ProRodeo Sports News - September 16, 2022

EDITOR’S LETTER TRACY RENCK Camaraderie of rodeo cowboys refreshing to see

I n other professional sports whether it be the NFL, NBA, or MLB, when players are getting ready for a big game – you can feel the tension in the locker room. I saw it firsthand as a journalist covering the Colorado Rockies as they prepared to play the Boston Red Sox in the 2007World Series. Seemingly watch any documentary on the NFL or NBA and you will see players listening to music in their own space getting ready for battle. ProRodeo cowboys, however, are quite different in their approach. They are all competing for the same prize money at rodeos – for the most part – and all of them want to be in the Top 15 in the PRCA | RAMWorld Standings to qualify for the covetedWrangler National Finals Rodeo. Yet even though the competition is fierce the camaraderie amongst the cowboys is amazing and it was on full display at the Cinch Playoffs in Puyallup, Wash. In steer wrestling, 2019 PRCAWorld Champion Ty Erickson, and four-time Wrangler NFR qualifier Will Lummus, and others were serving as pushers of steers out of the chute for their opponents. Although a $13,000 check was on the line for the event winner these cowboys didn’t hesitate to help each other. Then, there was tie-down roper Shad Mayfield, the 2020 PRCAWorld Champion, letting Blane Cox use his standout horse Rampage in the competition at the Cinch Playoffs. Mayfield won the event. Cox was third. Also, how bout bareback rider Jess Pope’s quick thinking.

Pope, who is second behind Cole Reiner in the world standings, was given a re-ride in Puyallup, and was in search of anybody who might have video on his re-ride horse – Bridwell Pro Rodeos’ Storm Breaker. Enter bull rider Josh Frost. Frost was on the dirt behind the roughstock chutes getting ready for his ride later that evening. Pope called him over and asked Frost to do a quick search on the internet with his cellphone for a video of Storm Breaker. “I had him (Frost) look it up on Facebook,” Pope said. “You can type the brand and name in like you are going to search somebody and if anybody has ever posted about that horse it will show up. I just wanted to see if anybody had been on that horse. “That was easier than going to stock stats and then searching. Sometimes it is easier to see with your own eyes what it is rather than trusting what everyone says. Josh pulled up a quick video and it worked out pretty quick.” In the world we live in now, where seemingly everybody wants to sue everybody or people want to make a quick buck without putting in the work, the action of these cowboys was refreshing to see. Cowboys aren’t about sabotage – they are about lending a hand to one another even at the expense of possibly losing a rodeo. “That just part of the cowboy code of ethics,” said Pope,

Tracy Renck is the editor of the ProRodeo

Sports News . He previously served more than seven years as a media coordinator at the PRCA. He has three decades of experience in sports journalism with the last several consumed by ProRodeo.

23. “It is dang sure the best way to be.” Agreed.

ProRodeo Sports News 9/16/2022

ProRodeo.com

6