Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Recapping the Dickies American Worker of the Year Invitational presented by Pike Electric in Dallas

Since sometimes I have to go trailing off to other parts of the state on behalf of my clients, I was in Billings all day yesterday, which naturally delayed the posting of our recap of the Dickies American Worker of the Year Invitational presented by Pike Electric in Dallas. And thanks to popular demand (I think five people actually requested it!), Montana Barn Cat and I had decided to do another pseudo-live blog, which in this case took the form of our taking copious notes about the event and all the snide comments we managed to fire off in the course of it. Let's face it, sometimes trying to do this on a laptop just complicates things unnecessarily. This sort of post takes a little longer to wrangle, but we consider it our contribution to the war effort. No doubt it’s way funnier to us than you’ll find it, but them’s the breaks.

We were also motivated by the fact that it will be FOUR FULL WEEKS before the next event, in Tulsa, and then Shannon, the keeper of the flame and all true information, pointed out late last night that the Tulsa event won’t be televised till August 2. Do you get that, folks? It will be SIX FULL WEEKS before we see any new PBR action on the tube. That might be the most depressing thing I’ve heard all year, which is saying something.

So in the event that your spirits are flagging a bit, we offer up this long-ass treatise. Two disclaimers: For the most part, these are the Stockyard Queen’s observations—if that’s not so, I’ve noted it. Which brings me to the last cautionary note, for my lovely mother-in-law, who sometimes drops by here: You may need to cover your eyes when you read some of Barn Cat’s contributions. I swear, I have not made a word of this up. I can only keep in mind what you told me—when you were growing up in Wyoming, you heard it all, though of course you weren’t allowed to say it, because you’re a girl. Well, the Barn Cat has spoken and some of it ain’t purty.

You have all been warned. Here goes.

Saturday, June 21
We see a panorama of Dallas, but fortunately are spared hearing the theme song from the nighttime soap opera of the same name. Down in the arena, the boys in the booth are talking about the return of the Messiah, oh, excuse me, Justin McBride, and Justin McKee remarks in passing that the folks at PBR headquarters were worried that without a “superstar” (my remark, not his), fan interest might fall off. But guess what! It’s greater than ever!

Nevertheless, this comment explains a lot: 1) the continuous and ultimately annoying worshipping at the altar of Justin McBride, this season, which has included reminding us every five minutes that he wasn’t there, what had happened to him, when he would be back, and how much all our lives would improve when that blessed event occurred (honestly, I’m surprised they didn’t set up a shrine to him on top of the cage in the middle of the arena, complete with a big picture and some candles, just in case we’d somehow managed to miss hearing about him); 2) the multiple, ridiculous, fractured-logic observations that Marchi (and all the other boys, of course) was riding great BECAUSE Justin wasn’t there; and 3) the blatant and ongoing search to find a new American “superstar,” like Travis Briscoe and then Sean Willingham, which, as Ruby would say, “hasn’t worked out too good.” Travis pretty much tanked early on and, though Sean presently is riding well, he’s not in Guilherme Marchi’s league, never has been. Marchi has hit a rough patch lately, but he’s still way ahead in the overall standings and I’m betting he’ll back up to snuff shortly.

And to think that people had the nerve to complain when Tim Russert’s death was in the news for a week! How long have we been putting up with this Justin McBride mantra? AN ENTIRE SEASON, that’s how long. The only miracle out of all this is that I don’t faint, or spit, or at least hyperventilate at the sound of his name, and I am still interested in watching him ride instead of pelting him with wadded-up beer cans. To hear these guys tell it, though, I might as well turn off the tube and take up croquet or tatting now, because Justin’s got the title in the bag already.

And here comes our first rider: my good buddy Reese Cates, who is in the race for Rookie of the Year. He goes off Crazy Train in 2.5 seconds.

MBC: “I guess he did too much drivin’ and sleepin’.”

