Bull Notes - Lafayette, LA
January 2001

3rd perf Saturday Night and 4th perf Sunday afternoon.

Lafayette Sheets

Herd: Harper/Morgan/Auger or Harper/Auger or Auger/Harper or Auger or something like that.

Notes: Once upon a not so long ago, there was an outfit called Harper & Morgan Rodeo Company, and they travelled in many big trucks from town to town all over God's favorite part of the USA putting on rodeos, wheezer exhibitions, and blowing things up. They had many bulls, and the bulls were good and bucked very hard, and the bull riders who entered the rodeos were amazed at the feats of the famous Harper & Morgan bulls. The people of the countryside were also amazed by the bulls, and knew many of them by name. All over the land, bull riders spoke of the Harper & Morgan bulls with great reverence, and showed each other bruises and stitches that told tales of their close encounters with different members of the legendary herd.

Well, if Lafayette was any indication, those days are over.

I did some digging in the Probullstats archive of past rodeos, and found that after the winter run in 1999, Harper was hauling no less than thirty-six bulls whose marks for that winter averaged 20 points or more per side. It took 82 to place at Lafayette in 1999. At most of their rodeos, anything you rode would get you a decent check, since just making the whistle would make you one of the few, the proud, the ones who stayed on.

Things sure look different now... Could be the first rodeo of the year jitters or something, but this bunch of critters didn't look too impressive. Plenty of 'em got rode. They actually still have a solid core of good bulls, but they just didn't show it here.

Bulls:

73 Rampage II
73 showed up at the first of last year, and was a bad brahmer for most of the year. Then Howdy Cloud rode him in Memphis, and must've put a kink in his tail...He ran off at the Tour Finale in Mesquite among other places, and didn't get to make the trip to the NFR. The good news from Lafayette is that he looks to be on the rebound. Here, we went out 3-4 and came around bucking like a haint. Maybe he's back, time will tell.

F35 Tombstone
Bull that's been around a while, and didn't look too impressive. Turned back - jumped out of it, not enough kick. Kind of yucky.

A17 Mr. Twister
Not kind of yucky, but REAL yucky. Run forward, no kick, not very fast... 2 laps in front of the let out gate.

0 Sunshine
Came from Southern Rodeos. He turned back and spun, but was pretty weak. Tyler was only 74 on him.

666 Scoop
Randall Hinote got a RR on this bull. He didn't stop, but he was pretty doggone sorry.

7 Bandit
Used to be -2 Bubba. One horned small brindle with a mean streak. He's been pretty solid over the years, always bucks about the same. Doesn't spend any time in the air, just tries to rattle guys off of him. Should've named him Jackhammer Skoal. Probably feels like an El Toro bucking machine with the buck turned way up and the spin on slow.

147 Lightning
Mean Texas looking brindle that showed a little promise here. Bucked pretty hard, and had some kick. Needs to get it all together before he'll be NFR quality. Pretty honest bull - no tricks.

-16 Ernie
This bull turned back in the latch to the left, and stayed hooked, but Chad Lovern was only 71 on him. Pretty weak and pretty slow. Get him off the valium and maybe....

196 Batman
Big black? muley - one of the higher marked bulls, but was pretty nasty. Quick, walked on his front end a bit, got balled up trying to do too much at once. Littlejohn was 77 on him.

532 Raspberry Wine
Turned back, and was one of the better ones, but was just a bull. he's bucked better.

116 Yellow Dog
Big lumbering beast. Once upon a time he was called 16 Custer. Those might have been his better days.

19 Top Gun
ditto ditto ditto ditto ditto ditto ditto ditto was called 9 Rimrock. ditto ditto ditto ditto...

68 Bugsy
A little down horned brown mexican looking bull that was out Saturday night. Went out two and spun to the left. Stayed hooked the whole 8. After the guy got off, a girl who had never been to a rodeo before turned to me and said "So what happens when they just don't buck at all? Do they have to get on another one?"

1103 Whammo
This bull is pretty off and on, but on a good day, he'll be over 40 points. He went a ways and came around to the left bucking pretty good. Sometimes, he just won't turn back. Little flat horn brindle.

4W Firecracker
He's been around a while and bucked the same as always here. Big bull, long jumps, covers a lot of ground. Nothing nice about him except they split the rodeo on him here. Hard to ride looking bugger.

705 Jumper
Tall bull that bucked like a pretty decent bareback horse. Circled to the left out by the barrel. Fred needed a good rigging to really show off that spur lick, but he placed anyway I think.

17 Noid
Same same same. Looked poorer than he's been in the past. Certainly not any bigger. Really pushes around the corner with his front feet and kind of wants to get you tilted to the outside. Went to the left here right in the gate.

71 Bucket Head
Aptly named bull. Bucked like an overweight goat in a nest of rattlesnakes. If you draw him somewhere, call Procom and protest. Or find out what's in the RR.
(they may have called out the wrong guys name here - see Jackson) (This bull might have been 301 Hitchiker.. plummer looking, short horns)

F15 Wipeout.
New name - Washed Out.

4X General Electric
One, two, around to the left. Pretty much your textbook muley spinner. A quacker.

H6 Whammy
Pretty good bull. Turned back both ways, but weakened at the end and not quite enough kick going to the right. Doug Vincent was 76 on him.

12 Pretty Boy
Stopped three times in 8 seconds.

29 Orange Crush
Is a pretty honky sucker for 5 seconds. After that, he's been known to park it. Here, it only took the 5 seconds, so he was the best bull out Sunday.

Slade Long
© 2001 Probullstats.com