Xtreme Bulls - San Antonio Notes

Probullstats - January 31, 2003

Short go Draw commentary for San Antonio will be available Sunday Night, Feb 2

Stock

A minimum of five Stock Contractors are required at all Division I televised events. While the PRCA has over seventy stock contractors, in order to save on transportation costs we utilize some of the bulls that are in the draw at the rodeo hosting the event. If outside bulls are necessary we supplement the herd.

At San Antonio, all the contractors supplying bulls to the bull riding are also participating in the rodeo’s bull riding. The five contractors here are: Sammy Andrews, Bad Company Rodeo/Mack Altizer, Cervi Championship Rodeo/Mike Cervi, Vernon Guidry, and Salt River Rodeo/Jerry Nelson. With outstanding bulls bringing $30,000-$75,000, each of these companies have breeding programs and participate in bull futurities.

There are two levels of the PRCA Bull Riding Division. Televised events and Qualifying events. The first qualifying event is in Rapid City, S.D. Jan 31-Feb 1. The top five bull riders from Rapid City will be seeded into the Houston Division I bull riding on March 6.

Judging

The Bull Riding Division is experimenting with a new three judge system which features one arena floor judge who marks each bull from 1-100 points. This judge also has five discretionary points (in half point increments) that can be added or deducted based on rider performance. (-5.0 -4.5 -4.0 -3.5 -3.0 -2.5 -2.0 -1.5 -1.0 -.5 0 +.5 +1.0 +1.5 +2.0 +2.5 +3.0 +3.5 +4.0 +4.5 +5.0). A perfect score however is still 100 points as no discretionary ride points may be used to create a 100 point score (the highest score possible using discretionary ride points is 99.5). A 100 point score would quite literally be “all bull”. This judge also carries a stopwatch in case the automatic timing device fails. A second judge is positioned on the back of the chutes to watch for disqualifications and for riders getting fouled and he starts the scoreboard timer which is the official time. This is another innovation as these clocks time to the 100th. A third judge is an Instant Replay official who reviews all disqualification calls and non calls. The Instant Replay official may overturn either of the other two. Instant Replay review has never been used in rodeo or bull riding.

So what’s the deal with the new judging system? Why not? It’s not like the other one works. More often than not the right people are not winning what they should. Why? No… it’s not bad judging necessarily. There are many capable judges who SEE bulls correctly. Unfortunately, when teamed with a less capable judge—those good opinions get diluted. And when they get paired with a less capable judge who slings points—the impact of the good opinion is totally lost. This is even obvious with the four judge system used at the National Finals Rodeo. Usually who ever gets wild and high—determines the outcome. Or one guy is so far off and low that he wrecks the outcome. Or two guys will just ride the fence but keep their scores high and close and let the other two determine the outcome. It’s interesting on NFR nights when the bull riding judging was all screwed-up, when the timed event contestants used to be able to watch from the moat, the Team Ropers, Calf Ropers, and Steer Wrestlers (and the popcorn vendors)—got it right. I gave them a hundred points and they looked at the bulls and they got it RIGHT. Bull riding judging is not rocket science—it is simple. See the BULL—mark the BULL.

See …. what most people don’t realize is that the antiquated, ineffective judging system rodeo and bull riding uses is at least forty years old and it’s a horse event system that has been altered to fit the bull riding. And just like a tight pair of shoes—it hurts—the event--the participants in the event.

There are a number of other valid reasons for a testing a new judging system. First of all, it will help to educate the audience to better understand bull performance and bull difficulty. Under this system a perfect bull will be marked 100 points. Under the old system two judges each marked the bull from 1-25 and the ride from 1-25. However, only a total score was announced so the viewing audience never knew what the animal or rider was scored by each judge. Under the new system the bull score is announced followed by the ride score. Over time spectators will be able to relate what they saw to a logical point system.

Another reason why one Arena judge is preferable to two--it reduces ties. Kissing your sister—ties—plague the bull riding event. This is all about WINNING. Sport needs winners. Business needs winners. Ties suck. Very few guys are actually JUDGING anymore—they just write down the numbers and don’t use enough spread (recognizing differences in the animals and reflecting those differences with their animal point scores)—and basically let the other judge determine the outcome. At this level of bull riding we need only the BEST opinion. (By the way the old—each judge only evaluates the spurring done by the rider’s foot on that judge’s side of the arena—went out with the invention of rubber tires. If you find a judge doing that you can bet he’s still using Brylcreem and saving up for his first TV.)