Bryan Richardson gets thrown off Hustler. Justin McKee says that’s a Playboy son out of a Bodacious daughter. “He’s a ringer for his grandpa.”

Living Large is throwing some snot, and also throwing Tyler Pankewitz.

Avalanche is back! Pistol Robertson is off!

Austin Meier gets thrown.

Aaron Roy rides Ham Bone, who looks like he’s been drugged. Does not look like the same bull that J.W. said looked like “the real deal” in San Antonio.

Clayton Foltyn can’t stick to Rewind, a “bucking son of a gun,” though he comes close. J.W. wonders whether he got that far on effort or if it was a hang up. Well, somebody else won the world championship hanging off the side of a bull, so there’s no reason not to stick any way you can. You’ll still get a score.

The bull named Mr. Zantrex has been dyed blue. SQ: “Ladies, don’t date him.” [Late note to Miss Jean: No, I do not believe his, er, apparatus was also dyed blue. I'd like to have seen the son of a bitch who would have been brave enough to try that. I'd give him the bull riding title without his ever climbing on a one of them.]

Zack Brown and Say When. MBC: “That bull looks like a Dutch Lop.” Zack goes off, bull scores 44.

Cord rides Clown Attack—a bore. It’s Cord’s 4th straight ride.

Harve Stewart off Rush—he gets off holding his groin. Maybe they have some Zantrex-3 Insta-Shot in the back for him, to ease the pain.

Brian Canter on Too Sharp, a rematch. Too Sharp is a muley. Kurt Hummer: “Brian is wearing his hair a little longer.” J.W. says Canter “ain’t shaved in four months and you can barely tell it. He’s got a bet going with somebody.” Brian rides for 84.50. J.W. says that bull has a common day.

Rocky Boots Trivia—what is Mike White’s favorite movie? KH: “I hope it’s not Lonesome Dove.” J.W.: “Lonesome Dove is the greatest movie of all time.” SQ: “But it doesn’t have a soundtrack by Toby Keith, J.W.!”

Kolt Donaldson is pitched off Snap Shot, who can jump. That was fun.

Dustin Hall is off Full Throttle and immediately starts praying. Justin McKee: “He’s a Playboy looking dude, ain’t he?” Looks like there are a couple of Playboy’s sons in this round. Assuming McKee was talking about the bull, of course.

Wiley Peterson rides for 87.5. Shorty doesn’t call it for once.

Jared Farley off Cadillac Man. Bull was awesome! Bull score: 44.5

Colby Yates rides Can Rock for 89 and is now in the lead.

The Gerber Man ad still sucks.

Here comes a bull named Jack Daniels. That reminds me of a Beverly Hillbillies episode where Jethro steals Granny’s “medicine” to fuel his moon-shot, because he wants to get up there to party with the Moon Girls. He blasts off just as Granny is sampling her latest batch, and the concussion about shakes the house to pieces. Granny says, “Eat your heart out, Jack Daniels!”

Nick Landreneau makes it to 7:20 on Sharp Dressed Kid.

Sinovaldo Correia rides Red Man, a BIG bull, for 88.25.

Brendon Clark is off Lucky Strike.

Ryan Dirteater? Are you serious? Surely he made that name up.

Ad for Fight Night. I thought we were watching that already.

OH MY GOD! IT’S JUSTIN MCBRIDE! HE’S BACK! THANK THE LORD, WE DON’T HAVE TO WATCH CRAPPY BULL RIDING ANYMORE! WHEN DO HIS SUPERPOWERS KICK IN? OR DOES HE HAVE TO WEAR A CAPE?

He’s on Fish Creek Bandit. J.W.: “When they announce his name, everybody stands up.” SQ: Yeah, they all just realized they need to go to the john and get another beer. Maybe several. He rides but it’s a pussy bull. He looks thinner, his haircut looks better (basically he’s shaved his head). I’m still not a fan.

Kurt Hummer: "The bulls are all picked randomly." SQ: "Why are you telling us that now?"

