For those of you who didn't get to see the show on Sunday one of the things we did was that we all came up with our biggest surprise on the year. Mine was the amount of 90 point rides. Just after halfway there are 88 and we only had 73 over all of last year.
That is just incredible.
As for the biggest disappointment, across the board, is Matt Bohon, however, Leah Garcia had some good points and she picked the fact that Justin McBride isn't competing as her biggest disappointment.
On another note, Valdiron is so powerful. He's my newcomer of the year even though he went to the Finals last year. As far as I'm concerned he's still a newcomer. He's incredibly strong.
My best moment, as I've said before, was Travis Briscoe getting a 95 early in season. I still maintain that's the reason we've had so many 90-point rides.
My candidate for Bull of the Year is Troubadour, but Chicken on a Chain had a great out last night. The first event of the season he had too much turkey for Christmas is what his owner told me.
And he was fat! He was still celebrating his world title from 2007 with a truck load of alfalfa. But, man, with the way he's bucking there's no telling how good he can be.
White Magic kind of had an off day and that took him out of it last week and Copperhead Slinger is still in there. But, I tell you what, the one that might sneak up on everybody is Jacob's Pet. He's won every classic event he's been to, but I don't know if he'll have enough outs on the Built Ford Tough Series to warrant the guys voting on him.
But he might be the rankest bull out there--he sure might.
Here are a few other thoughts I have after getting back home to Oklahoma:
CHICAGO: In most every round they're riding at least 20 bulls, so to only ride 12 bulls in that first round was certainly a let down and a big disappointment this weekend. I don't know what that was caused by. I don't think the bulls are any tougher.
I'd say that physically a lot of the guys are just beat up and kind of ready for a break after Des Moines. They're kind of due and I guess that's one of the reasons the schedule is set up that way.
To me had this event happened last year it would have been a great event, but this year – as far as big rides and lots of rides – it was, quite frankly, the worst event of the season.
But, I'll follow that up with the PBR is kind of like pizza. I've never had bad pizza before. Some is just better than others--it's still great.
CHRIS SHIVERS: You know what's amazing to me is that a guy like that can get hit with that much force and break that many bones and he still wasn't knocked out. Now that says a lot about Chris Shivers' physical toughness.
His face was busted, but he wasn't knocked out.
We've seen that happen before. We've seen guys not take near the hit and they're out cold, but Chris Shivers just took a brutal hit. To take that kind of trauma and not get knocked out is just crazy.
It's rare even among the toughest guys in the sport.
SHANE PROCTOR: I will say this about Shane Proctor: he started what could have been one of the best rides of the year on Buckeye. That was going to be a huge ride. I was watching that and I was thinking, "My Lord, how high are they going to mark him?" That was incredible.
TRAVIS BRISCOE: He finally pulled one out and he looked good. He one ride and then he was 7.9 in the short go so he looked like he might be gathering things back up.
JARED FARLEY: I was glad to see Jared do good. He rode two bulls – one for 7.6 and another for 7.4 in the short go. His should needs surgery, but it's great to see a guy ride that good with a shoulder that needs to be operated on.
REESE CATES: He's another one who needs surgery on his finger and yet he still rode in the short go. That was great.
MIKE WHITE: It was great to see Mike White do so good and score an 88.75 in Round 2. Had it been later in the round it might have been worth more points, but he was the first guy out and sometimes the judges are a little reserved there.
DES MOINES: I'm looking forward to Valdiron next week. Ole Valdiron is going to take a big step next week – he being the healthiest of the top guys and the one who has struggled the least and is do for a big win.
As for Valdiron, I remember seeing him for the first time in Australia last year. One of commentators called him "that Brazilian guy". I laughed then told my friend that I was sure we'd see "that guy" in the top 45 soon and it wouldn't be long before we all knew his name. What a rider!
I so enjoy reading your blogs, Justin. Thanks again for making this a weekly treat for us.
Mike White continues to keep me at the edge of my seat--to see such brilliant talent and then not have him string together enough consecutive rides yet this season. I feel he's right on the cusp--I hope he doesn't change a thing except add a few seconds. I wonder whether seeing his buddy injured before his short go ride was a distraction.
The biggest surprises was fun. It seemed like the guys were pretty well aligned but Leah's perspective was Odd "man" out! ;-)
Where the heck is Troubador and when will we see him again?
