Watch This Space

Author: SHEILA SELES

There is a sport on television that combines men in cowboy hats, arenas of screaming fans, the possibility for serious injury and the best athletes I've ever seen. Those athletes have names like Little Yellow Jacket, Crossfire Hurricane and Red Wolf. The sport is bull riding. The "PBR Built Ford Tough Series" airs on the Outdoor Life Network on Saturdays and Sundays at 9 p.m. Check listings for reruns and bull riding specials including the "PBR Total Bull" series, which features a behind-the-scenes look at this badass sport.

For those readers who haven't experienced the thrill of bull riding, the sport consists of men riding bucking bulls. The rules of bull riding are somewhat complex. I watch the sport religiously but needed to check out PBRnow.com to learn the actual rules. The "PBR Built Ford Tough Series," consists of 28 regular season events with a championship event in Las Vegas. The rider with the highest score at each event wins a considerable amount of money. The judges compute the scores by rating how difficult the bull is to ride and by rating the rider's ability to move with the bull. The rider has to stay on the bull for eight seconds, holding on to a rope with one hand only. If the rider touches himself or the bull during the eight-second ride, he is disqualified. Riders are usually bucked off the bull before they make it to the eight-second mark.

Bull riding, however, is not a great sport because of the riders. It's all about the bulls. In my mind, the bulls always win. Even if the rider has a "great" ride and holds on for eight seconds, he is still bucked off the bull after a few more seconds.There's no reason to worry about the safety of the bulls either. Bull riding is far more dangerous for the riders than it is for the bulls. The bulls are treated royally with a care usually reserved for show dogs and racehorses. Abusing a bull is about the worst thing that could happen in bull riding.

For the most part, the fans and announcers seem to root for the riders, but certain bulls are so charismatic that they draw the loudest applause at the events. My personal favorite bull is named Blueberry Wine. He's very little for a bull (only 1,100 lbs!) and he's white with patches of blue and brown spots. What Blueberry Wine lacks in size he makes up for in pure athleticism. Blueberry Wine bucks with the grace of a classically trained ballerina. He seems to be performing some intricate bull choreography when he's let out of the holding area. He raises his back legs rhythmically and achieves a bucking height that rivals many of the bulls twice his size. Blueberry Wine is literally beautiful to watch. He is one of the most popular bulls on the circuit - so popular, in fact, that the announcers openly root for him even though they're supposed to be evaluating the skill of the riders.

There are a handful of bulls that have achieved a celebrity status like Blueberry Wine. Little Yellow Jacket, who was voted the most difficult bull to ride last year, is worth over $100,000. PBRnow.com sells plush toy and Christmas ornament representations of the star bulls. (Sounds like a good present for a TV columnist whose birthday is coming up...) There are also segments (like in the Olympics) that give the bull's biography and show his best bucks.

Of course, without bull riders, bull riding could not exist. I admire the chutzpah of these young cowboys who willingly put their lives in danger to ride bulls, but I find the whole concept eerily fascinating. The bulls are 2,000 lb worth of muscle with a genetic desire to throw riders through the air and sometimes kick or run over them. I wonder who thought it would be a good idea to ride a bull. It's an idea that would have never crossed my mind, but I'm glad that someone thought of it because it's so entertaining. Then again, I can tell I'm not the targeted bull riding audience since all the commercials during the tournament are for things like John Deere tractors and motorboats. Regardless, it's an engaging and fast-paced sport that never fails to entertain.