Justin McBride says it was a perfect bull to come back on. “I’m still a little rusty but it felt good.”

Helton Barbosa off Handsome Jack. Bull score is 43.5.

Ednei is wearing a helmet, which causes considerable consternation in the booth. Rides Monkey Shine for 85.25. A good ride.

Ned Cross is hyperventilating on Monkey Business. It doesn’t help, he gets thrown. Bull score is 44.

Renato Nunes is on Hellfire, a bull J.W. isn’t too high on. He rides, gets five. Frank Newsome takes a hit.

Commercial for Ford F Series, which “has stood by the American worker for 60 years.” Vehicles don’t stand by people, people stand by people. And what about the fact that Ford has delayed the rollout of the new F-150, due to its financial woes? What kind of “standing by” is that?

Doorbell rings in a commercial and MacKenzie starts barking. He runs over Tiny and Belle on his way out the door to protect us all from the evil hatchet murderers on the loose in our fair city of a Saturday evening.

Gilbert Carrillo owns (at least a piece) of Fish Creek Bandit. Re: McBride riding him: “You can’t throw him off of nothing.” J.W. says it was a practice bull for McBride. Who, BTW, didn’t ride any practice bulls while he was out.

Mr. Zantrex appears again. MBC: “Maybe they should just paint a va-jay-jay on the rider’s vest.” [Later: I've thought about that comment for about three days now and I still can't imagine what that picture would look like.]

Mike White’s favorite movie is Talladega Nights. Montana Barn Cat: “Kurt Hummer’s favorite movie is The Birdcage.”

Ford Tough Stuff Moment is Renato Nunes.

NO MENTION OF PAULO CRIMBER’S INJURY YET.

Mike White rides Dirty Secret, who was bad. Reride option.

Dustin Elliott on Stiffer. He rides.

MBC takes over for a bit: Adriano vs. Sand Boy. Good ride! With family in the stands! 85.75.

Chris Shivers vs. What I Say. Looked good for a couple of jumps but throwed off. Bull score 45.25.

Sean Willingham vs. Slow Ride. He’s five-for-five of the riders here. Won Orlando. Snot slingin’ in the chute. 87.75. He’s six-for-six now.

Ross Coleman vs. Wild Nights. (SQ: Which he should know a lot about.) Bucked off—bull had good timing—scampy!

Mike Lee vs. Hill Street. Rides for 85.5.

Mike White vs. Wild Life for reride. 90.75. SQ: Where’s the points fairy?

SQ is back.

Travis Briscoe rides Rock Star. He’s still not on a streak.

MBC: Mauny bucked off Fraggle Rock.

Valdiron vs. Roll the Dice. Good first hop, then spins. Possible re-ride. Bull fell down in the back.

Cody Lohstroh vs. Billionaire. Bucked off. Bull scores 46.

Marchi vs. Total Darkness. Nice nose view of the bull, who “loves his job.” Did the bull stumble? Three straight buck-offs! SQ: Guess those superpowers kicked in before McBride even got back in the arena.

Round is over. In the booth: “That would mean the night is over but for the Zantrex-3 Insta-shot Grudge Match.” Bet a lot of guys are saying the same thing when the night should be over. Willingham and Jenkins both end up in the dust, so the Grudge Match comes to naught. Guess that extra energy Zantrex gives them isn’t helping.

Sunday, June 22

We are admiring the Dallas skyline. I haven’t been in Dallas in 20 years, but the skyline was way overrated even then. The only thing it had going for it was that unlike most of Texas, something was sticking up more than 15 feet above the horizon. Would love to try out Guilherme’s steak house, though.

Now we are admiring some bulls. Jacob’s Pet is unridden in four outs. Fish Creek Bandit appears.

J.W.: “Hustler is extremely rank on a right-hand delivery, like they have him tonight.”

Travis bounces off Rewind.

Last night there were 19 rides out of 47, if I have the number of rerides right. That’s roughly 40 percent.

