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TMCNet: San Bernardino County Sun, Calif., Louis Brewster column

[August 29, 2010]

San Bernardino County Sun, Calif., Louis Brewster column

ONTARIO, Aug 29, 2010 (San Bernardino County Sun - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Through sorrowful song and catchy lyrics, best-selling recording artists Garth Brooks and George Strait have romanticized the life of American nomads in pursuit of the next rodeo.

There's always been a love affair in the West with cowboys and their sport. It not only has grown to the East but throughout the world.

But it always comes back to dusty, bumpy roads and trying to earn enough money to make the next go-round.

In 1983, 'Amarillo By Morning' became one of Strait's signature songs, the story of a cowboy's life on the circuit. The song received critical acclaim by not only fans but also the cowboys.

They took my saddle in Houston broke my leg in Santa Fe lost my wife and girlfriends somewhere along the way Well, I'll be looking for eight when they pull that gate And I'm hoping that judge ain't blind Years later in 2000, Brooks' "Rodeo" covered the same ground and once again brought the sport to the American mainstream: Well it's bulls and blood It's dust and mud It's the roar of a Sunday crowd ... It's boots and chaps It's cowboy hats It's spurs and latigo It's the ropes and the reins And the joy and the pain and they call the thing rodeo Not any more. It's called the Professional Bull Riders and is marketed as the toughest sport on Earth. More than 1,000 cowboys compete worldwide for millions of dollars in prize money.

Forget about dusty and sizzlin' arenas. These cowboys face 1,600-pound bulls in some of the finest venues in the country (all air-conditioned), including the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, where the final round is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. today.

The steel fences are difficult to see for all the advertising. Since its inception in 1992, the PBR continually has added corporate America to its sponsorship roster and has created more exposure with a TV network contract.

And don't go looking for beat-up pickup trucks in the competitors lot. With a 30-stop tour that criss-crosses the country (in Memphis last week, Greenville, S.C. next weekend), these cowboys usually fly. Rentals are in abundance.

The haulers are reserved for the bulls, who lead a pampered life. The book on how to treat these animals, trained to throw cowboys off the backs, is thicker than the PBR media guide.

Finally, forget the "Jr. Bonner" movie of 1972, which featured Steve McQueen as a cowboy trying to live off the circuit. Today's world is more like the 1994 "Eight Seconds" film with Luke Perry in the featured role of Lane Frost.

The riders who competed in Ontario have youth on their side. There's no such thing as an old bull rider anymore. Ty Murray, the world champion who helped form the organization with 20 others for $1,000 apiece, created a new alternative for competitors.

Harve Stewart, a 22-year-old from Stephenville, Texas, who doesn't live far from Murray, is part of the next wave of riders. Stewart, who rode Hippy Music for a score of 87 on Saturday, attends Tarleton State when not competing and studies business management. He joined the PBR as an 18-year-old (he started as a 14-year-old with junior bulls) and will ride "until I can't do it anymore." By that time, Stewart plans on having enough money to purchase livestock and land, the dream of most riders. But for the moment, it's about the money list, a reason he rode in a PBR event Friday night in Lancaster.

In 13 events this year, the personable Stewart has won $52,960. That's a far cry from the $267,217 top-ranked Renato Nunes of Brazil brought into Ontario, so it's a sport riders can live off, provided they avoid the injuries a bull wants to inflict.

If you happen to catch today's show, remember two things: Don't call it a rodeo, and don't call the bullfighters, whose job it is to protect the cowboys in the arena, clowns.

To see more of the San Bernardino County Sun, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.sbsun.com. Copyright (c) 2010, San Bernardino County Sun, Calif. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com, e-mail services@mctinfoservices.com, or call 866-280-5210 (outside the United States, call +1 312-222-4544).

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