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

It has been a great weekend here in Norman, Oklahoma weather wise, BBQ sales wise and Sooner Football wise. I hope your weekend was just as enjoyable as mine.

BBQ'ed random thoughts....

Over 17,000 fans in San Juan enjoyed the WWE Saturday night and that was without one of the Colon brothers on the card as the Raw brand was in town. The WWE's 3 days in Puerto Rico did well and got a break in the weather as it looked as if at one time the tour would be in jeopardy due to a possible hurricane.

Saturday night in Mexico City the WWE drew over 15,000 fans for a combined Smackdown/ECW event. I know that the wrestlers were looking forward to this trip as it was two days in Monterrey and three days in Mexico City. Staying multiple nights in one hotel room is a nice perk when touring. 

Bernard Hopkins shockingly easy victory over Kelly Pavlik Saturday night really caught me off guard. I did not see all the fight but it seemed that either Hopkins had an "over 40" career night or that Pavlik greatly underestimated the man known as the "Executioner." Sounds like a possible PPV rematch in the making. I've seen Pavlik fight in person and he is really, really good and one has to believe that after suffering only his first loss as a pro that the Youngstown, Ohio native will be back with a vengeance when he next fights for money. 

The soap opera known as the Dallas Cowboys got throughly embarrassed Sunday to the St. Louis Rams who looked as if they actually focused on playing football this week as compared to Dallas' on going issues such as a broken pinky and other injury issues not to mention a trade for another Roy Williams. The Dallas media loves to over analyze the Cowboys and you can bet that there will be plenty of that this week. 

How much would NBC love to be able to change their Sunday night NFL telecast from the Seattle vs. Tampa game to any thing else. Firstly, Seattle is having a challenging year and most of Tampa will be focused on the 7th game of the American League Championship Series. 

Funny story told to me Saturday night by an ABC staffer who knows several Red Sox players and who knows John Cena. Cena grew up just outside Boston but seems to have turned his MLB allegiance toward his new hometown Tampa Bay Rays. As the story goes, Cena hooked up with some of the Red Sox players on Friday night and demonstrated with vengeance and fury how a "knife edge chop" feels particularly to Boston knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.  Cena is obviously feeling much better after neck surgery but why anyone would even think of withstanding a "chop" from the freakishly strong Cena is beyond me even if Jack Daniels was allegedly looking on. It was all in fun but it will be interesting to see the reaction that John gets when he next wrestles in Boston. But come to think of it, many Bean Town fans jeer Cena any way which I still think motivates John and certainly makes for an interesting presentation.  

Yours truly got a text from Steve Austin after the Oklahoma victory over Kansas Saturday saying that he was in Vancouver where his new movie begins filming this week. Steve had a helluva time finding the game on TV in Vancouver and only got to see the 4th quarter. Steve is looking forward to being in Phoenix for Cyber Sunday next weekend as he always enjoys catching up with "the boys" and reconnecting with his fans on his trips back into WWE land. 

The Texas Longhorns are the undisputed #1 team in college football and if they can survive the next two weeks against Oklahoma State and at Texas Tech it could be that one half of the BCS National Championship Game equation has been determined. Not dissing OSU but beating the Longhorns in Austin has never been easy but the Cowboys have their best team since the Barry Sanders years. However, when Texas travels to Lubbock it gets snaky and if both are undefeated when they meet it will be the biggest college football game in the history of Tech and in the region of west Texas. 

It was great to hear that our old friend Steve "Dr Death" Williams has been given a clean bill of health as it relates to another bout with cancer which many of us previously thought was an unfortunate possibility. Doc needs to have a surgical procedure done to place a device in his throat to help him avoid infections and to make his talking "hands free."  I talked to Oklahoma football legend Joe Washington, who heads up the "O" Club at the University of Oklahoma, Saturday and we discussed meeting to see what could be done to help raise the 18K for the cost of the medical procedure. Doc is a living miracle and through the grace of God he is still among us. 

I still vividly remember Doc tearing his hamstring off the tone in the infamous "Brawl for it All" against hard hitting Bart Gunn and still trying to fight on one leg against a legit, tough man. In hindsight the "Brawl for it All" has to rank up there with some of the more insane ideas ever in pro wrestling.

BTW if you ever get a chance to watch any old Mid South Wrestling DVDs be sure and check out any of them with Doc teaming with Ted DiBiase. This team was as good as it gets which is not taking any thing away from the Doc-Terry Gordy duo who were bad-asses that mauled people. 

Yours truly will be taking a side trip to Manhattan...Kansas that is...prior to heading to Phoenix Sunday morning to be a part of Cyber Sunday. The Sooners play at K-State Saturday morning at 11:30 a.m. on Fox Sports. I haven't missed an OU game, home or away, this season and plan on keeping the streak in tact this Saturday in what is referred to as the "Little Apple." 

Bobby "The Brain" Heenan is a new grandpa to a healthy grandson named Austin who we are told has really brought tremendous joy to Grandpa and Grandma Heenan. Don't be surprised to see "The Weasel" turn up on the upcoming "Legends" video game that is due out prior to WM25 likely in March of 09. We finished the voice overs for the game last week and it was a blast to work on and the match-up possibilities will make this a really fun game to play for children of all ages. 

I just updated a ton of new Q&A's here on the site and someone asked me whatever happened to "Bruiser" Bob Sweetan. Sweetan was a native Canadian who wrestled in Kansas City and then in the Mid South territory for Bill Watts among other territories. Sweetan was brought into Mid South expected to be a mid card antagonist but surprised many when he advanced to main events against such men as the big Cowboy Bill Watts and Grizzly Smith. I remember being the referee for many of Sweetan's bouts including three, consecutive weeks of draws, a 30 minute draw, a one hour draw, and a 90 minute draw against Dewey "The Mission Link" Robertson in Baton Rouge. Sweetan was a bully who I can remember beating up the McGuire twins in a tag match in a small , Oklahoma, spot show to the point that the 600 pound plus twins were weeping in the ring. I thought someone told me Sweetan had been sent to prison but I don't know for sure if that is true. Perhaps someone reading this knows and can provide us an update. 

Thanks for checking our our site and as usual for those of you that have become customers. We have many gift worthy items priced at under $10 and have started using the USPS to do some of our shipping which will help us reduce some shipping costs.

I look forward to heading to south Texas and working in Laredo on Tuesday night where HHH faces The Undertaker in a massive main event for Friday Night Smackdown. 

Boomer Sooner!

J.R.