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JR's Blog: Nelson Mandella RIP, RINGSIDE: An Evening w/ Jim Ross tickets on sale Friday, World of Pocdasts, Lesnar vs. Taker, Order JR's Online for Holiday Delivery

Posted: Dec 6th 2013 By: CMBurnham

Greetings from a freezing Norman, Oklahoma where today we've had rain, sleet and snow all with temps in the 20's and wind chills in the single digits. With the all important local weather addressed let's move on to some random thoughts......

Mourning the death of former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela who passed today at the age of 95. Mr. Mandela suffered atrocities that no human being should ever have to experience but endured and became a hero to millions around the world. Mandela was a true man of the people who was also a great sport's fan which I always appreciated. This man largely changed an entire country's culture from a prison cell notwithstanding what he accomplished after being released after 26 years. The legend of President Nelson Mandela will live on forever.

Tickets for RINGSIDE: An Evening with Jim Ross go on sale Friday at http://www.ticketmaster.com and at the Gramercy Theater Box Office in New York City. I'm doing my first ever, one man shows in the USA on Saturday March 1 in NYC and am hopeful that tickets sell quickly. Hopefully fans from throughout the Northeast United States will join me for one of two shows on March 1 starting at 4 and 8 pm. There are a limited number of meet and greet tickets for both shows.

Had a great time joining Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez Wednesday on their radio show on @WONF4W aka the Wrestling Observer website. Check it out as it's getting positive feedback and we talk a great deal about many of the topics that I will address during my one man shows.

Jim Cornette has a new podcast and I think I was his first guest and that Podcast is at http://www.MLW.com. Part two drops next Thursday. We chatted a great deal about Mid South Wrestling among other topics, some insane, but get into the UFC next week of which we are both fans.

Speaking of podcasts, congrats to Chris Jericho for launching his new podcast and for being the #1 sports podcast of the week thanks in part to his first guest @steveaustinBSR whose own podcast was #2. Austin's podcast has Taz on the air as I write this of which I HAVE to listen to ASAP.

@IAmJericho is a talented dude on so many fronts. He is sternly missed in WWE I can assure you.

I am meeting via conference call later today about producing my own podcast and beginning soon. Seems like the thing to do and I love guesting on them and think I could have a blast interviewing a variety of guests and answering fan's questions as well. That's all to be determined but it looks positive. I will keep you informed here or on Twitter @JRsBBQ where we now have over 990,000 followers.

Now that he's been cleared of any misdeeds, expect FSU's Jameis Winston to win the Heisman Trophy. That's another freshman winning the most coveted prize in college football following Johnny Manziel last year. I think that Manziel should be in the hunt, too, and can't process why Alabama QB AJ McCarron gets such little consideration.

For the record, to demonstrate how ill suited the BCS is to determine the national champion in college football this one last time before the playoffs start next year, the best team in the nation, according to the guys in Vegas, the Alabama Crimson Tide are out of the chase after a miracle loss to Auburn.

Bama would be favored over every team they could play in a BCS Title game.

BTW...during the Wrestling Observer interview...I shared why I think I'll never broadcast another pro wrestling match and the slim to none chance that I will ever broadcast UFC or football. However, I will add here that I've beaten the odds before.

Yes, I'm attending Bedlam Saturday in Stillwater which sees my Oklahoma Sooners as the definitive underdog against the highly ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys. It's going be colder than an ex-mother in law's hug but I've seen every Sooner snap this year in person and don't plan on bailing because of wind chills being in the teens.

WWE is getting great market research from their fans who are voting for the Slammy Awards online. Wrestling fans have no issues speaking their mind via a vote or otherwise which speaks to the passion that many fans still have for the genre.

It appears that the smart money, or is it, is on Brock Lesnar facing the Undertaker at WM30. That seems to be the strongest sentiment making the rounds online. For the record, I don't know as it's not my hill to die upon these days and I'm merely speculating. On paper, Lesnar vs. The Undertaker is an impressive match IF Lesnar is re-branded/re-energized to the WWE fan base as the indestructible "killer" that he can be. One matter to address is how often will either Taker or Brock appear on Monday Night RAW building up to the encounter to add adequate logs to the promotional fire? It sounds as if Paul Heyman will have to return to be the mouthpiece for Brock as Paul has done in the past, and done it damn well, but having the combatants appear on RAW only sporadically hampers the potential number of PPV buys which one would assume would lessen each man's potential earnings.

I underscore the word assume as we all know what occurs when one assumes.

Just my two cents but if Bill Watts isn't involved at any Mid South function during WM30 week in New Orleans because he either wasn't asked or it was perceived that he wanted "too much money" then it really isn't a full fledged Mid South reunion show.

Same goes for Dan Hodge going into the WWE Hall of Fame in New Orleans after Dan has been enshrined in every other wrestling hall of fame known to man. If Dan Hodge doesn't belong in the WWE Hall of Fame then no one it it does.

It's really strange as to who doesn't contact their "old friends" when they are in one's home market ala Monday Night Raw this past week and, conversely, who does reach out from one's former company.

Yep, this rasslin thing is a whacky business.

Creatively, many make it much more complicated and harder than it ever needs to be.

Great deal on JR's online products for the holidays but you should probably think about ordering sooner than later to insure timely delivery. Check out the deals at;

http://www.wweshop.com

http://www.americansoda.co.uk

http://www.beyondtheropes.co.uk

Thanks for your consideration for making JR's a part of your families holidays. If you are a wresting website and use any of our content how about linking to these sites or at least back to ours? Some sites do that and we certainly thank you. Others, not so much.

I've updated the Q&A's at Ask JR here on the site.

Because I haven't read any of the beloved 'spoilers' I might actually watch from start to finish TNA and Smackdown this week. It's too damn cold to venture out but my lovely wife might have other thoughts on this matter although she's a fan and has been wonderful enough to indulge my crazy passions for football UFC, etc for years. Indeed, I out punted my coverage when we married in 1993. Being married 20 years in the rasslin biz is like being married 40 years in the real world.

Be well.

Boomer Sooner!

J.R. @JRsBBQ