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JR's Blog: UFC 130 Thoughts..Big News Coming from WWE/THQ..Brock Lesnar..Jim Tressel..How To Order JR's Products Outside USA

Posted: May 31st 2011 By: CMBurnham

Another beautiful, tornado free day in Norman, Oklahoma. A tip of the black hat to all members of the United States Armed Forces, past and present, for all that they do to keep our country free. Your contributions and sacrifices are eternally appreciated. Americans will never be able to repay our military personnel for what they have done and continue to do for us. Plus, the families of these brave men and women should always be recognized as well.

Time to grill....

Expect to hear a major announcement Tuesday from WWE/THQ. Arguably the biggest news to date from WWE on the video game front.

UFC 130 is in the books and I invested the $54.95 for the PPV Saturday night from Las Vegas. The show was solid and somewhat average albeit not great. Attractions sell PPV's and the main event for this event was changed and unfortunately the top two bouts did not over deliver as they needed to do. Plus, one could sense that the crowd was both late arriving and not as emotionally invested into this event as in many previous events.

Fans need to make the essential emotional investment in any PPV attraction and it seemed that this card did not lend itself to that. How we fans experience the 'live event feel' at home generally helps us determine if the investment was a good one or not.

Brian Stann had a powerful performance, arguably a breakout performance, and the former member of the United States Armed Forces has a great look, excellent skill set and is one of the more marketable talents in UFC. Stann has a great image/persona for UFC to promote. How can any American fan support not Brian Stann?

Seems as if many fans, especially the casual ones, would better engage 'up and comers' on the under card of UFC events if we were provided more info on the fighters IE their backgrounds both professionally and personally.

Enjoyed the audio we were allowed to hear between rounds in the fighter's corners. Organic audio is money. It also allows the fans to audibly hear other voices than the talented duo of Goldberg & Rogan whose voices we hear extensively throughout the broadcast.

Enjoyed the battle of the 'power forwards' as undefeated Browne KO'ed Skyscraper Struve. The knockout was well timed as it seemed to re-engage the live audience.

The Mir-Nelson fight was arguably a 3 minute performance even though it, surprisingly, went the full three rounds. Nelson has to address his conditioning and 'look' or one could speculate that he will be 'future endeavored' sooner than later especially considering that more heavyweights are developing particularly when one evaluates the Strikeforce heavyweight roster of which UFC owns. Nelson may be a buffet or two away from moving from UFC fights to fighting at Native American Casinos for small pay days.

Nelson is a tough & charismatic guy while Frank Mir still has marketable skills but for whatever reason this fight did not deliver the goods Saturday night in this fan's perspective.

The somewhat impromptu main event, Jackson vs. Hamill, was flat. Rampage Jackson is essentially a one dimensional fighter ala he's a deadly striker but one dimensional fighters have to really interject that singular dimension with frequency to make their fights exciting. Not sure that happened Saturday night.

Can Rampage still headline UFC events? Certainly if they are against marquis fighters and Rampage gets the chance to talk and to give the bout some degree of an organic, personal issue.

BTW...personal issues don't always have to be about two guys not liking each other (Rampage-Evans) but can be about titles that have equity and what a specific bout means to a fighter's career. The careers of an UFC fighter are always moving, either up or down, and rarely are in a holding pattern. Fighters that are in a holding pattern are akin to a football team saying that we have multiple quarterbacks on the roster that can play when in truth they are saying that they don't have one, star QB.

Enjoyed seeing the crowd shots at the UFC event as documenting the 'famous people' attending always enhances the perception of the brand as something 'cool.' Two OU guys, Sam Bradford and DeMarco Murray, were among the celeb's in attendance.

Still don't understand why we don't hear from selected fighters earlier in the night before their fights specifically the 'money fights' that we are programmed to care about.

I love the genre of UFC and much like the NFL or college football I generally enjoy the games even though some games are better than others. UFC 130 wasn't my favorite UFC PPV but it won't adversely affect me buying the next one.

