat with my partner, "Mr. Intensity", Tazz prior to the event.    (That would be an attempt at humor.)

Thanks for checking out our website as we had one of our biggest sales weeks ever on the site last week. Our Beef Jerky biz is huge while many of you are also buying our fresh, Oklahoma grown peanuts, and our autographed cookbooks which are holiday priced at only $9.99 plus shipping.

Boomer Sooner!

J.R.