Tulsa Tough Guys

How happy am I that the PBR is back and the B-I-G bulls are bucking again!?!  Friday night, I settled in on the couch with my ice tea, notebook, pen and iPad, and thoroughly enjoyed watching Round 1 live from Tulsa.

The second half of the season started off with an ABBI Classic bull competition.  Stock contractors brought, what they hope, are the next superstar bovines of the PBR.  But as arena announcer Clint Atkins stated, "They're fast.  They're mean. They're unpredictable."  All kinds of 3-4 year olds bucked, and surprisingly, the cowboys rode 12 of these young bulls...a higher number than usual.

A few of the bulls that caught my eye were:
LIL' Z - from Martinez/Chism Bull Co.  He had huge kick and a wicked turn, and earned himself 44 points.
HAIR TRIGGER - from Bar 3D Bucking Bulls.  This bull didn't have a good night but the entertainment value gets him a mention.  The gate was opened twice, and the bull doesn't move.  Harve Stewart had to rewrap at least twice.  Finally, Harve calls for the gate and upon opening, the bull just stands there, looking out.  Poor bully was just lost, or completely not interested in playing!  Harve was awarded a reride.  I hope Hair Trigger gets it together, because earlier this year he was scored 46 points at a PRCA event.  Maybe the water in Tulsa didn't agree with him....
BAD TATTOO - from Folds/Strickland/Nelson/Ray/Melton.  Bad Tattoo had a strong out and notched another buck off in "his belt".  43 points for his efforts.
BRUTUS - Adams/D&H Cattle Co/Buck Cattle Co.  This bull kicked out so high, that he hit the very top of the padded tall panel inbetween the chutes, on his way out of the chute.  Such a big, strong bull! 43.75 points.
MARGY TIME - D&H Cattle Co.  The best of the bunch, by far!  Margy Time logged his 18th straight buck off and secured the best bull score of Round 1 with a 44.75 point score.  He was spectacular in quickly getting Cody Nance off his back!  Congratulations to D&H and MARGY TIME for winning the ABBI Classic competition in Tulsa!

The night was, however, not without the second half's first B/S flags!  They were quickly awarded to LJ Jenkins, Valdiron de Oliviera and Stormy Wing for taking way too long in the chute.  The worst overall offender, for the weekend, was Renato Nunes, who was put on the clock at least twice.  Shame on him! 

Round 2 Saturday night promised some exciting match-ups.  STANLEY FAT MAX was out early in the round and provided a quick buck off.  On the active bucking bull roster, Stanley Fatmax is third in buck off ratio, behind only Bushwacker and Asteroid.  He's only allowed 4 qualified rides in 82 outs.

WALK OFF from Jeff Robinson tied with JACK DANIEL'S TENNESSEE HONEY for the top bull score in round 2, with a 44.75 point score.

HOT IRON from Jared Allen's Pro Bull Team was described by bull fighter Shorty Gorham as "mean and fast".  Shorty went on to say he actually prefers the bulls mean, because he knows they will be coming right at him, after the rider is off.  Interesting!  I guess the nicer, calmer bulls are more unpredictable because they might run away from the bull fighters and decide to enjoy the arena spotlight for a spell.  :)

MUDDY KAT from Hart Cattle Company didn't have his best out.  TV commentator and owner of Muddy Kat, JW Hart, said "he looked a little lazy.  He had the whole summer off, just like Guilherme."  Craig Hummer asked what do you do with a bull like that, and Hart replied, "exercise him".  Sounds fair enough!

Stock Contractor Gene Owen did a TV spot explaining that he's been with the PBR for 15 years.  Before the event, Gene walks around and checks on his bulls.  He pointed out WICKED, who Gene said, is probably the best bull he's ever had in 30 years of owning cattle.  Not because of his size but because Wicked has a lot of heart!  Gene had the most bulls at the Tulsa event with 14.

One of Gene's bulls, SOUTH PAW from Show Sports Bucking Bulls/Missy Luczak-Smith was rank in Round 2.  South Paw took a wicked corner and slammed Marco Eguchi to the dirt.  43.5 points for South Paw

A few other bulls that were rank and provided some exciting moments were BORN SINNER from Martinez Bucking Bulls LLC, 43.75 points.  BOOTDADDY.COM from Jane Clark/Owen/Show Sports "wasn't helping" Nathan Schaper, according to JW Hart.  Last I checked, the bulls was not supposed "to help" the rider, JW! LOL!  SMOKIN OKIE from Moad Cattle bucked good with lots of up and down motion and spin.  I thought the judges were a tad low with his 42 point score...not quite sure what else the bull was supposed to do?

The bulls won the Championship Round by the score of 13-2!  The B-I-G boys were spectacular!  The pen was so good, that DAVID'S DREAM was the first reride bull!  That's a lot of GREAT bucking bulls in one place!!  MICK E MOUSE returned to form in Tulsa, and was left as the second to last pick in the draft.  Mick got revenge by a buck off and a 44.5 point score.  I noticed he did slip a few times, and I heard from one of the stock contractors that the dirt was not good.  The bull I was cheering for was JET AIRLINER from Moad Cattle.  I wrote a blog about Moad Cattle over the summer, and I'm really excited to see how JET progresses in the PBR.  I thought Jet Airliner looked great and he scored a 44.75 points, to tie for the 4th highest bull score in the entire event!  I saw Joe Bill Moad ask the bull fighters for some space, as Jet was ready to go.  This is a mean bull, and he will go after anyone in his sights.  Sure enough, once the cowboy was off, Jet went after the bull fighters!  Can't wait to see more from him!

BUSHWACKER's out was a thing of beauty!  He scored 46.5 points and easily sent Cody Nance to the dirt.

ASTEROID returned to action in Tulsa with an excellent out, scoring 45.5 points.  This bull has been ridden only 1 time in 41 outs.  Asteroid was antsy in the chute, as usual, and JW Hart said Asteroid is "like a cat on acid"! LOL!
Jared Allen's AIR TIME was R-A-N-K! in his 3 second buck off.  This bull had a huge first jump and the rider had no chance!   He received the High Bull Score of the event with 47.5 points!  Spectacular!!!
I'M A GANGSTER TOO was rearing up in the chute, and just as the chute gate opened, he reared up again.  Thank goodness he was not injured, nor was rider Ryan Direater!  Ryan was given a reride and he had them run Gangster thru again.  Gangster had a strong out with big, high kicks and bucked Ryan off.  Gangster received a 43.5 point bull score.
MR. BULL was bucking in the chute, and I think Douglas Duncan had half his ride before the gate actually opened.  Douglas rewrapped his rope and was a long time in the chute.  Once the gate opened, Mr. Bull spun faster and faster, while Douglas got looser and looser, and flew off before the whistle.  Mr. Bull was scored 44.25 points.

FIRE & SMOKE had a great out, bucking off Kody Lostroh and receiving 44.75 points.  This bull had wicked spin and strong head whip, as he spun.  Great bull, for sure!

It was awesome having the bulls back in action.  The 3 month summer break seemed extra long this year.  Congratulations to Gage Gay who won the Tulsa event, and moved up in the World standings.  I personally will be very interested to see how things shape up for "Bucking Bull of the Year"...I wonder who the finalists will be and can not wait to see them buck in Las Vegas, come October!

Looking forward to the next event in Thackerville, OK next weekend.  Until then, have a fa-bull-ous week!



Photographs by Susan Hanrahan