Brendon Clark on Rush—Clark rides but the bull practically stopped. Clark scores 88.25. What the hell?

Mauney on BMF—that was a good ride, but he only gets 86.5. The judges are already hard at work here, throwing darts at the board to pick the scores.

Brian Herman almost gets stepped on when Rowdy You Hou unloads him.

Renato rides Little Bo, a BIG bull, for 88.6. He gets kicked in the back as he gets off but that’s a good score. He’s ridden two.

SQ: “Oh, no, it’s the dancing pharmaceutical reps! They never stop.”

MBC: “He sells birth control pills, she sells Viagra.”

SQ: “Is that why he keeps grabbing his crotch?”

Pistol Robinson has grand plans to ride Total Darkness, who has different plans. And who manages to carry them out. Off he goes.

Nick Landreneau is bucked off King Solomon. A close call—his hat is wrecked.

Valdiron goes up against Young Gun, which name is sort of ironic, and prevails. 80.5. He should have gotten a reride. Sez J.W.: “The judges are dumb tonight because that’s a 14 point bull if I ever seen one.”

Robson Palermo and Lucky Strike combine for the worst wreck of the night. Yikes! He landed right on his head, just like Paulo and Ross Coleman did. I thought for sure he’d have a compression fracture of the spine.

Clayton Williams loses his rope and Red Man tosses him off. Sez J.W.: “I’d throw that rope in the garbage and get a new one.”

Here, once again, comes the Ford F-150 Series, the truck that has stood behind the ’Merican Worker for 60 years, and now you can get it for employee pricing! Sez MBC: “All the employees are laid off, so the price IS exactly the same for you.”

Feature on whether helmets should be mandatory. Cody Lambert opines that the reason they’re not required is there is no PBR safety standard for the manufacturers to meet. And whose fault is that? If the PBR established a standard this week, there would be helmets manufactured to meet it in another three weeks. You can take that to the bank. J.W. says he doesn’t agree with making helmets mandatory and he doesn’t agree with the seat belt law either. He won’t wear a helmet because “I’m a cowboy and I like the way a cowboy hat looks.” I hope he likes the way his face looks after he goes through a windshield. Reasoning like that, and role models behaving like that, could get a lot of people hurt and even killed. It’s a good thing J.W. isn’t riding this season—maybe riders will pay less attention to what he says. Really! That’s just irresponsible. If you want to endanger your own life, that’s your prerogative, but at least have the sense to keep your damned mouth shut about why you’re being so aggressively stupid. I’ll bet J.W. rides his ATV without a helmet, too, because it “infringes on his rights” to feel the wind in his hair. Of course the community has no right to an opinion on the subject, even though the county paramedics may end up having to scrape him up off the highway so he can take up space in the hospital on life support, probably on the county dime, till somebody who loves him has to make an awful decision. Thanks, J.W.! We love it when you defend your rights. As Mario Cuomo said of New Hampshire, the only state that does not have a seat belt law, “Their motto is ‘Live Free or Die’ and they have chosen to die.”

Wiley Peterson rides Papa Smurf. Behind the chutes, he holds up his helmet and says, “Don’t leave home without it.”

Sean Willingham vs. the unridden Slade, who remains unridden.

Marchi climbs aboard Derringer and gets the job done. He scores 89.0, which puts him in fifth place. The last time he bucked off four times straight was in September of ’07. Wasn’t Travis Briscoe 0 for 11 at one point this season? Travis, the next Great White Hope?

Austin Meier is bucked off Flat Creek. Austin isn’t looking too good these days.

Mike Lee goes two for two on Handsome Jack.

Leah reports that Robson has a concussion and has re-injured his shoulder. He is questionable for Tulsa. What about Paulo? What about Ross Coleman? Who decides whose injuries get reported on?

Colby Yates can’t stick to Monkey Business. I’m liking that bull a lot.

MBC: “Justin McBride looks a little like Tom Cruise to me.”

