I could feel the energy from Mike Lee when he came up to that podium. I had a feeling he was going to pick White Magic. You could literally feel it. This guy was revved up and could not wait to pick White Magic.
A lot of people may not realize this, but Mike was born in Billings and had a lot of family there, and so another great storyline was when he rode what was probably the leader for bull of year.
White Magic had bucked off his last 22 riders, but Mike Lee stuck it on him for 88.75. To kind of follow up on that story, I think White Magic may have lost a few votes for bull of the year, but is still a contender.
There was a wide range in scoring from the judges, but – in my opinion – it was just the opinion of the judges. That bull is so unusual. He's kind of different in his style, his patter and the way he bucks. I don't think any of the judges were wrong. It's just their opinion anyway. Some of them thought he had a terrible day and some thought he was equally hard to ride – it's just that Mike rode him so perfect.
Anytime a cowboy rides a bull for eight seconds versus getting bucked off in two seconds, the bull looks much easier, but those judges have to formulate in their minds how much the rider took away from what the bull's appearance was.
I thought that was right on, but what that does do is that for bull of the year, it's just absolutely wide open at this point.
That was a little bit of an off day for White Magic. At the beginning of the year Chicken on a Chain had a little bit of an off day. Copperhead Slinger has been ridden several times, so that may hurt his chances for bull of the year. Troubadour has been injured and we haven't seen him lately.
Those are my top bulls for bull of the year and I guess I'll say that to say it's definitely wide open at the halfway point.
Speaking of bulls, I thought Northern Exposure would run away with the bull team competition because they had four of their five bulls competing in the Ford championship round, but War Zone stumbled and Aaron Roy was given a re-ride, so the points for War Zone took them out of competition and left it open for Vikings and Red Horns to step up.
Red Horns had Holy Moly and Spit Fire in the championship round, and then Vikings had a great performance from Walk the Line to tie for the championship bull team.
It is great to see someone comback from such a terrible injury and resume riding so good. Interprise needs to snap him up to sponser. It doesn't look like he has one and he certainly has shown through out this year the abilities of a good rider to sponser.
Joan Simpson
Mike has been my very fav for a long time now. I think he shoulda got better than what he did.
The thing that keeps echoing around my cranial cavity is what I have often heard JW, Justin McBride and The G Man say, the scores can be affected by how well and easy a great ride makes the bull look easy.
They often say, especially during the replays that you have to focus on what the rider is doing (Often, how quiet he is on the bull) and at the same time see that the bull is bucking great also while understanding the inexorable link between the two.
They have often made similar comments about how tall riders also take a similar understanding. Just because of how their stature compares to the bull's, especially if the bull is a smaller bull.
Every sport with judges suffers from some form of imperfection where human beings have to make split second judgements. The strike zone in baseball is an example. In that sport they have developed a system of cameras and computers that accurately record balls and strikes. It is used for umpire evaluations by league officials, but many are calling for its game use for stike calls only.
Hey, the Human Factor gives all of us something to specualte, complain, praise, discuss and blog about. Heck, in some ways it is as much a part of every sport. Nothing like Monday morning quarterbacking!
Don
I've often wondered what White Magic would do if someone actually made it past the 2 second mark. We'll have to see if anyone else makes it so we can compare the two outs. This could have been an off night for him. Time will tell, I guess.
Now, lest anyone think this post is anti-Mike Lee, let me just say that I was thrilled that he was the first in 21 outs to cover White Magic. I was grinning the whole time. He was so pumped that you couldn't not be happy for him.
I hope that guy ends up joining the club with Chris Shivers, Adriano Moraes, & Justin McBride.
Zack was great and not enough can be said about him either. Both were electrifying rides and the judges were a wee bit stingy.But then I am not a judge but I was more in tune with the judging while Cody Custer was in charge.
On my blog last month, I did a PBR Bull Power Rankings. I listed White Magic in fourth because he is so inconsistent. He is also a little dirty in my humble opinion. White Magic has a ton of power, but a couple outs this season were almost rerides.
I took a little heat for ranking him fourth instead of first or second, but he isn't in the same class as Troubador, Copperhead Slinger, or Chicken on a Chain. Right now, if Troubador gets a couple more outs this season, he is my choice for Bull of the Year. He hasn't ever had an off day.
have to agree. I would like to replay it to watch it a
little closer. I think I was so excited at watching it that
I really didn't look that closely at the technical part.
I just wait for the judges cause thats the way it is going
to be anyway. I am very happy for Mike but also for Zach.
He lives just 20 minutes from me so ya gotta rout for your neighbor. LOL
I just want to know, where do you get your jokes? I laughed at them the first time, but now there getting kind of old, time to get some new ones! It must have been fun to be in the booth with JW Hart, huh? I wish he would stay there. I've always wondered, have you ever rode a bull?