St. Louis & Kansas City PBR

I've got a bit of catching up to do.  Between snowstorms, family visits, too much cleaning and life in general, time at my computer has been limited.  So, I have lots of notes to sift through and lots of big, beautiful bovines to comment on...and don't be surprised if the BS flag comes out too!

I must confess that it annoys me a little bit that the PBR schedules two events so close to each other, both in calendar date and location.  I'm sure the folks in St. Louis and Kansas City love some bull riding but back to back weekends?  We poor fans in the Northeast get one event all year...why does Missouri get two in the same month?  Yup, BS flag on the ground!

St. Louis was a 3 day event and it opened up on Valentine's Day.  What better way to spend the evening than watching bull riding?  Don't know about you, but I was good with it!  One bull that earned my admiration was FIRE & SMOKE from Paige Stout.  This new bull was rank in both outs of this event.  On Friday night he scored 44.25 points and was clearly the best bull out.  On Sunday, Fire & Smoke bucked again and received 45 points.  Congratulations to Paige for an outstanding bull.  I can't wait to see him buck again!

WALK OFF quickly bucked of Silvano Alves on Sunday, and earned himself 43 points.  Walk Off was also quite feisty in the back pens, and was not happy about the camera in his face.

My second BS flag was thrown at Emilio Resende who took a ridiculously long time in the chute with KING LOPEZ.  The King was loaded on the opposite side of the chutes than normal, which I didn't understand, but there were several times the bull was standing good enough that Resende could have taken him.  King Lopez had an average out, scoring 40.25 points which is uncharacteristic for this great bull.  Not a happy moment for this fan!

There were 3 rides in the Championship Round but none courtesy of RANGO.  Jeff Robinson's superstar bull received the top bull score of the weekend with 46.25 points awarded for his buck off of Kasey Hayes.

K-C's MISSISSIPPI HIPPY continued his unridden streak and took his record to 22-0 vs Jory Markiss.  Hippy was scored 45.25 points for his effort and the 2500+ pound, 6+foot tall bull gave us a snot shot to remember him by!

POUND THE ALARM was recently purchased and brought to the US from Canada.  He bucked at the PBR World Finals in 2013 (where I snapped this picture).  He debuted in the Championship Round in St. Louis by bucking off Silvano Alves, being scored 43.75 points.

Joao Ricardo Vieira rode SMACKDOWN for 90.75 points to win the Championship Round and the Event.  Smackdown was awarded 44.25 points, which was uncharacteristically low for him.  Yes, another BS flag thrown at the judges.

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This past Saturday night opened the event in Kansas City with a Classic Bull competition.  Three and four year old bulls are entered under the ABBI Classic competition, and we fans got a real treat watching these young bulls who will be the sport's next group of superstar bucking athletes.  Bulls who got my attention were:
CLOSING TIME - 43 points
RESTLESS GUNSLINGER - 43.5 points in a quick 1.55 second buck off - very powerful!
ONE SHOT - 43.5 points
JOHNNY BONES JONES - 43.75 points in his throw down of Renato Nunes in 2.29 seconds
RECOVERY TIME - 43.5 points fast spinner with huge belly roll
FINAL ANSWER - 42.5 points raised by 2009 PBR World Champ Kody Lostroh blew out of the chute with an explosive belly roll...wow!
MARGY TIME - 45.25 points - from D&H Cattle had crazy big kick...another, wow!
BROTHER BLUE - 44 points
MAGIC TRAIN - 43 points for wild bucking and spin
LONG JOHN - 43 points who didn't turn back but had amazing jump height and kick

The ABBI Classic competition Top 5 bulls were:
MARGY TIME winning the event followed by BROTHER BLUE, STILL DOIN'TIME, JOHNNY BONES JONES, and RESTLESS GUNSLINGER rounding out the top 5.

Another aspect of the ABBI competition that I found interesting was seeing bulls who entered the Back Seat Buckers program last year, move up to the big leagues and buck at this PBR event.  SHADOW MAN, MODOC MAD and SHAFT all competed in the Back Seat Buckers and had good outs in Kansas City.  Very excited to see how far these youngsters go in the PBR.

There are two things I must mention from the TV broadcast Sunday, one was the fact that ROAR was running the arena and us TV viewers got to see it! And, JW Hart as a commentator is always honest and calls things like he sees them.  He has a tremendous knowledge about the bulls and breeding behind them.  One honest call was the 39.5 point score on EYE WITNESS who JW called "a high school quality" bull and questioned why Resende was not given a reride.  Just another inconsistent call from the judges and a BS flag from me.  Overall, there were 13 rides in Round 1, which for a Classic night was a good number.  Round 2 produced 18 rides, and the Championship Round gave us 4 rides.

BUCK DYNASTY was wild in his buck off of Jory Markiss.  The bull was awarded 44 points.

The great SMACKDOWN led the Championship Round roster but surprisingly wasn't picked until ninth.  Smackdown was too much for Matt Triplett to handle and the bull received 44.25 points.  BS flag!

The only bull score 45 points or higher was awarded to MARGY TIME in Round 1 with his 45.25 points.  The highest score in the Championship Round was given to STONE SOBER 44.75 points.  Overall, I thought the bull scores were low and I don't understand so many inconsistencies in the scoring.  It's a good thing I have a fresh stock of BS flags, because I suspect I'll be needing them again this weekend!

But, no matter what I might complain about, I LOVE the bulls and LOVE to see them buck hard and give all they've got.   Snotitude...plain and simple.





All photos by Susan Hanrahan