Stockyard Queen: “Maybe like Tom Cruise would look if he had his cheekbones liposuctioned.”

L.J. Jenkins just plain falls off Lucky Strike, and manages to spit almost as soon as he hits the ground. SQ: “He’s too busy concentrating on his snoose to ride bulls.”

Adriano Moraes has Player—he rides him, but just barely. Oh, no, he slapped the bull! The crowd is booing. I agree. “Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes you slap the bull,” sez MBC.

Sinovald Correia gets bucked off Black Ghost. An excellent bull.

Justin McBride draws his second pussy bull of the event, Jefe, and rides him. Even J.W. says this is a “practice bull” for Justin, who of course hasn’t ridden any practice bulls before coming back. Justin is probably telling the truth about that, since it’s such a point of pride with him that he doesn’t need to practice or work out or (most likely) even go to physical therapy, but I suspect that when some of these boys say they aren’t getting on practice bulls, it’s like some writers saying they never revise their stuff. Jack Kerouac always insisted he never revised anything—turns out, he was lying. Make of that analogy what you will.

J.W. says Justin McBride will pick the rankest bull in the bull draft.

Chris Shivers rides Cadillac Man for 90! I have to admit, that was a good ride. He made a great correction when the bull changed directions. His 73rd 90 point ride! But—can you spell “score inflation”? That explains all the 90 point rides this season, as far as I’m concerned. Overall, I’d bet we’re still not seeing the cowboys ride 50 percent of the time. The judges have one hell of a lot to answer for.

Kurt Hummer: “Justin McBride is back!” Stockyard Queen: “Who? Oh, was he gone?”

Luke Snyder gets bucked off Hustler. As you’d expect. I think that’s the rankest bull bucking right now.

Cody Atwood and Holy Smoke part company, and the end is ugly. Almost a major disaster! Cody got off easy that time.

Brian Canter tries to ride Avalanche. Shorty Gorham predicts he will be bucked off at 2.5 seconds. He is EXACTLY right. They should put him in the judging booth and pitch at least one of those (conveniently anonymous) dudes down into the arena. Let’s see how he’d do fighting bulls instead of hiding behind his clipboard.

Kolt Donaldson is bested by Bigger Man, who poses very nicely before leaving the arena. That bull looks great!

Enterprise Ride with the Best—Mike White vs. Scary Deal. He rides for 88.25 points! He goes first in the bull draft.

The picks are 1) Mike White and Camo; 2) Renato Nunes and Grey Dog; 3) Wiley Peterson and Cat Man Do; 4) Justin McBride and Billionaire; 5) Mike Lee and Mr. Zantrex; 6) Aaron Roy and Hot Stuff; 7) Valdiron and Full Throttle; 8) Chris Shivers and Zorro; 9) Travis Brisco and Jacob’s Pet; 10) Colby Yates and Ricky Bobby; 11) Dustin Elliot and Nasty Mike; 12) Guilherme Marchi and Spitfire; 13) Jared Farley and Showtime; 14) Reese Cates and Party Time; and 15) Brendon Clark and Gnash.

Clark has been thrown off Gnash twice before but this time he manages to hang on for 92 points. Justin McKee: “Talk about going from the outhouse to the penthouse.” Up the back stairs, I presume.

Reese Cates and Jared Farley are bucked off. Marchi gets thrown and gets whacked in the face with a horn for good measure. Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch! Dustin Elliot loses his bull rope and that’s that. J.W.: “That’s a bad day at the office right there.”

Travis Briscoe gets thrown off Jacob’s Pet, as we all knew he would. Why didn’t Justin McBride pick that bull, arguably the rankest in the pen this out?

Chris Shivers rides Zorro, who J.W. describes as “hard as a brick.” He scores 89.5, which makes no sense to me, compared to Clark’s score.

Valdiron and Aaron Roy both get bucked off. Then Mike Lee gets a reride on Mr. Zantrex, which is not something I want to think about much longer.

