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Animal magnetism

Drawn by the lure of big money on the pro circuit, bull riders are willing to take their lumps to move up in the rankings.

By JAY CRIDLIN
Published February 2, 2006

[Times photos: Brian Cassella]

Men gather around a fire to keep warm during a recent Crosstown Arena Rodeo. “The best way to describe it is, it’s like a dance,” Richie Colton says of bull riding. “He (the bull) leads, you follow.”

	The bull-riding events at the Crosstown Arena Rodeo in Brandon draw riders hoping to work their way onto the pro circuit and those who just enjoy the challenge.
	Courtney Schuck lets out a yell while waiting to bring out the American flag for the prerodeo singing of the national anthem.

BRANDON - A half-dozen cowboys line the cramped cage where Micah "the Cornrow Kid" Wendell is squatting atop a twitching, red and white beast named Crankshaft.

"I hope you're ready to catch one in the neck, Crankshaft!" Wendell growls through clenched teeth, yanking ropes tight around the bull's giant body. Then the cage's heavy gate opens, and bull and rider burst forth in a geyser of leather and muscle, bucking and spinning to Kid Rock's Bawitdaba.

Two seconds pass. Wendell's hat flies into the night sky, his blond cornrows flopping. Five seconds. Six. Seven.

Then a final, brutal kick shoots Wendell off Crankshaft's back. He hits the ground hard, but pops up to point back at the judges, waiting to see if he stayed on the required time.

"Eight seconds!" the announcer shouts. Good enough.

Wendell hunches over, grabbing his right knee. "Thing kicked like a flamethrower!" he yells to a fellow rider.

The crowd cheers as Wendell, a 23-year-old pool builder from Orlando, limps back to the pen.

This is the scene Friday nights at Brandon's Crosstown Arena Rodeo, a weekly amateur bull-riding session set on 40 acres of dirt and manure-strewn pasture off U.S. 301.

It's a far cry from the $10-million, nationally televised Professional Bull Riders tour, which stops Friday at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa. But the young riders who saddle up at the Crosstown each week still cling like heck to the ornery dream that is the PBR.

"If you can ride bulls and win this rodeo, you can get into the PBR and ride 'em," Wendell says, confidently. "I plan on getting to the PBR this year."

Bull riding is viewed as a sport both steeped in history and about to explode. It began in the mid 1800s as a way for Old West cowpokes to compete and pass time on the open range, but by the early 20th century, riders could earn a decent living at it.

Today there's huge money in bull riding, thanks in part to the PBR's deals with NBC and the Outdoor Life Network, and a reality show, Beyond the Bull, on TLC. The PBR has the biggest cowboys, the baddest bulls and an annual TV audience of about 100-million.

"Hopefully within the next five years, it'll be at the capacity of NASCAR," says ex-rider Corey Costa, 34, who runs the Crosstown with his wife, Jennifer, 30.

Winter Haven's Brian Courson, 32, has ridden bulls for 14 years, but this is only his third season on the PBR's top circuit, the Built Ford Tough Series.

"There's a million people that would love to make it to a final, or the top 25 in the world, or the top 45 in the world," said Courson, who made the PBR's top 50 in 2005, winning more than $48,000. "You know there's a big (belt) buckle at the end of the line that everybody's out there trying to get. You know you're riding with some of the top riders, and they're out to get it too. You're not in a field of underdogs."

Bull riders are a colorful bunch, and they talk about their sport with the same passion as surfers or skateboarders.

"The best way to describe it is, it's like a dance," says Richie Colton, 23, of Palmetto. "He (the bull) leads, you follow."

"I would compare it to jumping out of an airplane," Costa says.

"It's an adrenaline rush like hell," says J.W. Kauffman, 18, of Okeechobee. "It's the most dangerous sport around. If you want a hobby, collect stamps."

Most bull riders endure multiple concussions, pulled groins, dislocated elbows, lacerated scalps, collapsed lungs, kicks to the face or other gruesome injuries. This is exactly the sort of thing some fans want to see. Again, Costa likens bull riding to NASCAR: "They want to see wrecks."

For 150 years, riders have put up with the pain purely for the love of the sport. But Costa wonders whether today's corporate sponsorships and huge purses - last year's champ, Justin McBride, won $1.5-million, not counting endorsements - will change the way riders approach it.

"When you put a million dollars on the line, and winning trucks, and huge sponsorships, I don't know," he said. "I would say 95 percent of the guys are doing it for the love of the sport, not the money. I would hope."

On Fridays at the Crosstown - bull-riding's minor leagues - 25 riders might kick in $35 apiece for a shot at the top prize, maybe $400. Anyone can sign up, from "weekend cowboys," Costa says, to some of the state's top-ranked high school riders.

Just about all of them have the same goal: Win $2,500 at lower-level PBR-sanctioned events, then climb the ranks to the Built Ford Tough Series.

Wendell may have lasted eight seconds on his recent ride - he, Kauffman and Colton all made the final eight - but the big winner was a cowboy named Russell Kyle, Thonotosassa, who rode two ferocious bulls, Nacho and Tiny Mite, all the way through and racked up the most points from the judges.

Brandon's Pepper Gray, a 25-year-old rider with a pierced eyebrow, cowrie-shell necklace and jagged teeth, stayed on the sidelines that night. He's already taken his shot at going pro, having spent more than two years on smaller pro circuits, earning as much as $25,000 one year. But a dislocated shoulder forced him off the pro track.

And yet he continues to ride.

"I'll quit when I'm crippled," Gray said, reclining in the stands at the Crosstown. "I'm out to make as much money and have as much fun as I can. There's no better feeling."

- Jay Cridlin can be reached at 727 893-8336 or cridlin@sptimes.com

The Professional Bull Riders tour will bring its top series to Tampa with the Southern Ford Dealers Challenge at 8 p.m. Friday at the St. Pete Times Forum. Tickets range from $21.75 to $101.75. The event will be taped for broadcast at 4:30 p.m. Saturday on WFLA-Ch. 8. Before the event, 2005 PBR world champion Justin McBride will host an autograph session from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Channelside. For more information, visit pbrnow.com.

Want to try your hand atop an angry, snorting 2,000-pound bull? The Crosstown Arena Rodeo, operated by Corey and Jennifer Costa's Remington Rough Stock Co., opens at 8 p.m. each Friday in Brandon, on the west side of U.S. 301, just north of the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway. The entry fee for riders is $35. Spectator tickets are $10 at the gate; children 6 and younger get in free. For more information, call 813 657-4866 or visit www.remingtonroughstock.com

[Last modified February 1, 2006, 09:05:07]