Kennedy: Are you ready to rumble?

Ron Baldwin, 43, of Trenton, Ga., doesn't celebrate Christmas or New Year's. Instead, Baldwin saves up all of his festive energy for Super Bowl Sunday.

"Football season is what keeps me going," Baldwin says.

Every year since 1986 when "Da Bears" of Chicago beat the New England Patriots to take home the NFL's Lombardi Trophy, Baldwin and his old high-school buddy, Chris Greene, have been the hosts for a roving Super Bowl Sunday house party known as Rons Rumble.

Baldwin is deferential to his co-founder, Greene.

"There's no apostrophe in Rons Rumble," Baldwin insists. "With an apostrophe it's mine, and without an apostrophe it's mine and his (Greene's)."

OK. There's logic there.

Baldwin once had a trophy shop remake a plaque honoring each year's Most Entertaining Attendee because somebody there insisted on making Rons possessive.

Oh, no you don't.

Rons Rumble is no run-of-the-mill Super Bowl party. The entertainment for this year's event, Rons Rumble XXVIII, includes appearances by "Wildfire" Tommy Rich, a former National Wrestling Alliance world heavyweight champion, and Candice the Psychic from the East Ridge Flea Market.

Now, that, friends, is some fancy entertainment.

"Wildfire" will sign autographs, and Candice will hunt for ghosts in his attic at halftime, Baldwin explains.

When Baldwin and Greene started their Super Bowl watching tradition in 1986, they were both students at Dade County High School. Baldwin was (and remains) a Miami Dolphins fan, and Greene loves the Dallas Cowboys. The second year of the gathering, the guys decided if this was to be an annual event it needed a name. Somebody threw out "Rons Rumble," and it stuck.

Over time, Rons Rumble has grown exponentially. There were five attendees the first year, and the record is 34 under one roof.

Baldwin keeps meticulous records. His archives include two photo albums and a computerized "Record Book" where he tracks all the party's vital statistics.

Baldwin knows, for example, that 128 people have attended at least one of Rons Rumbles. Ten people have been to at least 10 parties, he says. Rons Rumble has been held in 12 locations in three states, Baldwin reports from memory. In the beginning, partygoers watched the Super Bowl on a 12-inch TV, according to the archives. More recently, the screen was 57 inches.

Incredibly, Baldwin seems to remember each Rumble in detail, as if each were a favorite episode of "Friends." For example, Rons Rumble VIII involved a touch football game that left everyone sore, he says, while Rumble XXII will be remembered for a guy who jumped in a creek in 10-degree weather.

Other notable Rumbles have included appearances by a shy Elvis impersonator and an amateur bellydancer. One year, the door prizes included Six Million Dollar Man action figures and an unopened box of Doug Flutie Flakes.

Each year, by secret ballot, the partygoers pick a Most Entertaining Attendee, who is memorialized on a plaque along with all the previous winners.

Baldwin has already promised to bequeath the party to his 16-year-old daughter, Leighanna, who presumably will remain the hostess until some grandchildren of the founder enters the picture and inherits the party like a family heirloom.

"It's really just a parody of a Super Bowl party," Baldwin explains. "The game is not really even that important."

Unless, of course, the Dolphins ever play the Cowboys in the NFL championship game. Now that would be epic.

Contact Mark Kennedy at mkennedy@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6645. Follow him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MarkKennedyTFP or on Twitter @TFPCOLUMNIST.

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