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JR's Blog: Lance Cade Follow-up...Dan Hodge...Kelly Pavlik...Lesnar...Pacman

Posted: Oct 17th 2008 By: mikeiles

I hope all of you are doing well and thanks for stopping by our site. Our on line store business has been growing steadily and we are also addressing the ridiculous shipping costs we all have to deal with these days. We are beginning to utilize the USPS which is less expensive. Bottom line is that we are doing all we can to reduce the shipping costs of our products and hope that you will keep us in mind when you begin your holiday shopping.

Random thoughts from a variety of areas beginning with a follow up on the Lance Cade matter.

Lance Cade had his WWE contract terminated a few days ago which completely caught me off guard. As I wrote a few days ago, I was and still am a fan of Lance's and was shocked when I heard news of his dismissal. I feel confident that Lance will rebound from this misstep and find the success that many feel he deserves. Nonetheless, for some to compare Lance's incident where he had a seizure on an airplane that necessitated an emergency trip to a hospital with Jeff Hardy being asked to leave a plane because it was perceived that he was allegedly intoxicated seems like a stretch to me. Neither individual was on the right side of the equation of their respective issues but Lance, unfortunately, came too close for comfort by incurring a life threatening seizure and put the WWE in a position to make a really tough call. Could this matter have been handled better? I have no idea as I was not in the loop, thankfully, but I do feel that at some point in the future, and this is simply my opinion, after enough water has gone under the bridge that both parties could well do business again with each other.

The legendary Danny Hodge dropped by J. R.'s Family BBQ Restaurant on Thursday of this week. Dan was one my boyhood heroes when I was growing up in Oklahoma and my first road, traveling partner when I went to work for Leroy McGuirk's Championship Wrestling in Tulsa in 1974.

Dan handmade 4 beautiful wooden frames and put some really amazing posters in them, autographed, for us to hang in both our Moore and Norman locations. These are priceless to me and so deeply appreciated. I have said it before and although some refer to Dan as the "Godfather of American Mixed Martial Arts" there is no doubt in my mind that if Dan Hodge was in his prime today that he would own MMA and be the biggest star in the UFC without question.

Dan will be traveling soon to Japan to be honored there on October 24-25 in a long past due ceremony much akin to what the Japanese did on a few occasions with the great Lou Thesz. The WWE's John Laurinitas was instrumental in helping put this deal together with All Japan Wrestling if I am not mistaken.

Will Dan Hodge ever be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame? That one is hard to answer but if it were up to me, I would gladly trade my place in the Hall of Fame to make room for Danny Hodge. Hodge's contributions to pro wrestling, amateur wrestling (3 NCAA Titles, never defeated and represented the USA in two Olympic Games), and even boxing (National Golden Gloves Heavyweight Champion '58) should be more than enough to put "The Champ" over the top.

For more on the amazing Hodge check out www.teamdannyhodge.com.

I'm anxious to see the Kelly Pavlik vs. Bernard Hopkins fight Saturday night after a big day of college football and BBQ sales here in Norman, Oklahoma. I saw Pavlik fight in person as a guest of Pavlik's fellow Youngstown, Ohio native and current Oklahoma head football coach Bob Stoops back in February in Vegas. Pavlik is a young, impressive and fearless fighter who will fight the 40 something year old Bernard Hopkins who has everything to gain and zero to lose in this 170 pound catch weight fight. The HBO pre fight build up for Pavlik-Hopkins is really good TV and the 30 minute feature really made me want to watch the fight. Wrestling could take a page out of these 30 minute features in my view to help build PPV main events.

Speaking of Vegas, if you were ever thinking of traveling there for a vacation now seems like a nice time if you are looking for bargains as the place was somewhat docile and the room rates were amazingly low when I was there this past week. The United States' economy is not good and it certainly has affected all forms of entertainment and non necessity items.

Wow...what a comeback by the Red Sox vs. Tampa Bay on Thursday night that I watched with some of my friends from ABC at J.R.'s in Norman. The on going discussion that there aren't really any truly "good guys" or "bad guys" in life was sort of thrown out the window in this one as the home team was willed to victory by their fans and neither team seemed to fit in a gray area or could be considered "tweeners."

As predicted here several days ago, Adam "Pacman" Jones is now reportedly in alcohol rehab. Jones needs to address his self esteem issues and get people who have a strong religious faith involved in his life. Pac will be lucky to get "one more chance" in the NFL but if he truly changes, which will be because he actually wants to change, I wish him the very best. God gifted Jones with amazing athletic gifts and it would be a shame for Pacman to blow his NFL career out of pure stupidity.

I was watching several clips of Friday night's Smackdown broadcast on MyNetworkTV earlier this week and it is amazing how much info is provided the viewers. Times have really changed over the years regarding the volume of information wrestling fans in general are subjected to and are encouraged to remember.

Former WWE Champion Brock Lesnar will be featured Tuesday night on ESPN's E:60 discussing his career and upcoming high profile UFC fight with MMA legend Randy Couture on November 15.

Yours truly will be on the Oklahoma sideline this Saturday afternoon in Norman when the talented, nationally ranked Kansas Jayhawks come to town to meet Oklahoma in a must win game for both teams. The Sooners will be trying to rebound after losing to arch rival Texas last week in the Cotton Bowl. These weekends are prime examples of why the Mrs. and I were so happy to move to Oklahoma from the Nutmeg state (Connecticut). The small college town of Norman has been abuzz since Thursday and will continue thru Sunday which is a wonderful, healthy atmosphere in which to live.

Thanks for stopping by and we will be updating our Q&A section this weekend as time permits.

Boomer Sooner!

J.R.

Tags: Jim Ross, WWE, Danny Hodge, Leroy McGuirk