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JR's Blog: Skip Young..King Curtis' Magic Cookie..Miz=TMZ..Goldust Surgery..Sonnen/Barnett..Order Now For Holiday Delivery

Posted: Dec 9th 2010 By: CMBurnham

Thanks for dropping by and to those that are placing holiday orders. We just restocked on Beef Jerky, Original and Hot BBQ Sauce, Chipotle Ketchup and Main Event Mustard yesterday so we are still good to go. Shipping to the USA via Federal Express Ground .

My close friend Kevin Wilson has been named as the new, Head Football Coach at Indiana. Kevin was here at OU for 9 years and was our neighbor. He will do a great job for the Hoosiers without question in the jacked up Big 10. I hate losing a pal that I talked to virtually every day but am happy for his 7 year $8.4M deal.

Sorry to hear of the passing of Skip Young who had been off the majority of radar screens for the past several years. Not sure what Skip was doing with his life the past few years and perhaps others can help with that info. He was a very athletic guy who had personal connections with the Von Erich family and possessed one of the best drop kicks that I ever saw. In the old cays when Caucasian wrestling promoters would put an unofficial quota on how many black wrestlers that they would hire in their territories and also, at times, provide the black athletes with some hideously, racial sounding nicknames. Skip had a nice run in Florida as 'Sweet Brown Sugar' which would not play well in today's marketplace. Our condolences to Skip's family and friends.

Sorry to hear of Goldust's rotator cuff injury that will apparently require surgery. This is usually a 5-6 month recovery period. Don't forget about Goldust's biography that would make a good stocking stuffer and should be interesting reading. He's had a helluva life for such a young man. hate to see any one hurt especially someone who has worked so hard to become relevant again. Last time I saw Goldust he was in, without question, the best physical shape of his life. Some day Goldust will likely be a great coach/teacher of the biz.

WWE Champ The Miz gets a shot on TMZ later today (Wednesday) which he will no doubt knock it out of the park. Miz was tremendous on the Food Network cooking show, 'Dinner Impossible,' that we did a year ago at Summer Slam. He stole that show with ease and will like do the same on TMZ TV later today. Miz is a work in progress and it should be encouraging for WWE fans of just how good Miz can become in time if he stays healthy and focused on becoming the best antagonist in the biz.

Read more on the recent athletic commission hearings involving Josh Barnett and Chael Sonnen. Sounded like total, unorganized chaos. It's obvious, because of the stark, contradicting stories, that all involved aren't being totally truthful in said hearings.

Cheating on drug tests has no place in sports or entertainment and those that feel the need to gain an unfair advantage need to immediately re-evaluate their stance on this matter. There seems to be more of a psychological need than a physical need for most these athletes in the spotlight.

Barnett is a good guy that I have met and who has athletic talent without question. However, his drug suspensions have seemingly become what he is known for in today's marketplace as opposed to his fighting abilities. That's unfortunate and unnecessary.

Chael Sonnen marketed his Anderson Silva fight as well as any MMA fighter ever has promoted one of their own fights. The Oregonian should have won the fight as all he had to do was survive the last round to become champion. Obviously a rematch of this Octagon classic is in order at some point. I'm not a doctor, never even played one on TV, but testosterone replacement therapy is something I know little about but, rightly or wrongly, it sounds suspect to us lay people. I'm happy that Sonnen will be able to fight again in approximately 6 months but this baggage will likely follow the charismatic and talented fighter around TFN. Negative issues will always remain with an athlete until enough good things IE successes can be amassed to erase the lingering wounds of which too many are self inflicted.

UFC is growing exponentially of which I am excited as I am a major fan of UFC and MMA in general but erratic judging, out of ring talent issues, and drug dilemmas are three things that UFC has to continue to address and, speaking from experience, are issues that will largely never totally go away.

Most fighters know that if they are not fighting in UFC that the chance to truly earn great money for what is generally a short career window of opportunity lessens a great deal. With that said, UFC has the ability to tighten its grip on who they sign, or not, and who they terminate if a problem can't be solved in a timely fashion. Great fighters with character and athletic skills will gravitate to UFC more and more over time. UFC is the NFL of MMA and like the NFL the problem children who refuse to play team ball or by the rules need to go.

The Q&A section of our website has been updated if you want some new material to read.

The legendary King Curtis Iaukea recently passed away at age 72. Curtis was a legit Hawaiian legend for many reasons, some athletic and others not. He was a great athlete who was highly recruited out of high school as a lineman and played collegiate football for the Cal Bears. Athletic big men have done well in pro wrestling especially those that could verbalize such as Curtis and Ernie Ladd, for example.

Curtis was one of the best talkers ever in the biz and his booming voice, memorable facial expressions, and creativity (all ad lib promos) was among the best that I ever heard. Until Curtis' weight became an issue, he was an amazing in ring talent because of his athleticism even at 300 pounds.

Curtis also loved to party and some of the stories of his stash of 'magic cookies' is still discussed and enjoyed by vets who traveled with King Curtis Iaukea particularly in Australia when Jim Barnett ran that territory.

Curtis will be missed by his many friends who all can likely tell some amazing stories about one of the legit true 'characters' in pro wrestling who became a major star in the biz. Condolences to all that knew Curtis and, of course, to his family.

An emailer asked me why Rey Mysterio has become so popular while many of his fellow Lucha Libra stars did not become bigger in the USA. Firstly, Rey has 'it' and 'it' can't be manufactured. Rey also throughly understands all the ins and outs of the biz after starting in it when he was 14 or 15 years old. Rey also understands that 'less is more' and that doing 2-3 spectacular maneuvers in a match or a sequence is always better than doing a half dozen or more of them in such quick fashion that the majority of the eye opening maneuvers can't be processed or remembered minutes after they are completed.

Too many wrestlers today try to squeeze too much into their bouts and as a result much of what they execute is watered down and rendered less meaningful. Over game planning the acrobatic aspect of one's match is a common mistake in many pro wrestling circles especially when talents perceive that their in ring persona's are not established with the majority of the fans and the only way to garner attention is by becoming strictly an amazing young man on the flying trapeze.

I thought Josh Matthews did a really nice job replacing Michael Cole Monday night on Raw after Cole discovered Randy Orton's RKO. Josh is a student of the game and works hard and I hope that he gets more, higher profile opportunities in the future.

Our Twitter followers are a growing list as we are well north of 70,000 so join us @JRsBBQ. We've received some really cool recipes and uses for our products from Twitter followers.

Looking forward to attending the Fiesta Bowl on January 1 when Oklahoma faces Connecticut. Joey Styles and I have a bet....Main Event Mustard vs. a famous, Connecticut Apple Pie and I didn't even have to lay the points. it's sort of a 'BBQ sauce vs. Nutmeg State,' spicy, sort of thing.

Heading to FCW in Tampa soon. Always look forward to interacting with the prospects there and monitoring their improvement. The current group of athletes on NXT has ample potential in my opinion. No, I don't have a favorite, well I sort of do, but that will remain confidential.

Thanks for all those who have ordered from us and Federal Express says that they cannot guarantee Xmas delivery for orders placed after December 17. I still feel that many orders that go out the early part of Xmas week have a good chance of making it to their destination on time but why take the chance? Remember, we use Federal Express Ground and as a result will not be shipping to any post office boxes. 'The Sampler' has been our top seller but we are also selling cases of products at a rapid clip as one case equals potentially 12 gifts/stocking stuffers.

Thanks for the visit and come back and see us soon.

Boomer Sooner!

J.R.

Tags: Jim Ross, Skip Young, Von Erichs, WWE, Ernie Ladd, Jim Barnett