PBR: The greatest show on dirt

Every one of them don’t walk.

They sorta limp/ amble while not working.

Their job is seemingly so simple: Eight seconds. Eight measly seconds can spell the difference between a payday and more pain.

Even the winners grimace, tightlipped as they gingerly head into the bowels of whatever arena they find themselves in on any particular weekend.

In my many years ago days as a sportswriter, I grew to appreciate the sheer brutality of just how physical life on an NFL playing field actually was. The clash of pads escalated at every level of football, from high school to college and finally to the crescendo of on-field NFL battles.

To put it bluntly, to close your eyes on a pro football sideline, sounds like a sickening car crash. And that’s on every play.

But we’re getting away from what I feel I need to impart this week: The riders who make their living on the

Professional Bull Riders tour are the toughest athletes in the world.

The PBR Tour made a stop recently in North Georgia, replacing the ice used for hockey with a layer of dirt, no matter how thick, would never provide nearly enough cushion to assuage the sheer fact that there is little give provided to a cowboy who is flung scarily off the back of a 2,000-pound beast who doesn’t want anyone on its back.

The riders wear helmets. The padded protective vests really don’t provide much help but have to be better than nothing.

Accompanied by two Cumming buddies, “Buckshot” Bob Milano and Jon “Hondo” Howard, I got as up-close-and-personal as possible, marveling at the cowboys’ ability to take a gargantuan dose of punishment and walk away, sometime with the aid of the PBR medical staff, back to a locker room that resembles a war-time infirmary.

Forget the Advil. Give me the “good” stuff.

Hondo joked before the show that he was prepared to ride should there be an opening. On the ride home, we Cumming cowboys for the day, tried to process what we had witnessed.

I used to marvel at the skills and toughness of a world-class boxer. The fight game is a nasty business. But after every bout, the opponents hug and shake hands.

If given the opportunity, these bovine beasts would just as soon, stomp, kick or gore anyone foolish enough to stand in the way.

After getting smacked in the noggin, former World Champion Dener Barbosa was prone in the dirt for several minutes. The 7,000-plus spectators reverently quiet as they hoped for the Brazilian to come to. PBR officials and fellow riders were shown on the arena screen with heads bowed in prayer.

You could have heard a dirt clod drop, the air seemingly sucked out of the building. The biggest roar of approval of the afternoon came when Barbosa was helped on his walk to the locker room.

He traveled back to his Texas home, with no word from the PBR officials as to when he would compete again. Barbosa had just returned to riding, recovering from back surgery that involved 10 screws being utilized to help him in his attempt to regain championship form.

With rodeos scattered around our area (Wills Park and Cumming), with bull-riding being the main event, the PBR is big-time. Flint Rasmussen, the grease-painted emcee for the day, was a featured guest on ESPN’s College Game Day.

Rasmussen was days shy of his 55th birthday while in Georgia, poised to catch an early-evening flight back to Montana. It’s a marvel to see him work a crowd and keep his material fresh.

“These hallways (under the arena) all look the same and we don’t get a weekend off until May.”

Rasmussen, as personable and accommodating while talking (sans greasepaint) before the event, has a sweet gig.

Never a rider but growing up in a rodeo family, he knows he’ll not do this forever.

He’ll have collected many souvenirs from his PBR days.

Not immune to injuries, Rasmussen, like the riders, will always have his limp. He’ll just have to do it without the greasepaint.

Mike Tasos has lived in Forsyth County for more than 30 years. He’s an American by birth and considers himself a Southerner by the grace of God. He can be reached at miketasos55@gmail.com.