ProRodeo Sports News - Feb. 7, 2020

RFD-TV Canada, Cowboy Channel Canada announce collaboration with Wild TV Media Mix SHORT ROUND

O n Feb. 3, the launch of RFD-TV Canada and The Cowboy Channel Canada was announced, bringing Rural Media Group’s TV Programming to a new audience in collaboration with Wild TV Network. Through RFD-TV Canada and The Cowboy Channel Canada, viewers can see live coverage of at least 18 ProRodeo Tour final performances plus a taped highlight show for encore airings on both The Cowboy Channel and RFD-TV. There also will be TV coverage of 10 PRCA Xtreme Bulls events, including the Xtreme Bulls Tour Finale with encore airings on both TCC and RFD-TV.

The two networks launch Canada-wide on Shaw Direct TODAY, with planned expansion to the rest of the cable and satellite compa- nies across Canada later in 2020.

Tribble sidelined with neck injury

Las Vegas Events is seeking a general manager for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. The annual event, held each year at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, is scheduled for Dec. 3-12. Known as the richest and most prestigious rodeo in the world, the Wrangler NFR attracts the Top 15 contestants in bareback riding, steer wrestling, team rop- ing, saddle bronc riding, tie-down roping, barrel racing and bull riding to compete for a share of the $10 million purse and the coveted gold buckle. In 2019, the event had a total attendance of 168,289 over the 10 days of competition and has sold out 330 consecutive performances. The general manager will work closely with LVE, the NFR Committee and the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association on all aspects of rodeo production. For full details or to apply, visit https://bit.ly/31uOMsR. Wrangler NFR seeks manager “Everything went south, my heart rate dropped, blood pressure was crazy and my blood count was bad,” Sparks said. “I had developed numerous blood clots in both lungs and one in my right knee.” By Jan. 30 it was decided to put a filter into Donny’s aorta to bust up the blood clots as they circulate through. “I felt one moving this morning, it stopped right at my sternum,” Sparks said Feb. 4. He went home the next day and is walking around and keeping hydrated. Sparks recovers from surgery and clots An injury from 1996 came back to bite former bullfighter Donny Sparks in early 2020 as a knee replacement surgery was followed with finding multiple blood clots in his lungs. Sparks originally injured his knee just before the 1996 Wrangler NFR when he fell about 20 feet from a tree while hunting. In January 2020 he went in for a knee replacement. Just when he thought everything was fine, Sparks was rushed by ambulance in the night to Eminent Medical Center in the Plano, Texas, area.

Bull rider Garrett

Tribble, a two-time qualifier for the Wran- gler National Finals Rodeo, will be out at least six weeks after fracturing his neck Feb. 1. Tribble, who made the Finals in 2016 and 2018, suffered the in-

Tribble

jury when he was bucked off Rafter H Rodeo’s Left Lane at the San Angelo (Texas) Rodeo. “I had a chip in my C1 in my vertebrae in my neck and a concussion,” said Tribble, 22. “I can walk around and everything, I never lost any movement.” Tribble, who is wearing a neck brace, was treated at a San Angelo hospital and released early in the morning Feb. 2. The C1 and C2 vertebrae are the first two vertebrae at the top of the cervical spine. Together they form the atlantoaxial joint, which is a pivot joint. The C1 sits atop and rotates around the C2. More of the head’s rotational range of mo- tion comes from C1-C2 than any other cervical joint.

ProRodeo Sports News 2/7/2020

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