Lights, camera ... action!Las Vegas, World Finals bring out the best, worst in bull riders |
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And the competitors are already beginning to feel the pressure.
Just ask Guilherme Marchi, who for the past three years in a row has finished in second place.
For some of the Top 45 riders in the world, the Finals is a tough place. Yet for others, like Adriano Moraes, the Finals has become a career-defining experience.
Moraes, who will be competing for the last time in Vegas, has won three world titles, but no one will ever forget the year he rode with a torn bicep.
“I think that it casts a spotlight,” admitted Matt Bohon, who is hoping to finish off an otherwise disappointing season by competing for the Finals event title. “Granted, guys treat Vegas different than they do any other event.
“The energy and excitement makes some guys ride better and it puts more pressure on other guys. So, yeah, the spotlight does make it seem like some guys are doing worse than they have all year long and other guys like they’re doing better than they have all year long.”
Added Zack Brown, “It’s the last place for the season, and it has the most amount of money that you can win there, and it also can bump you up the highest you can go that season in the ranks, so it puts the greatest amount of pressure on you.”
The pressure affects everyone individually. It depends on how well the cowboys handle everything that comes with competing at the Finals.
Aside from larger-than-normal crowds and increased media coverage, most of the past World Champions and other legendary riders are on hand to take part in various events throughout the Finals.
This year, as Bohon pointed out, the riders will also be making more media appearances than ever before. As the sport’s popularity continues to increase, so too does the demand for their time.
“Some people can really deal with that kind of pressure,” said Brown, “and it benefits them. And other people can’t handle it.”
“It’ll be interesting to see how that affects some guys just because of the distraction,” Bohon said. “We want to be able to show up and just to our job, and they’re bringing us into another spotlight—making it more publicized. I think it’ll be good for the sport and it’ll be interesting to see how guys handle it.”
Aside from any PBR commitments, the majority of the riders are young and single, so Vegas – a 24-hour town, so to speak – can provide distractions of its own.
“Then there are the guys who like the life of Vegas and go out and stay out all night,” said McKennon Wimberly, who in spite of his Top 45 ranking did not qualify for this year’s Finals. “That’ll wear on you too.
“You might ride a little weaker, but it works for some of them guys. Some of them come in there and haven’t been to sleep in the past three days and ride great.”
The Finals are 8 rounds, spread out over 10 days, so it’s the one event where as disappointing as each buckoff can be – $20,000 is on the line for the winner of each go round and a $1 million bonus goes to the World Champion – riders can’t let themselves get overly discouraged or excited because of one round.
You have to be aggressive yet patient, and the key is to it take one night at a time.
“If you happen to get bucked off one or two, there’s still plenty of time left and plenty of money to be won,” said Brendon Clark, who will be making his sixth appearance at the Finals. “I think that’s what you learn over time. I know Justin [McBride] and I talked about that last year. The two of us were probably the two worst riders out of the Top 45 in world during the first three rounds of the Finals last year, but we both seemed to change it around and it worked out pretty good for both of us in the end.”
“I only actually have been able to get on in one round before at the Finals,” Nick Landreneau explained, “and it was a big deal and everything, but I was just riding bulls like I was at any other event.”
For some, it may be just another event, but it’s the biggest event of 2008.
After all, the PBR World Finals is the one event where lifelong dreams are shattered and legends are made every 8 seconds.
—by Keith Ryan Cartwright
