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JR's Blog: Thursday Update...Solie Today...Chelsea Lately...Competition is a good thing...FREE SHIPPING

Posted: Feb 19th 2010 By: mikeiles

Thanks for stopping by and an even bigger thank you for those of you that are placing on line orders. Your business is greatly appreciated. We just got a new shipment of J.R.'s Original BBQ Sauce and have resumed shipping orders that were pending that included our top selling item. Thanks for your patience. Let's fire up the grill....

Nice to see Karl and Babs Lauer stop by our BBQ joint today on their way from their home in Missouri to Dallas to attend a wrestling reunion in the metroplex this Saturday. Karl is the Executive Director of the Cauliflower Alley Club, www.caulifloweralleyclub.com, and I will be honored this April at their annual gathering in Las Vegas with the Art Abrams Lifetime Achievement Award of which I am very humbled to receive.

I strongly urge you to check out the CAC website and to become a member of the organization. Speaking as a fan, the year I went to Vegas to attend the CAC, I had an awesome time and would encourage all fans that can attend to do so. It's a great opportunity to get autographs and to meet some of the biggest names in the history of wrestling. I am looking forward to meeting Don Leo Jonathan this year among many, many other stars that I have admired from afar.

The CAC has been around since 1965 and their organization helps former wrestlers in need plus has funded over 60 scholarships during their 45 year history. CAC is a total non-profit organization with the most honorable of intentions.

Steve Austin and I have commented many times on how much fun we had in Las Vegas visiting with 'old timers' and the many fans who are students of the business and who have followed wrestling for years. Plus, the nostalgia displays are awesome and I left there after doing ample shopping for some really cool, autographed photos of some of my boyhood favorites. I know that Steve did the same.

CAC has negotiated an unbelievably, inexpensive hotel rate for all of us and you can check that info out at their website. I would love to see you there. It's going to be a special event for yours truly.

Nice story on USAToday.com about Jerry Lawler being such a huge fan of American Idol. King particularly loves the music of the 60's and is a massive, Beatles fan who still talks about visiting Liverpool, England. King sings with an English accent the songs made famous by the Beatles, the Dave Clark Five, Herman's Hermits, etc. It's actually kind of entertaining especially if one happens to have an adult beverage before listening to the King of Memphis sing along to these timeless hits. Perhaps King and noted karaoke singer Pat Patterson should do a duet. If Mick Foley and Bruce Prichard can do stand up comedy, then why couldn't King and Pat have a night club act? The comedy would be good and, perhaps with enough to drink, the singing would too.

I'm hooked on the comedy of E's "Chelsea Lately." Chelsea Handler is a breath of fresh air on late night TV. Her show is easy to watch, not over produced, and, most of all, funny. Chelsea Handler is a star on the rise and I would love to see her act in person. The Mrs. and I love to attend comedy shows at our local casino which features some of the biggest acts touring.

We are selling lots of Beef Jerky and are noticing that we are getting many repeat orders for the 97% fat free product. That's a good sign.

An emailer asked me if I thought Gordon Solie would be as successful today broadcasting wrestling as "The Dean" was in his heyday. I think that in his prime that Gordon could likely broadcast anything that he set his mind to but I don't think that he would be enamored, in general, with today's product. Solie was a pure, sports guy and was superb at describing a product that was heavier on ports than on entertainment. Gordon had a wonderfully, dry sense of humor but his strength was conveying drama within the context of a pro wrestling TV show.

Broadcasting the product has changed immensely over the years and when I hear the occasion sampling of work that I did in the mid 70's, etc it is totally different that what I have done in recent years. Contrary to what some fans may think, I have not forgotten how to do play by play in a sports oriented manner but that is not what has been asked of broadcasters in recent years. Commentators have to be able to change with the times just like the wrestlers but the fundamentals of both functions within the genre are still largely the same.

When I watch a UFC broadcast, I often times run the matches through my head as a commentator instead of simply watching the action and enjoying it as a fan. My personal commentary is modified, of course, from pro wrestling but the bottom line is that it all comes back to the same timing, levels of emotion and basic story telling. The goal is always to get the viewer to emotionally invest in whatever it is one is watching.

I ruin many football games that I watch, being a 20 year football official, as I catch myself watching the ref's and not the action. Not sure if that is a blessing or a curse but I tend to lean to the latter.

We have really had some unique requests for personally autographed J.R.'s Cookbooks lately here on the website. Some of the inscriptions have been dandies but these cookbooks, with easy to execute recipes and stories from the wrestling road, make great gifts for any occasion. This personalized item comes with FREE SHIPPING.

The city of Toronto is one of my favorite places to visit but what are the city fathers there thinking with their seemingly nonchalant attitude regarding hosting a UFC PPV event in TO? UFC PPV's equate to new money in every city that they promote and there is no city on the globe that shouldn't want to create new revenue for local businesses and to bring an exciting event to their city.

Politicians have much more important matters to be concerned with than why UFC shouldn't promote in their cities, I can assure you. It's embarrassing, to be quite honest, that this matter is even an issue. I hope that one day a UFC PPV plays OKC's Ford Center as the Oklahoma politicos would welcome them with open arms as would all restaurants, hotels, car rental firms, etc.

Thanks to those that are following our Twittering exploits at http://twitter.com/JRsBBQ.

Tommy Dreamer is wrestling Shane Douglas in Ardmore, Oklahoma this weekend, I think, and I was contemplating making a surprise appearance, perhaps in a mask, at the event. O.K., perhaps not. They do have a Whataburger in Ardmore at exit 32....not that I keep track of such fast food info. Will "Big Beefy" Tommy Dreamer make a pass thru the drive thru? If Dreamer makes it to JR's BBQ in Norman, just an hour north of Ardmore, all he can eat is free. Yeah, I said it!

The Q&A section of this site has been updated. I invite you to check it out.

We have been deluged with questions regarding the pending Monday night wrestling competition. Some questions are only answerable with a crystal ball of which I'm fresh out. (Yes, I'm crystal ball-less.) I do know that competition in any endeavor makes everyone step up their game. Monday night was established as THE wrestling night years ago in the mid to late 90's when the Monday night wars were ongoing and many fans still perceive that to be the case today regarding Mondays. If the upcoming development on Monday nights helps increase fan interest in the genre, then the fans win, the business wins and the best, TV product will thrive.

Our on line business has been booming and for that we are thankful. We are blowing away last year's numbers and will continue to focus on producing a quality product and on customer service.

Thanks, again, for stopping by and I hope that you will come back soon. Boomer Sooner!

J.R.

Tags: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Pat Patterson, Mick Foley, Shane Douglas