To understand the logic of the new system one must be familiar with how bull riding has historically been judged. It is based on the horse event judging system (which also doesn’t work) where each of two judges mark the horse from 1-25 and the ride from 1-25. The problem is that the horse events are SPURRING contests. The bull riding is a RIDING contest. While a horse rider might rack-up 25 ride points a guy can really spur a bull and maybe be marked two points above his bull. See…. in the bull riding, each judge first scores the bull from 1-25 then duplicates that score to get the ride score.

The adaptation they made on the horse event system is the ride subtotal is the same as the bull sub score. If you ride a 20 point bull the judge also gives you a 20 point ride. That results in a sub total of 40. At that point the judge adds or subtracts one, two, or (very rarely) three whole points to reflect the rider’s performance or to make room to get the contestants placed correctly.

In recent years, as scores have been getting higher (higher—and WRONG-ER), too many of the less capable judges have become too free with awarding ride points and the result has been the contestants being placed incorrectly or has created ties. Ride points being carelessly awarded by less capable judges has often overwhelmed the markings of the more qualified judges. Too many judges no longer really look for or seeing the differences in the bull’s performances/difficulty and are relying on their ride markings to get things placed.

Judging bull riding is all about getting the money to the guy who rides the rankest (most difficult and best performing bull) and making it happen with the points you have available. You have to be able to mark the bulls correctly. One capable judge with 100 points to work with stands a better chance of making that happen. Initially, the mental process these top bull judges will go through initially will be…

“That is a 22 point bull… so if I multiply that by 4 my score will be 88. Now… did I see anything that would warrant a discretionary ride point bonus or deduction? Is what I saw justifiable and explainable? Can the viewing audience SEE what I see and be able to make the connection with the points I’m awarding?” Well, the audience SHOULD be able to see it. None of that mumble jumble imaginary crap.

Adept judges will also use the half point increments to prevent ties and get the contestants placed correctly but this system will make them be more conscientious with their ride points and concentrate on getting spread in their bulls. Half points gives them the ability to prevent ties and get people placed correctly without being careless with their ride points.

So what about the pressure factor? You know—putting too much pressure on one poor judge? Geez, Louise--the WORST part of judging is when the other guy screws things up so bad that the right people (in your opinion) don’t win what they were supposed to. Cowboys who trust you expect you to do a good job but you can’t. You can’t make it right and they lose faith in your opinions. You lose your credibility. The problem we now have is that the best bull judges have lost their credibility with the contestants because they are always adjusting their scores—trying to offset some goof ball—so that their own scores can determine the outcome. That makes for some strange looking numbers and the bull riders don’t understand. I do not know one good bull riding judge who lacks the confidence to judge on his own. They will relish the opportunity. It will be a challenge. It will refresh them and make them even better. Anyone who thinks they can’t do a better job with the new system doesn’t need to be judging. They have some issues. Judging the bull riding takes intelligence and guts. That’s a rare combination these days. The worst case scenario is when we get a dumb judge who slings points. Holy Crap is that a wreck.

Still Alive at 75

Another weirdo aspect that is new to judging is that if a bull receives a score of less than 75 points, the rider has the option of either getting on a reride animal or taking a base score of 75. Many times in the Semi Final go round a rider will take the 75 score rather than get on another bull. Since the big money is in the Average (two head aggregate pay-off) a 75 score in the Semi Finals combined with a high score in the Final go round will put them in good stead. Even in the Final go round a 75 score when added to a Semi Final score should place them high in the Average pay-off. To achieve a 76 score a bull would only have to be a 19 point bull under the old system. On his normal day every bull present is much better than that (21’s and up). Every bull rider at these bull ridings can ride a 19 point bull.

But the most important reason for giving the contestants the option of taking a decent score instead of getting on another bull is that with the explosion of the stand alone bull riding industry bull riders are getting on too many rank bulls these days. There are more bull riders on the injured reserve list than ever before. Bright, young careers are ending prematurely. Unlike other athletes—to live—to eat—to make a living—to pay the bills—to feed and cloth their families—bull riders have to be able to ride. Bull riding is real life Russian Roulette. Fewer bulls means fewer bullets in the chamber. Besides the physical demands, mentally you can only get pumped up so many times before the adrenaline fries your brain (and courage). Over a period of years this new wrinkle may extend some careers.

