‘Bull’ contact sport: PBR kicks bull riding into high gear

By Nicholas Hilbourn
Arts and Entertainment Writer
Published: November 19, 2008

Before we get this article started, can I ask you a few questions?

Do you enjoy music?

How about high-energy music?

How about high-energy music played in conjunction with a laser light show at a sporting event featuring athletes risking their lives for an 8-second thrill?

By the way, we’re not talking about the X-Games, but bull riding. Yes, reader, bull riding.

More specifically, we’re talking about Professional Bull Riding (PBR, for short) and it’s coming to Florence Civic Center this weekend.

The next big thing ... no bull

If you haven’t heard of it, count yourself out of the 100 million viewers watching PBR television broadcasts on FOX, NBC or VERSUS as well as the 1.6 million attendees to PBR events last year who have.

For those of us noobs, bull riding just means big belt buckles, cowboy hats, rodeo clowns and county fairs, but it’s so much more.

Bull riding, at least for PBR, is a multi-million dollar industry that is quickly looking to become the next big thing with a momentum akin to that of NASCAR.

Founded in 1992 by 20 cowboys who each invested $1,000 and hoped for the best, PBR combines rodeos and high-energy extreme sports with a rock concert atmosphere.

Unlike rodeos though, which have several events, PBR focuses exclusively on one.

“Bull riding is not only the main event, but the only event,” said PBR event tours supervisor Edwin Lay. “We pride ourselves in giving fans the full experience: music, commentators, pyrotechnics (and) we’ve been growing in leaps and bounds over the past 15 years.”

As for those 20 cowboys?

Let’s just say they picked the right horse ... or bull.

Big money and broken bodies

Coming off the tails of their World Finals in Las Vegas, PBR is bringing a wealth of talent to the civic center this weekend.

Consider 24-year-old JB Mauney, who finished second in the World Finals, or Reese Cates, a 19-year-old riding sensation with more than $160,000 in winnings for 2008 (who also happens to be studying for a degree in ag business), and you might think it’s a young man’s game until you meet Greg Potter.

Potter, aged 37, is a husband and father of three, who has been competing longer than Cates has been riding bulls.

“I started out riding cows and moved onto steer. I didn’t start riding bulls until I was 19,” he said.

Youth has its advantage in bull riding, he said, as the body heals faster when its younger.

It’s a good attribute to have as bull riding will literally destroy an athlete’s body.

“I’ve blown out both my knees, cracked ribs,” he said, but he’s been lucky. “I’ve seen people get knocked out, lose teeth — a couple of months ago, a young guy got paralyzed.”

Riding a bull has to be a passion, he explained, otherwise there’s no sane reason to do it.

“It’s one of those things that’s full on: Once you nod your head and the gate opens, it’s full on,” he said.

It’s a bull’s life

One of the more controversial aspects of bull riding has been the treatment of the bulls.

Yet, according to an article by Huffington Post writer Michael Glitz, the bulls have the best deal of them all.

“The bull is just about the only person not in danger,” he wrote. “Cowboys where spear spurs, but they’re dull-edged and don’t pierce the skin of the bull.”

Actually, the bulls are competing alongside their riders for Bull of the Year.

Stock contractor Jeff Robinson raises most of the PBR bulls. Bulls, just like their human counterparts, have to be in top physical condition.

“They have to have a lot of stamina, a lot of heart,” he said. Most bulls begin work in PBR at age 4 and finish at age 8.

The PBR Web site noted that, once bulls complete their “career,” they spend their retirement years relaxing on the farm.

The case is far different for retired bull riders, who might deal with aches and pains from past injuries sustained through competition.

But that’s part of the sport, noted Potter.

“Anyone that does it knows what they’re up against,” he said.

Although he’s seen the worst of what a bull can do, he’s said he’s never nervous before he prepares to ride one.

“If you feel uneasy about it, you’re not going to be good at it,” he said.

IF YOU’RE GOING
WHAT: Professional Bull Riders
WHEN: 8 p.m. today and Saturday
WHERE: Florence Civic Center
ADMISSION: $25-$18, $12 children 12 and younger; free for children 2 and younger
INFO: (843) 679-9333