I agree 100% that the cowboys are just beat to &*$# right now. If we have had all those 90 point rides and near rides by bull that are even more rank theses days seems to me it stands to reason they would be more beat up as a group! Lots of concussions, shoulder, arm and hands added to legs knees and groins. Is anyone not beat up? Heck we even had 2 of the bullfighters go down. Maybe Flint is the only guy in the arena who isn't over using the medical team. Man, Tandy and his boys are getting to practice their skills, and then some.
Glad to see in the injury report that Edenei didn't break his leg (femur). That would have taken him out for the remainder of his final year. The way he hit and his initial responses to Tandy's question had me worried it might be broken.
And Justin, another great broadcast. It seems you guys are really ticking on all cylinders.
Don
One thing you never mentioned is Adriano Moraes's ride on Say I Won't Gunner. I thought it was a great ride for 90.75 and the co win of the event. That was his 29th win of his career. I think you should have acknowledged him and Dustin Hall for their win. You can never count him out especially this being his last year to ride. HIs many fans are cheering him on.
Just wanted to update you that after this last weekend you'll have more horses to help take care of! LOL
Yolanda and I went to an Arabian show and sale at Varian Arabians in Arroyo Grande, CA (Near San Luis Obispo). Came away with one new horse and booked 3 breedings for this year. Whew! That is a lot for our little operation. (But maybe now, at least for a short time, Yolanda will forget about a bull and cows! laugh)
We bought Serena's Song who is a Khemosabi grand-daughter sired by Desperado V. She was a steal. Sheila Varian was demonstrating some training techniques because Serena was relatively unschooled and she muttered Serena was for sale. We hopped over to the sale desk and plopped down our money, Immediately after that part of show Sheila said she wasn't selling her for enough and really should keep her and breed hefr to her stallion Jyllyen el Jamaal. Jullyen is one of the premier Arab studs in the Americas and Sheila limits breeding to him. Sooo, we immediately booked Serena for Jullyen. ;-) Already can't wait for her to foal next year.
We also booked Sheila's champion stud Bravado Bey V to Jinayah our Amurath Bandalero daughter. Then we booked Sheila's Maclintock V (another very good stud) to our Quarter Horse Molly.
I know a lot of cow people scoff at Arab horses and Arab owners, but not all are bad. ;-) If you never heard of Sheila Varian she is a Cowgirl Hall of Fame inductee and in 1961 she won the Cow Reining Championship at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. The first woman, the first amatuer and the first Arab to ever win a major event.
Anyhow Marilyn, we are counting on you!!! Laughing!
Cheers, Don
I just love JW Hart as one of the commentators. He is great and honest with his responses.
I just hate the times Versus has had some of the PBR events on television. This week-end it is on on Sat. night at 10:00pm and on Sunday morning at 1:00am eastern time. Most people have to go to work early on Monday and will have to settle on taping the shows because we cannot stay up to see the event. I am a big fan of the PBR and showing the events at these times is disappointing.
I think the PBR events this year are very exciting because you just don't know who is going to win. We have had so many different bull riders step up and ride exceptional.
Hey Beth, good luck with finals!
Thanks everyone for the info on Primetime. Nice and early here on the West Coast.
Don in CA
PBR Grow Up!
I don't know what everyone else experienced and how long they had to wait for the Sunday braodcast of an event that was already 30 hours old.
PBR and Versus need to get their act and priorities together. Quadruple Overtime for the Sharks/Stars hockey game. Uh, what time, even here on the west coast did the PBR broadcast begin??? Really late! If the entire country was also subjected to this I feel very sorry for anyone on the east coast who may have stayed up.
To add insult to injury the hockey game was not even on Versus here in the San Francisco Bay Area. The local cable company Comcast had Versus blocked out (regular def and the Versus Hi Def channel) since they owned the rights to broadcast Sharks games on their own sports network. Just this ugly blue screen where the bulls should have been.
PBR needs to grow up too when comes to this tape delay crud. How many "real" pro sports do that?
Now this is my fault, I forgot Des Moines was a Friday/Saturday event. Sunday morning I went to the PBR web site to check out the draw for round 2 and the short round. Opps! Without know it I saw the overall results. Kinda hard to make that mistake with other pro sports.
I would think there will be a limit to fan growth and support as long as the PBR acts like a second tier sport and doesn't assert itself. Personally, this whole hockey preempting thing has left a very bad taste in my mouth and last night's debacle really ticked me off. After all Hockey almost completely disappeared from the sports scene 2 years ago.
Disgusted in Walnut Creek, CA - Don