Before the first bull rider, Luke Snyder, left
the chute for the opening ride. I had an opportunity
to hang out with Luke and several other riders
(LJ Jenkins, J.B. Mauney, Harve Stewart, and
more) prior to the event, and I was impressed
at how down to earth and approachable the riders
were for the fans.
|
|
| The
2010 PBR Champion, Renato Nunes, put in
a 8 second ride & then he did a backflip
off the rail, which had the fans cheering
& clamping |
As far as watching the bull riding, I must
say it is intense watching each rider attempting
to hold onto the bull for 8 seconds to earn
a score, and the top 10 riders advance to the
Built Ford Tough Championship Round to crown
the weekend champion, and Austin Meier finished
on top with an impressive final round for his
second win of the season, which moved Meier
into the top five in the points battles for
the one million dollar season bonus.
|
|
| “This
win was huge, it’s always huge but
to do well at the end of the season gives
momentum going into the finals. I just
want to keep it rolling and have fun out
there. I want to keep getting those bulls
rode,” said Oklahoma's Austin Meier
after his win |
During one of the short intermissions, Kawasaki’s
Jon Rall drove the Win-My-Ride Grand Prize,
Kawasaki Mule 4010 Trans, out onto the arena
floor to encourage PBR fans to participate.
|
| Kawasaki's
Jon Rall drove the Kawasaki Mule 4010
Trans around the arena floor to encourage
fans to text WINMYRIDE to 868727 |
After two hours of bull riding the event was
over, but it was amazing to me at how fast the
time went by, which was testament to the PBR
for keeping the fans entertained throughout
the event with prize giveways and Flint Rasmussen,
Clown Entertainer, keeping the crowd entertained
with his dancing, quick wit, and comical stunts
to fill the voids in the bull riding action.
|
|
| PBR's
Flint Rasmussen, Clown Entertainer, kept
the crowd amused during breaks in the
bull riding action |
Once the Bull riding champion was crowned,
the fans once again had a chance to meet and
greet with the Bull Riders once again, which
is something that you don’t find with
many other high profile sports these days. I
feel the open accessible the PBR provides between
the fans and Bull Riders has added to the success
of the sport, and I wish other sports athletes
would make themselves more accessible to the
fans.
|
|
| At
the end of the event, nearly all the bull
riders came out and walked around the
perimeter of the arena floor and signed
autographs for the fans |
Kawasaki is currently in talks to return as
a PBR sponsor again in 2013, but one thing is
for sure, I plan on making my return to a PBR
event in 2013 with my entire family because
I feel my wife and kids will enjoy it as much
as I did.
