Cordless
My buddy, bull rider Cord McCoy, is competing tonight at the Championship Bull Riding finals in Jackson, Miss. His story is fascinating, by my standards anyway. I'm in the process of writing a piece on Cord for my church's congregation-driven monthly profile on inspirational messages. Once that's set, I'll add it here.
But a quick bit of background. Cord's a three-event cowboy, competing in all three roughstock events: bareback riding, saddle bronc riding and bull riding. He's won five titles in the lesser-known International Professional Rodeo Association: two for the all-around, two for saddle bronc and one for bull riding.
Funny that, looking back, he's probably best known for his bull riding. Even as a high schooler, those who saw him saw something special in his bull riding. The fact that he won just one IPRA bull-riding title ... well, it just seems strange.
Anyway, last year Cord was seriously injured when he was kicked in the side of the head by a horse he'd been bucked off in saddle bronc riding. Surgery, intensive care, rehab. It was severe. Would he live? Would he suffer perminant damage? We really didn't know. But he progressed and healed, and after eight months away from the rodeo trail, he returned in April. Because he must now wear a lacrosse-style helmet, he decided to focus on bull riding, since he'd been wearing a mask of some sort for many years.
Good thing he did. For the first time in his career, Cord has qualified for the National Finals Rodeo, this after giving all the other bull riders a four-month head start and earning most of his money since Aug. 1 -- for those who don't know, points toward the world championship (or NFR qualification) in rodeo are noted by money earned. Cord finished the regular season 12th in the standings with more than $78,000 won, $71,000 of which came after Aug. 1. Contestants in each event must finish the regular season in the top 15 to qualify for the NFR, which takes place in two weeks in Las Vegas.
So my buddy, whom I say has more grit and faith than most on the rodeo trail, is headed to Vegas to compete in the premier event in all of rodeo. He's earned it.
He also qualified for the Championship Bull Riding finals, which is why this post is up tonight. See the deal there is that while Cord was going to 80 PRCA rodeos and dozens of Professional Bull Riders events nationwide, he went to just one CBR event. Still, he earned enough money there to qualify.
Then he tripled his CBR earnings last night by winning the first round. I'm anxiously awaiting word out of Jackson to see how ol' Cord did tonight. Save the money for travel and motel and food, this is all bonus money. Heck, he won more than $7,200 for last night's ride.
Many of you won't comprehend my passion for rodeo, but if you ever got to meet cowboys like Cord McCoy, you just might. Fortunately, the love of my life, who, as she sits beside me doing her own thing on her own laptop, does understand. I think I met the right girl.
Now if those dadgum results would just come along to my e-mail, I'll be a little more at ease.
But a quick bit of background. Cord's a three-event cowboy, competing in all three roughstock events: bareback riding, saddle bronc riding and bull riding. He's won five titles in the lesser-known International Professional Rodeo Association: two for the all-around, two for saddle bronc and one for bull riding.
Funny that, looking back, he's probably best known for his bull riding. Even as a high schooler, those who saw him saw something special in his bull riding. The fact that he won just one IPRA bull-riding title ... well, it just seems strange.
Anyway, last year Cord was seriously injured when he was kicked in the side of the head by a horse he'd been bucked off in saddle bronc riding. Surgery, intensive care, rehab. It was severe. Would he live? Would he suffer perminant damage? We really didn't know. But he progressed and healed, and after eight months away from the rodeo trail, he returned in April. Because he must now wear a lacrosse-style helmet, he decided to focus on bull riding, since he'd been wearing a mask of some sort for many years.
Good thing he did. For the first time in his career, Cord has qualified for the National Finals Rodeo, this after giving all the other bull riders a four-month head start and earning most of his money since Aug. 1 -- for those who don't know, points toward the world championship (or NFR qualification) in rodeo are noted by money earned. Cord finished the regular season 12th in the standings with more than $78,000 won, $71,000 of which came after Aug. 1. Contestants in each event must finish the regular season in the top 15 to qualify for the NFR, which takes place in two weeks in Las Vegas.
So my buddy, whom I say has more grit and faith than most on the rodeo trail, is headed to Vegas to compete in the premier event in all of rodeo. He's earned it.
He also qualified for the Championship Bull Riding finals, which is why this post is up tonight. See the deal there is that while Cord was going to 80 PRCA rodeos and dozens of Professional Bull Riders events nationwide, he went to just one CBR event. Still, he earned enough money there to qualify.
Then he tripled his CBR earnings last night by winning the first round. I'm anxiously awaiting word out of Jackson to see how ol' Cord did tonight. Save the money for travel and motel and food, this is all bonus money. Heck, he won more than $7,200 for last night's ride.
Many of you won't comprehend my passion for rodeo, but if you ever got to meet cowboys like Cord McCoy, you just might. Fortunately, the love of my life, who, as she sits beside me doing her own thing on her own laptop, does understand. I think I met the right girl.
Now if those dadgum results would just come along to my e-mail, I'll be a little more at ease.
posted by Teditor at 10:34 PM
1 Comments:
BTW, ol' Cord failed to make a qualified 8-second ride Saturday night. Therefore, the $7,200-plus he earned for winnin' the first-go will stand as his take for the wekend.
Not a bad profit margin.
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