We oughta be in papers

It does my heart good to know that a big part of Ty Murray's recent success on "Dancing with the Stars" was based on fan appeal.

It's also heartwarming to know Murray will leverage his success on the hit ABC series by traveling to Pittsburgh on June 27 to appeal to sports editors of the Associated Press to grant more coverage to the Professional Bull Riders.

The reason I admire Murray's work is because that I've appealed to sports editors for the past 25 years to run stories on western riding sports, mostly at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

As a writer, it was always a tremendous boost when a superstar such as Murray emerged and transcended his sport. And it was great to see fan support playing a major role in helping Murray become a success on his latest endeavor.

On Dancing with the Stars, fan votes accounted for half of Murray's score each week. The fact that Murray, a seven-time world all-around champion, reached the semifinals and finished fourth overall proved that the bull riding star has gained multitudes of fans.

That was refreshing because fans of western riding sports often do not vote or express their views when they have a good reason to stand up. I once heard a perceptive statement along those lines from Pam Minick, a former Miss Rodeo America who has served as a TV commentator on rodeos and bull riding events for many years.

She said rodeo people (which includes bull riding fans) have become so used to receiving second-class treatment from the media that they don't stand up when they really have a good argument for better coverage.

When the PBR comes to town and packs an arena, and there's no serious coverage in the sports section of the newspaper, we often don't complain because we've become so accustomed to receiving inferior treatment.

It's like we say, "Why bother?"

We can become so comfortable with looking for PBR results on www.pbrnow.com and Versus that we won't complain when they also are not in the local paper. If a successful PBR event comes to your community and there's poor media coverage, call the sports editor and tactfully express your views.

One reason western riding sports often do not receive great treatment with the sports editors is they believe that a small percentage of the population really cares. Granted, bull riding and rodeo shows do not have the masses of fans as the mainstream sports, they still have enough fans in many areas of the country to warrant some type of regular presence.

I live in Texas, a state where just about every local newspaper could justify making a special place for western riding sports at least once a week. And sadly, a lot of newspapers that fail to do so are in areas with lots of ranching and farming activity. They run in locales where there has to be an abundance of PBR fans who want more coverage on the fast growing sport.

With that in mind, I expanded my newspaper writing on western riding sports two years ago after producing a regular column in the Fort Worth newspaper for 20 years. I also now write a weekly syndicated column that runs in other newspapers including the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, the Amarillo Globe News and the San Angelo Standard Times. It also runs in the small paper in Carthage, Texas, which is home of PBR stars Reese Cates and Clayton Williams.

The Lubbock paper was a prime example of a publication that had multinational western riding sports stars in the area, but lacked a weekly presence. But to their credit, they now run a weekly column that deals with bull riding, rodeos and horse show events.

At the Lubbock paper, the main focus rightfully is on mainstream sports, Texas Tech coverage and area high school coverage. But once a week, the paper offers my column to many West Texas readers who have an deep appreciation for western life. There's no question that lots of Lubbock area people regularly watch the PBR. I grew up in West Texas and I can say with certainty that a substantial number of residents of the South Plains and the Texas Panhandle want more news and features on western riding sports.

They are tracking stars such as L.J. Jenkins, who is from Texico, N.M., an Eastern New Mexico community that's less than 100 miles from Lubbock and Amarillo. They're also following Lindsay Sears, the world champion barrel racer who lives in Ropesville, a small community near Lubbock.

During the past week, Texas Tech sent a six-man team to compete in the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyo. One team members is a bull rider named Stetson Rasberry who has advanced to tonight's final round.

Do fans of western riding sports in the Lubbock area deserve regular coverage of western riding sports? You bet they do.

And that's true with a lot of other papers that serve a circulation area similar to the that of the Lubbock paper. There's an abundance of ranching and agriculture activity and fans should be able to find PBR coverage on a regular basis.

There are papers in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah that should regularly provide PBR news. And if your local paper, TV station or radio station does not, then call the editor and request getting in touch with the PBR public relations department to get ball rolling.

Pro bull riding has grown tremendously in recent years, and it's an exhilarating sport that's easy to follow on national television. We no longer should receive second-class treatment.