Billionaire throws Justin McBride—the bull clearly didn’t get the memo about how Justin was going to ride anything offered him. Bull scores 46.

Wiley and Renato are both bucked off. Mike White gets a reride on What I Say and still gets bucked off at 7.3. Mike Lee wins the event, being the only rider to cover three bulls. You can’t argue with consistency, as we have observed all season about a different rider.

All this forces me to conclude that despite Ty Murray’s high hopes, the bull draft hasn’t made it more likely the riders will still be aboard when the buzzer sounds. Not once this season has the rider who picked first won the event. Not one time! Either the riders don’t pay any attention to what the bulls do (hence the need for Cody Lambert’s blatant coaching as they choose their bulls), or knowing what the bulls are doing doesn’t make any difference to how well their ride. The latter would suit me just fine. That’s just the way I am.

16 comments:

Montana Barn Cat said...

Mr. Hustler was looking DAMN good yesterday. Keep an eye on that bull...

Jean said...

Did anyone tape this event? Can someone tell me if they also dyed Mr. Zantrex's male appendages blue? I didn't think to look...

Oh, I dunno. With a name like Dirteater, what other profession would you choose? But yeah, I wondered if he made it up too. Maybe he's related to Ted Bundy and didn't want that publicity.

I've been ready to throw wadded up beer cans since 3 months into last season.

Some people also get big scores for hanging on the side of the bull. For some people, hanging off the side of the bull is "determination". For others they're just "out of position".

Someone needs to tell all of those announcers that NONE of those movies were even in the top 50
of the "greatest movies ever".

The most disgustingly ironic bull and rider combo was when a Mexican rider was pitted against a bull named "Border Patrol". But, "the bulls are all picked randomly".

Commercials that include ringing doorbells need to be banned. They set my little dogs shrieking for 5 full minutes. If a commercial includes a ringing doorbell you can bet yer bippy I won't buy the product.

HEY! I LIKE The Birdcage! Not one of the top 50 movies of all time, but a helluva lot better than Lonesome Dove or Talladega Nights thankyouverymuch.

"Dustin Elliott on Stiffer." thank god for the letter r.

I've decided I have no interest in seeing Las Vegas. Ever. Mostly on the basis of their tacky, annoying
commercials.

I had to laugh when Landreneau tried to put that pancaked hat back on his head.

Ohh. I must have missed J.W.'s commentary on helmets. Welp. That puts him right up there in the running for Captain Stupid with Gary Busey. Busey wasn't pretty before his motorcycle wreck and he looks worse now. How many brain injuries has J.W. had? I know Busey was in a coma so I figure that contributes to his return to stupidity. Perhaps he wouldn't mind if his head fits inside Landreneaus hat.

We always think Colby Jack when we see Colby Yates. Not that our mind is on nachos during PBR events or anything...

“hard as a brick.” Thank god for the letter b.

Stockyard Queen said...

I have no interest in going to the finals (unless somebody else paid for it, of course) because it's stretched out over two full weekends. The idea of spending even a single weekend in Vegas bores me senseless. I don't gamble, flashing lights give me migraines, and there's nothing else to do till time to go to the show. No, thanks, I'll let those who'd really enjoy it go instead.

We like The Birdcage, too, actually.

shannon said...

"Shannon, the keeper of the flame and all true information"

Well, after the last piece of misinformation, we know it's not *always* true, but I'll make sure I use the words "rumor has it" or "uncomfirmed" whenever I don't see it written on the official website.

I would love to comment on this blog note by note, but that would take too long. So, just a few for now:

I laughed so hard at the Justin comments that my kids, who were on the front porch, hollered in and asked what was so funny.

I had the same basic reaction to JW's helmet/seat belt comments.

I still like the draft.

Yes, Leah--please tell us how Paulo is doing. Last we heard was from a post on a random rodeo board from someone who knows him.