Best Bull Award

A best bull award is given to the highest marked bull in this competition. If two bulls are tied the bull that bucked his rider off the fastest—will be the winner. Example: Bull’s A & B both are scored a 96. Bull A bucked his rider off in 4.15 seconds, Bull B in 5.62 seconds. Bull A is the winner. If they would have had the same buck-off times, they would share the award. The award is the same as the venue’s winning bull rider receives: a designer piece of crystal.

Definitions:

An F-1: A first cross with a Brahma.
Braford (“A”-ford not BRA ford): usually the offspring of a Brahma bull on a Hereford cow.
Brangus: same deal only on an Angus.
Brarakeet:
Bramster:
Braoodle:
Braporter:
Braureaucrat: Brahma crossed with mid-level Government official

Brahma bulls will breed just about anything. When you see a Brahma bull chasing a clown he isn’t necessarily just trying to hook him. A closer inspection of some of the bullfighters suggests that somewhere in their genetic history a few of their ancestors got caught. Small, cross-eyed, humps on their backs (and in some instances—fronts). Not a particularly handsome group—bull fighters. There is a reason they wear make-up. Probably more than one.

Very few 100% Brahma bulls in rodeo. Haven’t been many since the early 70’s. Not sure why but there is a multitude of Brahma crosses. Lots of prim and proper cattle breeders will breed their first calf heifers to Brahma bulls because they make for easy calving. And in hot humid climates you almost must have some heat tolerant, skeeter resistant, gator dodging Brahma blood in your herd. Thousands of these F-1’s go through sale barns or are bought private treaty every year. Some are calves or yearlings—some aren’t captured until they are 5-6-7. However, one in a hundred might be a bucking bull. With acquisition and feed costs being so high, rodeo and bull riding gurus have started placing their bets on genetics. Semen sales are vigorous for the top bulls. And now it is believed that the bucking ability may run even stronger on the maternal side of the equation. (It did in my family anyway). The mothers of great bulls have become a hot item. With one great cow and embryo transfer technology, you can have several recipient (and cheap) cows carrying expensive embryos from several different bulls. These are also sale toppers. Yet… even with all this space age technology, some of the funniest looking, least likely, farmer Fred’s Holstein dairy bull jumped over the fence and pillaged the neighbor’s cows type deal -- future outstanding bucking bulls are sometimes purchased in sale barns for 50 cents a pound (or less because they are mutts). Even roping calves have grown up to be great bucking bulls. You KNOW they hate cowboys. Pay back time.

One thing for sure—bulls are getting smaller. Why? Well… part of it is basic economics. More bull riders mean you need more bulls at rodeos and with diesel prices being high—you can fit more bulls on a truck. Another reason is also based in genetics. INBREEDING. Some of the most popular bloodlines are the result of many generations of brother sister father daughter son mother aunt grandpa uncle uncle (one in every family) cousin cousin—lots of acorns lying close together. And then you wonder why they are nuts in the chute?

Cowboys entered in Xtreme Bulls Tour - San Antonio Stop

• Jesse Bail, Camp Crook, S.D.
• Casey Baize, Big Lake, Texas
• Fred Boettcher, Tomah, Wis.
• Robert Bowers, Brooks, Alberta
• Zack Brown, Yorba, Linda, Calif.
• Blu Bryant, Robinson, Texas
• Gary Burt, Granbury, Texas
• Howdy Cloud, Beaumont, Texas
• Clint Craig, Mena, Ark.
• Terry Don, West, Henryetta, Okla.
• Myron Duarte, Auburn, Wash.
• Philip Elkins, Lipan, Texas
• Tyler Fowler, Theodore, Ala.
• Cody Hancock, Taylor, Ariz.
• Beau Hill, West Glacier, Mont.
• Kyle Joslin, Caldwell, Idaho
• Luke Kelley, Eagle, Colo.
• Jason Legler, Eaton, Colo.
• Rocky McDonald, Animas, N.M.
• Cory McFadden, Coleman, Texas
• Cory Melton, Keithville, La.
• Corey Navarre, Weatherford, Okla.
• Josh O'Byrne, Glen Rose, Texas
• Rusty Patrick, Bassett, Neb.
• B.J. Schumacher, Hillsboro, Wis.
• Jerry Shepherd, Levan, Utah
• Vince Stanton, Weiser, Idaho
• Blue Stone, Ogden, Utah
• Blaine Whipp, Marion, Ark.
• Colby Yates, Azle, Texas

Bryan McDonald
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