The good, the bad and the ugly...

First of all, when I was doing my stats for Glendale, I couldn't believe the turnaround in all the stats. Guys who were riding 50, 60 and 70 percent are now riding one for their last 10, one for their last 12 and one for their last nine.

There were over a dozen guys who were riding less than 10 percent since the break. It was hugely disappointing.

Of course, that will affect the overall riding percentages. You have the disappointment in those guys, but it's not that I blame them. I feel bad for them.

I consider a lot of those guys friends and acquaintances and wish they would ride 'em all, but that's the fact. So one thing we struggle with when it comes to the broadcast when we're trying to set up what he's done lately.

That's my goal.

I don't care what he did last year. What he's done for the season. I want to know what he's done for the last three or four events. That tells me more than anything what's going to happen that night.

It's a huge indicator based on past performance of the last three or four events and that's what I've kind of pushed TV to go that direction.

I'm big on "what have you done for me lately." They kind of make fun of me and call me the "what have you done for me lately guy."

But that's what I want to know and, unfortunately, a lot of times that might seem kind of negative when we're pointing out that a guy has only ridden one out of his last 17. But, if we're really going to treat this as a sport, that's the pertinent stat and information that needs to be passed along.

The great side to that and what I look forward to is: number one, a lot of people are pulling for the underdog. And, number two, when you turn it around it's such a great story of success.

This guy has overcome so much, and look what he was up against. You back this guy into a corner and he comes out fighting. Those are all the things that make bull riding great.

All those attributes are what the guys are going to have to use to dig out of there.

The only that has really ridden – well, other than Marchi – is Mike Lee. I mean that guy has just been fantastic lately and he's jumped up to number four after last week.

And as far as from a fans perspective I like watching somebody who's capable of scoring 95 points like Mike White is. I think if we look at his riding percentage lately it's not going to be much different than his year, but he's certainly one of the few guys who can string big rides together.

I don't think I have a personal favorite that I'm pulling for any more than Mike White. I think most of the bull riders will tell you the same thing. Other than being a great guy just what he's gone through he deserves it.

I'm sad that Chris Shivers is out, Brendon Clark is out and now Brian Canter is out. I don't know what's going on and maybe I shouldn't be this negative.

But the bright spot is that Guilherme Marchi is going to be the World Champion.

There are few people who are more disappointed that this isn't a tighter race than me. I hate to even mention it because it is possible. But here's what we're looking at: Valdiron, Kody, J.B. and all your Top 6 guys are 4,000 points behind.

They have got to stay within 4,000 points before the Finals to have any chance of catching him and even at that one of those guys has got to have an extraordinary Finals and Marchi get hurt.

For instance, L.J. Jenkins has 6,500 points for the whole season (so far) so here's an easy way to put it: for anybody to catch Marchi two things are going to have to happen. Marchi is going to have to get hurt. I would say that he's going to have to start bucking off bulls, but that's just not going to happen. They only legitimate chance they have is that Marchi gets hurt and that one of those six guys rides at Marchi's level between now and the end of the Finals.

So instead of Lostroh riding 56 percent and J.B. riding 56 percent and L.J. riding 55 percent they're going to have to go from that to 20 percent better. They're going to have to ride over 70 percent of their bulls to catch him because right now it's still going to take six events to catch the guy.

They would have to win the next six events and Marchi not do anything in order to be even. I mean, they're going to have to win first or second at the remaining events to be even and Marchi and not ride any bulls.

Bare in mind you can gather up 4,000 points at the Finals.

But what is happening is that every week Marchi performs he's lengthening that gap by at least 200 or 300 points – a minimum of that, if not more. Something drastic is going to have to happen for Marchi not win the world title.

I want him to be the World Champion this year, everybody does. He deserves it. Nobody has dominated like him and he is the best bull rider in the last four years.

That's kind of the good, bad and ugly that stands out here lately.