I'm on vacation in Colorado, currently in Bayfield in the high country, where it is threatening snow. I drove here yesterday from Denver through snow flurries along the front range and snow on the passes.
I am here visiting my 86 year old uncle, a hero of the Fast Carrier Strikes on Tokyo oh so many years ago. He's doing well enough. Today I'm driving to to Roswell, New Mexico with my cousin and his son to see two days of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) Tour. Us two old guys will "see" it, the son, Jimmy Anderson, will "do" it, two days of bull riding, the longest eight seconds on earth, He's 111th on the circuit.
It's a tough business. Last night Jimmy was talking matter-of-factly about his injuries; three broken noses, a broken leg, a broken elbow, strains, sprains and numerous dislocations. He happily said, "At least I still have all my teeth."
When Jimmy's balky chronically dislocated left shoulder (a bull stepped on it. or rather, stomped on it), the free, swinging arm, finally wouldn't easily pop back in for him on its own accord ("the emergency room could barely get it back in, they had to use massive amounts of muscle relaxants and hang weights from the shoulder") he had it operated on. My injured left ankle, done in by ten hard miles of running on it at Army (although not swollen, it still pains me greatly and I can't run on it) pales in comparison.
Jimmy's left shoulder is fine now. and he's ready to climb back aboard a ton of bucking, spinning raging fury tonight. We can't wait to see what happens.
His mother isn't coming with us to watch because she's out of town helping out with caring for her daughter's new-born baby. The last time she watched Jimmy ride in person, he was knocked out cold upon being thrown off the bull. He lay motionless on the ground for many long moments before stirring. How would you like to be a parent whose child did this for a living?
Showing posts with label Jimmy Anderson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jimmy Anderson. Show all posts
Friday, October 9, 2009
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Jimmy rode his two bulls, the only man in forty to do so
I went to see bull riding last night. Professional Bull Riding (PBR) is exciting alright. Sort of like hockey games that feature fights are exciting. Borderline mayhem.
The athletes that ride bulls in the PBR are top-shelf young men. What a hard life. To stay astride a bucking, twirling 2,000 pound enraged beast with horns for eight seconds (using only one hand-this crucial part will become apparent in a minute) and then to get off of it and get away unscathed is an awesome athletic feat.
What happened last night at the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, which featured a PBR event? The first rider was thrown and trampled. The third rider was thrown headfirst into a metal fence. Another rider sailed off the bull upon dismount and landed on his tailbone from six feet high. One rider had a horn whizz an inch by his head as he scrambled up after being violently thrown. Yet another rider got his spur caught in the cinch rope as he was dislodged by the bull and hyperextended his knee as he was whipped around three feet in the air by one heel like a rag doll. At least two more riders limped off wincing, and two others sagged dazedly against the fence after their rides when they got to its relative "safety" (you clamber up the fence to get out of the way of the rampaging bull). The horse of the only "safety rider" ( a mounted cowboy who can lasso the bull or distract it with his trained horse) got gored broadside by a charging bull (a perfect T-bone collision, as State Troopers would say) and both horse and rider went down. The horse got up and was led away, but the rider did not. He was wheeled away on a gurney, feebly waving his hat to the crowd with one hand.
The show went on with no horseman, only rodeo clowns on foot trying to get the bull out of the arena after each bull ride. The PBR is not for the faint of heart or those debilitated by pain.
The first round was forty bull rides. If you get thrown off before eight seconds, no score. See ya at the next meet. Successful rides are judged by some point-scoring system that grades the actions of both the rider and the bull. Ninety is a perfect score (I think). There are no points awarded for anything that transpires after the eight seconds (no style points for a dismount where you stay on your feet versus getting flung into the ground). The top ten riders go into the championship round.
My second cousin, 20 year old Jimmy Anderson from Colorado, is a typical PBR bullrider. He is currently ranked 59th in the association (based upon his earnings, he's earned a little over $22,000 in three years) and is considered a comer. He had come to Charlottesville from a PBR event the night before in San Antonio, taking a 6 o'clock flight to Dulles that morning. He drove to Charlottesville in a rental car and napped in the locker room. After the event he drove back to Dulles to catch a 6 am plane back to Texas where he attends college, napping in his rental car along the way. His story is not atypical.
Another cowboy at the meet was summoned the day before to replace a competitor who pulled out. He spent a thousand dollars on airfare and arrived without his luggage. He borrowed a cinch rope and a helmet. He was thrown in less than 2 seconds and went home.
Jimmy was hyped by the announcer before his first ride as having a record of staying on the bull on 80 percent of his rides. Apparently that's a whole lot.
He had a great ride on Marshmellow, a name which belied the energy and ferocity of his bull. He was thrown off right at 8:00 seconds but the ride counted. He garnered an 85, which put him in fifth place going into the final round.
So Jimmy made the finals. NO ONE except for Jimmy stayed on his bull for eight seconds in that round. Jimmy had a strong ride but Jimmy's time was frozen at 4.30 seconds as his ride atop raging Encore went on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on (yeah, that's how long it takes for eight seconds to go by when nothing's really in control). The dismount horn never sounded. Finally a dozen seconds later Jimmy got thrown off.
