While more than 300 million Americans celebrated the birth of a nation with barbecues and fireworks, the Top 20 bull riders in the world have been preparing the PBR Team Shootout draft.
The draft, which will be broadcast the night of Tuesday, July 8 on PBR Prime Time at 9 p.m. EST, will feature the Top 20 riders drafting their Shootout teammates in a random order that was determined last time on PBR Prime Time.
Sean Willingham will lead the way, and is almost certain to select Justin McBride as his teammate. It's likely that Mike Lee, with the second selection in the draft, will choose his good friend Wiley Petersen, the best rider available after McBride.
It's a good thing that insiders and casual observers of the PBR have been well-acquainted with Las Vegas, because after that, the odds of determining who will choose whom are about as much of a long shot as winning big at the roulette table.
There are a few factors that will come into play as the Top 20 make their selections.
The first two factors are obvious.
One factor: Who is the highest ranked available rider? The answer: Nick Landreneau is currently ranked 21st. The other factor would be which available rider has the highest riding percentage. The answer: Justin McBride (66.67 percent).
It's almost impossible to think any rider, much less Willingham, would choose anyone other than McBride, who in spite of missing the first six months of the 2008 season is the defending World Champion.
But whether or not Landreneau is among the first riders selected remains to be seen (mainly because earlier this season he was a Top 10-Top 15 rider, but has been steadily falling in the standings).
Which leads to yet another factor: Some riders may seek out a teammate they feel has been doing well of late, as opposed to their overall performance on the season.
If guys elect to go the hottest current riders not ranked in Top 20, then McBride and Petersen are still the two top selections, followed by Jared Farley, who has had Top-20 finishes in the past two events, Cord McCoy, Colby Yates, Pistol Robinson, Reese Cates, Clayton Foltyn and Josh Koschel.
There's also a good chance that although a number of riders are ranked higher, Aaron Roy, Ben Jones, Vince Northrup and Sinovaldo Correia could be considered.
Another deciding factor could, especially with the later picks, come down to nothing more than selecting a longtime friend, which is where J.W. Hart comes into play.
Hart hasn't competed on the Built Ford Tough Series at all this year, and only recently started competing at a few Challenger events. In fact, he recently said that he's been making the same mistakes that he's been pointing out in others during the TV broadcasts.
That said, Hart is a hard-nosed competitor, so it wouldn't at all be a surprise to if Ross Coleman (10), Mike White (11) or Chris Shivers (14) elected to take a run at the PBR Team Shootout title with a proven veteran.
With all that information, how do you think the draft will unfold Tuesday night? If in fact Willingham chooses McBride and they become the odds-on favorite to win the Shootout, what other combination of bull riders could also win the title? What are your thoughts about the team competition? How exciting is anticipation of the PBR debuting on ESPN?
I think that's 'cause GM and VdO are in the Top 20, so they're already "captains."
The ones who get chosen as "teammates" will come from Number 20 on down.