I've never seen Lonesome Dove or Talladega Nights. I like "The Birdcage", too.

Vegas? It's ok. It was better many years ago before it got so out of hand. After a while, we stopped going because it just wasn't fun anymore. If I ever get to a finals (which I'd like to at least once in my lifetime), it won't be for years and probably only one weekend.

Ok, I'm sure I could say a lot more, but my dad is visiting and I'm sure he'd prefer my company instead watching me on the computer. Later, everyone!

shannon said...

I forgot to mention something in my last post. This:

And here comes our first rider: my good buddy Reese Cates, who is in the race for Rookie of the Year. He goes off Crazy Train in 2.5 seconds.

MBC: “I guess he did too much drivin’ and sleepin’.”


Bwahaha! I didn't even think of that when I saw him fall off. Anyway, it made me go back to Reese's blog last night and check in on the comments and there was one girl who felt the need to stand up for Reese. She told us to stop beating him up! He's entitled to his opinion! "Please, Reese...keep posting here...". Ok, so I thought up this nice, long response to her (because really--no one was beating him up--they were just helping him see a different side to it), but then decided to let it go. Suffice to say, I think Reese can handle what we all had to say to him.

One more thing: I like the fact that we can come here and discuss our dislike of Justin McBride--or more to the point the PBR's treatment of him. I have a feeling that even if we disagreed, it would be done respectfully. I seriously doubt I'd get the same reaction on other boards--especially the PBR Boards, although there's a part of me that would love to see the reaction I'd get. But, that's something else I'll just leave alone.....

Stockyard Queen said...

You hit the nail right on the head re: McBride--I don't dislike him, although sometimes I dislike some of his attitudes, but I positively loathe the way he's being positioned as this big superstar. I do wonder what's going to happen if he doesn't perform up to snuff--will the PBR drop him like a hot potato, like they did Travis after his season went in the dumper?

Poor Reese! Of course he needs protection from a GIRL. Everybody has to learn that when you put your opinion out there, you have to be prepared to take the heat.

And as far as I'm concerned, we can discuss anything here, as long as everyone is courteous. Courtesy goes a long way, in my book.

shannon said...

"I do wonder what's going to happen if he doesn't perform up to snuff--will the PBR drop him like a hot potato........?"

That's a good question. Another one I've been wondering about for a while now is: If Guilherme wins the title with an over 70% riding percentage (something they've said has never happened before), will he get accolades similar to Justin's or will it still be all Justin, all the time? IMO, winning twice, which has been done before, isn't as good as a 70+% riding average, plus coming in second three years in a row (Justin has only finished second once, is that right?) before winning the title the fourth year. The only thing Justin has done that I think is truly outstanding is the record number of event wins in one season.

You said something about Justin's attitude. I agree with that. I was quite turned off by him last year because of his attitude plus all the hype. This year, though, I'm finding him a bit more humble and easier to take. Now, if the PBR would only tone it down a little...no wait...make that a lot.

Stockyard Queen said...

Shannon, you are absolutely right about the riding average/coming in second three times thing. If GM wins, I hope the PBR will pull out all the stops and welcome him into the World Champion circle without any ridiculous comparisons to winners past.

And it's interesting, because up until about two years ago, I could not stand the sight of Chris Shivers. I'll admit my main prejudice against him was the fact that he could never open his mouth without talking about "makin' some money," which I was brought up to think is in poor taste, but I also got tired of the "nobody can dress up a bull like Chris Shivers" hype.

After he had such a hard time last season, though, I sensed more humility in him, and then when I heard him with Mike Lee on the PBR broadcast, and he was so patient with that, er, less than brilliant gal who kept pestering him about wearing a helmet, I decided I needed to cut him a little more slack, since I would have been tempted to slap her silly.

Anonymous said...

