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JR's Blog: FREE BBQ Sauce Offer Ends Tonight at Midnight..Order Now..Strikeforce Thoughts...More

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 By: CMBurnham

It's the first Sunday w/o football of some sort and I'm Jonseing. With that said, it's kickoff time.

Our FREE HOT BBQ Sauce offer ends at midnight tonight (Sunday). This one is simple: order any TWO packages from our store (packages start as low as $7.88 each) and we will include in your order a FREE bottle of JR's awesome, HOT BBQ Sauce, a FREE Koozie, and a FREE piece of autographed swag.

We appreciate everyone's business and remember that you have to order any TWO packages you choose to qualify for all the FREEBIES.

Showtime did a better job of producing the Strikeforce show Saturday night than in the past. Some speculate that signing Manny Pacquiao encouraged Showtime to up the ante and spend more production bucks on the Strikeforce Heavyweight Tournament that began Saturday night in East Rutherford, N.J. It's obvious that Showtime is attempting to become more of a player in the premium cable, sports market.

The broadcasters did a solid job with Mauro Ranallo and Frank Shamrock doing most of the heavy lifting while CBS company man Gus Johnson steered the broadcast vehicle.

MMA announcers still get caught up in the fact that the apparently feel that their audience is comprised of all or mostly hard core, internet oriented fans who know every abbreviation, term, etc in today's MMA. That's far from true and the program's producers and the talents themselves have to address this matter if they truly want to attract more causal fans to the growing sport.

Does EVERY fan know what BJJ means? What exactly is a Kimora? Does any one ever mention that the gloves weigh 4 ounces and not 8 as they do in pro boxing. Amateur boxing uses 16 ounce gloves so isn't the 4 ounce glove matter a story? What is a 'heel hook' and what part of the foot, ankle, heel does it affect and why? Those are just a few of the examples that seemingly never get addressed on most MMA broadcasts.

Why doesn't Showtime produce succinct personality profiles on all the fighters who appear on their air to tell viewers who the fighters are? If it's redundant to hard core fans then so be it as they aren't leaving except to perhaps get up and go make a sandwich while the piece airs.

The shocking loss of Fedor obviously opens up the heavyweight tournament as Fedor was the heavy favorite to win the 8 man, single elimination competition. My wife mentioned to me that when Fedor stepped into the cage that he did not look to be in great shape and she had never seen him fight before. She heard all the Fedor accolades being put forth, well earned without question, but when the 'Last Emperor' stepped in the cage he looked like a smaller, older, bald guy who did not seem to possess the fire in his eye to right his last wrong inside the cage. No one can question Fedor's legacy or his amazing career in MMA but the Russian needs to seriously evaluate if he is going to continue in the sport and risk permanent injury especially if his heart isn't in it.

Even though Fedor intimated that he might 'hang up his gloves' Saturday night it seems like he might want to re-think his situation when he is less emotional and has had the time to think things through.

During the beating Fedor took from 'Big Foot' Silva I thought of how Fedor may have trained for this fight, the strategy that his trainers formulated, and what Fedor's overall management team did to prepare their bread winner for Saturday night's Strikeforce 's biggest event to date.

My consensus after sleeping on that subject was that Fedor's camp/management did him no favors. If my suspicious are somewhat accurate, then shame on them for misrepresenting what seems to be an honorable, God fearing man who has been an amazing warrior in carrying a large portion of MMA on is shoulders before UFC took the game to another level.

For those that think the fight should have continued with Fedor not being able to see out of one eye, you need to be drug tested. The commission doctor made the ONLY call that he could have made in that situation and that was to stop the fight.

The size disparity between Silva and Fedor was overtly noticeable and was a significant factor in the fight in my opinion. Fedor needed to stay vertical, avoid being on bottom, and try to negate Silva's huge reach advantage. None of those things occurred.

I enjoy the tourney format and it gives Strikeforce a marketable, unique attraction to attempt to earn their share of the MMA market against the big dog in the yard, UFC. Let's hope that all the original entrants make it through the tournament process and that this tournament doesn't have to be re-booked on the fly for preventable reasons.

Understand this....I am a big Gina Carano fan and feel that Strikeforce is helped GREATLY by featuring women fighters as it gives SF something unique and exclusive to promote in their uphill struggle with UFC.

However, the interview with the lovely and talented Carano was unacceptable. No one allows a star of her magnitude who is 'returning' to be perceived in such an amateurish manner. Shame on Showtime for not protecting one of their biggest assets if they even realize that Gina Carano is one of their biggest assets who motivates male and female fans alike to tune in to her fights.

Hopefully Strikeforce will book Gina against someone with whom she matches up well and not throw her to Cris Cyborg who is untouchable, or so it seems, in today's marketplace.

I'm anxious to see if Carano will fully dedicate herself to getting back in the gym and push herself to unspeakable limits that all great fighters must do to be the best at their craft.

Thanks for Mauro Ranallo for the shout out on the Saturday night broadcast referencing yours truly when using my 'bowling shoe ugly' line. WE got besieged by those that heard it on Twitter @JRsBBQ.

Strikeforce could use a promo coach for their fighters. Maybe WWE HOF'er Dusty Rhodes could freelance and help them just as he helps the young wrestlers in WWE's developmental camp, FCW. Some of the Strikeforce fighter promos were akin to rasslin' promos on the indy circuit.

