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Former Cleveland Browns player Al "Bubba" Baker is a lifelong lover of good barbecue, and his Bubba's Q World Famous Bar-B-Q and Catering in Avon is a Mecca for rib lovers. Now he's hoping an appearance 9 p.m. Friday on ABC-TV's primetime show "Shark Tank" will get him the backing to take his brand nationwide.

(Scott Shaw, The Plain Dealer)

AVON, Ohio -- This Friday night, Al "Bubba" Baker hopes that America will discover what the Northeast Ohio restaurant owner and his customers have known for several years: that you can have great barbecued spareribs, without any bones.

At 9 p.m. Friday on ABC TV, Baker -- the former Cleveland Browns defensive linebacker-turned-restaurateur, who operates

in Avon -- will appear on

the prime time series that showcases owners of small businesses seeking financial backing from some of the nation's most successful business people. Among those investor "sharks" are Mark Cuban, billionaire owner of the NBA championship Dallas Mavericks; Barbara Corcharan, New York City real estate tycoon; Daymond John, founder of FUBU clothing; Kevin O'Leary, venture capitalist, and Lori Greiner, the "Queen of QVC."

Baker says he worked his way from an initial cattle call of roughly 35,000 applicants, all of them owners of small businesses around the nation, to 36 finalists -- each of them vying to be one of the 22 entrepreneurs who will be featured on episodes produced by Sony Pictures Television and aired by ABC.

"I have never been so nervous in my life," he says flatly, recounting the early stages of the experience of jumping through a seemingly endless series of hoops.

"I’ve been on Thursday Thanksgiving Day games, the MVP, five or six Monday Night games. NFL football isn't even close to 'Shark Tank,' There’s a certain security behind the helmet when you're on the field. There are 21 other guys out on the field with you. On the Sony lot, it was just me and Brittani, my daughter and business partner."

Al Baker's Boneless Baby Back Ribs are barbecued low and slow then sealed in heavy film, frozen and shipped. The ribs reheat in the microwave in a few minutes.

Few dishes are more succulent than a smokey rack of baby back ribs, but Baker has long recognized, the downsides: the long, slow cooking, the messiness, and the big pile of bones left behind. When he developed a method to completely remove the bones, effectively creating a baby back rib steak you can easily eat with a knife and fork, he had a winner.

But only locally, With the help of Heinen's supermarket co-owner Tom Heinen, who agreed to let Baker and his crew produce the boneless, heat-and-eat ribs in the company's Warrensville Heights production kitchens, the restaurateur was able to set them regionally.

Baker's next goal is to secure the financial backing necessary to take his unique product to national distribution.

"This pitch you make to the sharks – mine was 2 minutes and seven seconds – that’s it. It’s your one shot. I’m asking these five people to come on board with me, and I don’t have a second chance. I can’t think of anything harder."

On Thursday, Nov. 7 a production crew came to the family's home and the restaurant they operate at 820 Center Road in Avon to videotape day-in-the-life video.

Although Baker knows the outcome of his time in front of the cameras, a $5.1 million confidentiality clause keeps him tight-lipped about the episode's conclusion. He's not permitted to reveal details before the show's air date.

"Believe me, the background check alone is 55 pages of small print," he said. "No way I want to mess up whatever could happen with this."