I'm with all of you on the Justin thing. I don't dislike the man, although he did annoy me some last year. I *do* dislike being reminded every five or so minutes that he's the defending world champ, has this many 90 point rides, rode this bull for this much at the finals, ect. Woo. If I want to know that, I'll check his backstory on the PBR site. I just hope that when (this year? we sure hope so!) Guilherme wins his world title, they show him the same kind of treatment. Long time coming, and he'll *Definetly* deserve it.

shannon said...

So, with the news of this new "PBR Shootout", I went back and viewed the names of the top 20 riders just to refresh my memory and saw that all of the Brazilians are in the top 20. So, no two-Brazilian riders teams (at least not two *well known* Brazilians). My first amused thought was "Gee, I wonder if any of them choose Reese?" ;)

Speaking of Reese, did anyone see the article on "Cowboy Christmas"? They had a few riders give accounts of what it was like to be on the road all summer. Funny, they didn't bother asking for a Brazilian's input. I guess that would have been too much to hope for.

Anyway, I went back and read the comments in his blog one last time and another girl has jumped onto the "Don't beat him up!!" bandwagon and, God help me, I couldn't resist responding. I just had to. Hopefully, I was polite enough to not start a battle, but I've made a promise to myself that I won't indulge in it anymore because that's not what the blog is there for. If anyone is interested, go here:

http://www.pbrnow.com/blog/index.cfm/Reese-Cates

Click on the correct blog and mine is way down at the bottom.

Stockyard Queen said...

Well done, Shannon! I think it's great that you can be so calm while still pointing out that we don't necessarily agree. But we can get along, right?

Jay said...

Is it OK to, sometimes, root for the bull? I used to root for Godzilla occasionally, too.

Stockyard Queen said...

My dear sir! We root for the bull about 90 percent of the time! Truly! The only guy I'm presently rooting for in all cases in Guilherme Marchi, and I'm rooting for him because he's just dominating everything this season, plus he's been second in the world THREE TIMES in the past three years. It's about time for him to win, and he's riding about 70 percent of the time. Most of these people ride about 30 percent. If they're really on fire, they ride maybe 50 percent.

And congratulations on navigating the comments function! Welcome again!

shannon said...

Last week, when dad was here, I read him the Justin parts of this blog that made me laugh. He smiled (as dad has never been one to break out into giggles), shook his head and said "It's just like NASCAR and Jeff Gordon". Hrmm.... FFWD to last night, when I settled in front of the tv to watch my first love (and the only other sport I follow between Olympic years) Professional Swimming. The trials started last night and I'm giddy with anticipation that in a few short weeks, I'll be able to watch as much Olympic coverage as possible for two whole weeks. After a few minutes, my husband walked in and I said to him, very sarcastically: "Hey! Did you know that Michael Phelps was swimming this year?!" *eyeroll*. Then it hit me:

Michael Phelps. Jeff Gordon. Justin McBride. I'm sure if I followed other sports, I'd have a few more to add to the list. I guess every sport is guilty of putting one particular athlete on a pedestal. I'm still not going to excuse it, nor will I start liking it, but I guess it's the nature of the beast?

Of course, the Michael Show isn't quite as bad as the Justin Show, however this morning, I learned that Michael has scratched an event that I was highly anticipating. I'll have to listen to see if the commentators say anything about the first place winner winning simply because Michael wasn't there.... *g*

Stockyard Queen said...

Goodness, you are astute! I do think it's worse in the PBR, but maybe that's because in 15 years, two guys have won the title five times between them, Adriano and Justin. On the other hand, I don't see them lauding Adriano to the skies like they do Justin nonstop. In fact, almost as soon as he won the last time, they started talking about how broken down he is. Hmm.

You know of course that Ty Murray likens the PBR to NASCAR? Maybe they're learning bad tricks from the racing boys.

I saw Matt Laurer interview Michael Phelps last week on Today. Mr. Phelps seems very down-to-earth and together. Let's hope that impression is correct.

Stockyard Queen said...

Although I guess to be perfectly parallel, the other swimmers would have to start DROWNING just because Michael Phelps is in the house.