Monday Night Raw emanates from Omaha tonight where I once got booed out of the building as the Nebraska faithful wasn't enamored with my theme music, 'Boomer Sooner,' and had no issue letting me know it. One of my favorite football trips was to Lincoln, Nebraska to see the last OU-Nebraska game played, for now, in Lincoln. I'll be watching Tough Enough tonight which leads into MNR from the comfort of home. BTW 'Husker fans are super.

Grilling tip...grill your hot dogs, beef or turkey, after splitting them w/ a knife to allow for easier grilling and to be throughly cooked. Then add our Main Event Mustard, Chipotle Ketchup and your choice of toppings IE onion and sweet or hot dog relish to top off the 'Dog of your dreams. This tip lends itself well to our new, Slobber Knocker team of two bottles each of the Chipotle Ketchup and the Main Event Mustard.

Tip #2...pour a can of Pork 'n Beans, I used vegetarian beans Sunday, into a sauce pan turned on low or simmer. Add, to taste, ground, black pepper, seasoned salt, garlic powder, chopped purple or Vidalia onion, some brown sugar IE a pinch or two, chopped red and green bell peppers, add a drizzle or more of JR's Original BBQ Sauce and a drizzle, again to taste, of our Chipotle Ketchup. Allow to simmer for 30-60 minutes depending on your time. Stir every few minutes. Simple but good...guaranteed.

We don't offer 'free samples' as it is cost prohibitive and increases the already intensive workload that we are undertaking fulfilling all the orders that we receive. However, if anyone ever buys any thing from us that they absolutely don't like then simply email me at Contact Us on the home page of this website and I will address your concerns appropriately.

As we have mentioned, if you live OUTSIDE the USA you can order our products from http://www.wweshop.com. If they are unable to ship to your country it is because of your country's laws as it relates to food products being imported via this method. I know that our business in the UK, Canada, Australia, etc has increased immensely thanks to the efforts of WWEShop.

Spent a good part of the holiday weekend watching WWEClassics.com and WWE On Demand. Love the stuff from back in the day. Even caught 4 episodes of 'Deadwood' Sunday night. Gotta love Ol Al Swearengin and Big Dan (my friend Earl Brown.) EB Farnham should have been either an old school wrestling promoter or a manager.

Lots of questions regarding Brock Lesnar's colon surgery that occurred a few days ago. I don't know the specific details nor am I am doctor but I have had diverticulitis and surgery as a result of such. Surgery can be done, as was mine, in a very evasive manner depending on the diagnosis and severity of the diverticulitis. My particular case was extremely serious because I disregarded the stomach aches and other symptoms too long and continued to travel and work and my large intestine perforated which caused additional issues with which I had to address. Other surgery techniques for diverticulitis can come in the form of a much less invasive, almost arthroscopic, surgery which makes small incisions and allows one to heal quicker. From what I ascertain and I may be wrong, the less evasive surgery seems to be what Brock encountered. Nonetheless, Brock's health is more important than his UFC career, or any career for that matter, and he has seemingly done what is necessary to remove the affected area from his colon.

I see no reason whatsoever that we won't see see Brock Lesnar back in the Octagon sometime in 2012.

Interesting day for Ohio State's Jim Tressel to resign, a holiday on which many of the media are somewhat dormant. Tressel's image was that of a squeaky clean, vest wearing stickler for the rules but apparently one can't always judge a book by its cover. Tressel is a great coach as his record would indicate but he obviously made some senseless decisions when it came to the indiscretions of some of his players.

The old, axiom of "If one can't solve a problem, then one has to eliminate the problem" has never been more true when looking at the Ohio State football program. If star players cheat and their issues can't be properly solved, they have to go and that didn't happen at Ohio State essentially because winning is more important than any thing else in big time college athletics. Sad but true.

I'd suggest that Ohio State play the coaching hand that has been dealt for this year and utilize the old, 'us against the world' mentality to attempt to win the Big 10. Tressel was going to have to sit out the first five games of the season any way.

Enjoy the balance of the holiday and have a great week. Follow us on Twitter @JRsBBQ where we are well north of 150,000 followers plus thanks for supporting us with your orders from our on line store for all your grilling needs. Keep saucing it!

Boomer Sooner!

J.R.

Tags: Jim Ross, WWE,