ROUND #3

Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (WNFR)
Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas
December 3, 2006

Brandie & Spur
Brandie Halls was the only Wyoming contestant to leave the table with more chips than when she arrived last night. The Carpenter, WY barrel racer finished fourth and got a check for $6,700. It’s way early in this event to start talking about where things could end for our folks. As one of the arena announcers noted in front of the Saturday evening gathering of 17,500 rodeo fans: “If this was War and Peace we wouldn’t even be on the fourth chapter.”
A barrel racer from Spur, Texas took the round and $16,000. Kelly Maben’s winnings the last two nights exceed $32,000 and that’s more than she makes a year in her school teaching job.
Stock Market Bullish
One after the other, bull riders were dispatched from a pen of truly fast, tough, and talented large horned animals in round three. The last man out, B.J. Schumacher of Wisconsin breeding was the only rider to make the 8-seconds. He was already the leading money winner in his event at the WNFR and not only pocketed $16,000 go-round cash for first place, B.J. also gathered second through sixth place dollars totaling another $35,000. The latter doesn’t count toward the world standings but sure would make a nice down payment on a house.
Walking Wounded
Sonny Murphy is in a neck brace and will face months of recovery time. There is a crack in a neck vertebrae and the Utah bull rider told us doctors in Las Vegas say he will not have any opportunity to recover to the point of riding again until at least mid-2007.
The man who arrived at the finals nearly $30,000 ahead of the nearest competitor won’t be back in the arena this year. Friday night, Texas bull rider Matt Austin suffered severe stomach injuries. He had torn some muscles there a month ago and while he made one successful 8-second trip at the finals, the second sent him to the ground early. “The first jump I felt something else tear. It tore the right side of my stomach to pieces,” Austin remarked while supporting himself on crutches and a forced smile. “I’m just going to stay here and root everybody else on,” Matt said. Austin won his first world title last year and set a PRCA record for season earnings.
Star Studded Saturday
Heavy hitters in sports and politics were on hand for Saturday’s event. Former Vice President Dan Quayle and his wife attended. NFL Hall of Fame Quarterback John Elway brought his son Jack to the rodeo. Raghib “Rocket” Ismail – one of the top kick return men in Notre Dame Football history and a professional player with Carolina and the Raiders – saw his first rodeo in person. “Watching it on TV doesn’t do it justice,” Ismail assessed. “Bareback riders. In that eight seconds that they were getting the life beat out of them that literally was like two full football games in the NFL with all the violent collisions.”