He had been disqualified for touching the bull with his free hand as it whipped back and forth from the force of each buck. Slapping the bull, they call it. The ONLY DQ of the night in 50 rides!
The crowd booed lustily. I didn't see the touch, either in real time or on the replay on the jumbotron.
"There's no replay flag in bull riding," the announcer said to the booing crowd. "It is what it is." The crowd booed louder.
In the final round, Jimmy was the only man to stay on a bull. Imagine the score tied in an NBA playoff game with one second to go in regulation time. Tweet, the ref calls a ticky-tacky foul as a player dribbles out the clock. Happens all the time, right? Not!
Too bad, Jimmy would have won. The DQ call cost him $3,000. As it is, he gets fifth place money, about $600. I didn't get a chance to see him after the event but I saw him ride and it was beautiful. What a talented young man doing such a hard thing with grace and aplomb. Proud to know ya, Jimmy.
PBR. I have never seen anything like it.
The athletes that ride bulls in the PBR are top-shelf young men. What a hard life. To stay astride a bucking, twirling 2,000 pound enraged beast with horns for eight seconds (using only one hand-this crucial part will become apparent in a minute) and then to get off of it and get away unscathed is an awesome athletic feat.
What happened last night at the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, which featured a PBR event? The first rider was thrown and trampled. The third rider was thrown headfirst into a metal fence. Another rider sailed off the bull upon dismount and landed on his tailbone from six feet high. One rider had a horn whizz an inch by his head as he scrambled up after being violently thrown. Yet another rider got his spur caught in the cinch rope as he was dislodged by the bull and hyperextended his knee as he was whipped around three feet in the air by one heel like a rag doll. At least two more riders limped off wincing, and two others sagged dazedly against the fence after their rides when they got to its relative "safety" (you clamber up the fence to get out of the way of the rampaging bull). The horse of the only "safety rider" ( a mounted cowboy who can lasso the bull or distract it with his trained horse) got gored broadside by a charging bull (a perfect T-bone collision, as State Troopers would say) and both horse and rider went down. The horse got up and was led away, but the rider did not. He was wheeled away on a gurney, feebly waving his hat to the crowd with one hand.
The show went on with no horseman, only rodeo clowns on foot trying to get the bull out of the arena after each bull ride. The PBR is not for the faint of heart or those debilitated by pain.
The first round was forty bull rides. If you get thrown off before eight seconds, no score. See ya at the next meet. Successful rides are judged by some point-scoring system that grades the actions of both the rider and the bull. Ninety is a perfect score (I think). There are no points awarded for anything that transpires after the eight seconds (no style points for a dismount where you stay on your feet versus getting flung into the ground). The top ten riders go into the championship round.
My second cousin, 20 year old Jimmy Anderson from Colorado, is a typical PBR bullrider. He is currently ranked 59th in the association (based upon his earnings, he's earned a little over $22,000 in three years) and is considered a comer. He had come to Charlottesville from a PBR event the night before in San Antonio, taking a 6 o'clock flight to Dulles that morning. He drove to Charlottesville in a rental car and napped in the locker room. After the event he drove back to Dulles to catch a 6 am plane back to Texas where he attends college, napping in his rental car along the way. His story is not atypical.
Another cowboy at the meet was summoned the day before to replace a competitor who pulled out. He spent a thousand dollars on airfare and arrived without his luggage. He borrowed a cinch rope and a helmet. He was thrown in less than 2 seconds and went home.
Jimmy was hyped by the announcer before his first ride as having a record of staying on the bull on 80 percent of his rides. Apparently that's a whole lot.
He had a great ride on Marshmellow, a name which belied the energy and ferocity of his bull. He was thrown off right at 8:00 seconds but the ride counted. He garnered an 85, which put him in fifth place going into the final round.
So Jimmy made the finals. NO ONE except for Jimmy stayed on his bull for eight seconds in that round. Jimmy had a strong ride but Jimmy's time was frozen at 4.30 seconds as his ride atop raging Encore went on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on (yeah, that's how long it takes for eight seconds to go by when nothing's really in control). The dismount horn never sounded. Finally a dozen seconds later Jimmy got thrown off.
He had been disqualified for touching the bull with his free hand as it whipped back and forth from the force of each buck. Slapping the bull, they call it. The ONLY DQ of the night in 50 rides!
The crowd booed lustily. I didn't see the touch, either in real time or on the replay on the jumbotron.
"There's no replay flag in bull riding," the announcer said to the booing crowd. "It is what it is." The crowd booed louder.
In the final round, Jimmy was the only man to stay on a bull. Imagine the score tied in an NBA playoff game with one second to go in regulation time. Tweet, the ref calls a ticky-tacky foul as a player dribbles out the clock. Happens all the time, right? Not!
Too bad, Jimmy would have won. The DQ call cost him $3,000. As it is, he gets fifth place money, about $600. I didn't get a chance to see him after the event but I saw him ride and it was beautiful. What a talented young man doing such a hard thing with grace and aplomb. Proud to know ya, Jimmy.
PBR. I have never seen anything like it.
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