Some day more MMA fighters will 'get it' that the better that they can verbally communicate in an organic, believable albeit entertaining way, the more money they are likely to earn.

UFC has blown Toronto and the Rogers Centre nearly out of Ontario as ticket sales for the upcoming UFC event featuring GSP, among others, have been amazing. From what I read, virtually all the inventory for the venue has been sold and within hours of going on sale.

Emailer...For any wrestling fan to begrudge Jerry Lawler of getting the opportunities that are coming his way that hopefully lead to his first ever Wrestlemania bout is senseless and embarrassing to even address. It's beyond stupidity. King has been entertaining fans for 40 years and working in WWE for 18 years. If Jerry Lawler hasn't earned his opportunity to perform at Wrestlemania then no one in WWE has. No one.

In today's transitional marketplace where many younger talents are being given to the ball to run with and being provided, for many, with pre-mature opportunities, Lawler is arguably in the top three of all the fan favorites on Monday Night Raw along with John Cena and Randy Orton. King knows his craft, is a master in-ring psychologist, and will make who ever he performs with better.

I mentioned Dusty Rhodes in a tongue in cheek manner earlier in this blog regarding him coaching Strikeforce fighters on how to put sentences together that actually make sense. With that said, the Dream does a helluva job working with the rookies in FCW on their verbal development and encourages them think on their feet and to not work from a script for the lack of a better term.

Twitter @JRsBBQ....Let's use our heads here...IF I knew who was going to be the Host of Wrestlemania 27 that will be revealed on Monday Night Raw live from Anaheim Monday night, WHY would I spill the beans and spoil the surprise? I wouldn't because I'm smarter than I look (thank goodness).

Same goes for the 2/21/11 vignettes with the Johnny Cash lyric included. If you can't figure that one out to some degree please feel free to call a private detective. I 'think' that I know who those vignettes are touting but, again, I'll keep my opinions to myself.

Do that many fans simply hate sensible, surprises in the wrestling biz these days?

Twitter @JRsBBQ....We had another non Valedictorian who said that he'd been doing a great deal of research on the worn out topic of the "Montreal Screw Job' and that he knew that I was aware of what was going to go down that night before the show. Wrong again Einstein. Neither King or I knew what was going to occur which is the truth but the truth doesn't make for nearly as good a conspiracy theory for those folks with WAY too much time on their hands. More importantly, considering that everyone involved in that matter has seemingly moved on, why can't the fans?

Is today's pro wrestling product that bad that some fans have to revert back to a 14 year old piece of business to stay hooked to the genre?

Emailer....Thanks for the idea to use our Original and Hot BBQ Sauce in spaghetti sauce. Interesting indeed. I have to try it as a 'season to taste' ingredient for my regular spaghetti sauce.

I'm going to make a burger topping using HOT BBQ Sauce, Original BBQ Sauce, Chipotle Ketchup, chopped onion, Worcester Sauce, sweet pickle relish, ground pepper and seasoned salt. I'm going to make a small batch and allow it to simmer and then pour on my burgers or grilled chicken as a topping along with lettuce and tomato.

What did you that saw it think of the new trailer for the THQ WWE All Star video game?

Remember that we will ship our JR's products to your hotel if you are coming to Atlanta from outside the USA for WM27 or merely taking any American vacation. We do it all the time and it's no problem.

We do not...I repeat we do NOT ship outside the USA and have no plans to start due to the mountains of red tape that go along with it for a small company like ours. However, those that want to try our products and live outside the USA can do so by simply checking out http://www.wweshop.com.

WWE had almost 6,000 fans in Lubbock, Texas Saturday night at a live event which is excellent for Lubbock.

Check this out from THQ on Facebook...http://on.fb.me/fassIU. Also, http://www.facebook.com/WWEGames.

Emailer....I chose not to go into detail, as if I actually remembered or had the info, on what wrestlers over the years loved to frequent stip bars aka Gentleman's Clubs. Like I'm going to throw a married guy under the bus for any reason much less address such a silly question. I do remember that the late Dave Shelton aka the Angel of Death used to manage a Gentleman's Club after his wrestling days were over. The Godfather aka Charles Wright does the same, unless he's recently changed vocations, in Vegas. Charles was my domino playing buddy back in the day.

Good to see that USA Network is going to air the new, Tough Enough three times a week. As I have said before, Tough Enough is a major priority for WWE/USA Network and they are relying on a battle tested, outside production company to make this version of the reality show hot.

I like the idea of USA broadcasting the WWE HOF Induction Ceremony on Monday night prior to MNR that follows WM27. The show will be slicker, better edited/produced and should be a fast paced, one hour show. I wonder if www.wwe.com will carry the 2011 HOF Induction Ceremony live on line on Saturday night?

We hope that you take advantage of our great offer that ends tonight (Sunday) at midnight where if you buy any TWO packages in our store, we will bonus you a FREE bottle of JR's HOT BBQ Sauce, a FREE Koozie, and a FREE piece of autographed swag. Individual packages start as low as $7.88 each.

Have a great day and follow us on Twitter @JRsBBQ. Plus, the Q&A's here on the site are updated.

Boomer Sooner!

J.R.

Tags: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, WWE, Dusty Rhodes