Moore is Most on 360
Bull rider Moore featured on Athlete 360 TV series on Fox
Former Xtreme Bulls Tour champion Mike Moore will be featured on a national telecast of Athlete 360 on the FOX Network next month. The series, which aired regionally last year, takes an inside look at sports medicine and the procedures that are often required to allow athletes to continue competing. Moore’s segment will air May 24-30.
Broadcast schedule (.pdf)
Dr. Mark Adickes, a Super Bowl-winning offensive lineman and Harvard-educated orthopedic surgeon, will host the show, explaining how surgery techniques have improved. He will interview past and current elite athletes about their bodies, and give weekend warriors and parents alike a true inside look at sports.
For more details about the Athlete 360 and Serious Fun Productions visit their Web site at www.seriousfun.tv and to view a preview of the show go the production company’s Facebook page at http://alturl.com/n4xd
Gray sets knee surgery for April 27
Ryan Gray, the bareback riding world standings leader and co-world record holder, is scheduled to undergo surgery on his right knee April 27 in Dallas. Dr. Tandy Freeman will repair tears in the meniscus and extract any loose particles he discovers in the joint. Dr. Freeman will also set a program of rehabilitation for the torn tendons in Gray’s hand. Gray expects he will miss only 1-2 weeks of competition as a result of the knee procedure. His traveling partner, three-time and reigning World Champion Bareback Rider Bobby Mote, will undergo a second battery of tests this week in Dallas before Dr. Freeman determines a course of treatment for Mote’s foraminal stenosis (narrowing of the spinal cord opening). Mote won the first two rounds of the April 7-10 Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo in Pocatello, Idaho, before the acute whiplash he suffered riding Kesler Championship Rodeo’s Spanish Pair in the semifinals pinched nerves in his neck.
The Brazile watch …
Despite a frustrating weekend at the Red Bluff (Calif.) Round-Up, Trevor Brazile remains in reach of breaking his own all-around cowboy record for surpassing $100,000 in earnings at the earliest point in the season. With his $741 in tie-down roping money at Red Bluff, Brazile has total all-around earnings of $91,553 and rodeos this week at Clovis, Calif., and Lufkin, Texas, to get him the $8,447 he needs to hit six figures. Brazile surpassed $100,000 in season earnings in Tulsa, Okla., on May 14, 2006, the earliest that any all-around cowboy has hit that milestone by a margin of five weeks (also Brazile, in 2008). A year ago, he reached April 20 with total earnings of $53,366. Brazile did manage to cut $232 off Stran Smith’s lead in the tie-down roping world standings and is now just $1,250 out of first place. And for those eagle-eyed fans who notice that Brazile’s total earnings in team roping, tie-down roping and steer roping come to $368 more than his all-around total – it is not a mistake. Brazile, limited to 70 all-around rodeos in his season count, as opposed to 100 in tie-down roping, opted to unofficial the all-around at Henderson, Texas, where he won, that’s right, $368 in the tie-down roping.
Rodeo Austin breaks 10 records despite down economy
The 73rd annual Star of Texas Fair and Rodeo shattered records in 10 categories last month despite a still-struggling economy. For the first time, both Rodeo Austin (with concerts) and carnival sales reached all-time highs. Rodeo Austin went up 10.2 percent with total attendance of 67,586, and carnivals grew by 6.2 percent. Other records were surpassed in overall fairgrounds attendance (up 13.1 percent), parking revenue (3.4), official concessionaire sales (17.9), commercial exhibit sales (15.2), fairground food and exhibit sales (48.8), trade sponsorship (34.5) and youth participation (5). The total contribution from all Star of Texas Fair & Rodeo sources to its education programs is anticipated to exceed $1.5 million this year.
Veteran PRCA pickup man honored with poster image at Mandan, N.D.
The Mandan (N.D.) Rodeo Days Committee publicity poster for the July 2-4 Cowboy Christmas event features veteran PRCA pickup man Jim Wilson, who has worked the rodeo for 14 years. The print of Wilson, with artwork by Deb Knuth, is the seventh in a series of posters over the years highlighting great moments, notable contestants and contract personnel. Wilson, of Alzada, Mont., started working as a pickup man when he was 18 years old and has been a PRCA member since 1994.
