PBR

We were lucky enough to to get tickets for the work's box to watch the final of the 'Built Ford Tough' PBR (Professional Bull Riding) at the Scottrade Center.

The PBR started in 1992 when Professional Bull Riders, Inc., was founded by 20 bull riders who joined together to try to make bull riding a stand alone sport rather than being one of the more popular events in a traditional rodeo. PBR is a worldwide organization, which was evident from the riders that we watched. There were the usual 'local', i.e. US riders (the event was won by a rider from Missouri) but there were also participants from Brazil & Australia.

The action was continuous with the riders having to last at least 8 seconds on the bull for the ride to count. There was a dodgy moment when a rider who had broke his back previously by hitting the dirt head-first managed to do it again, but luckily this time his back was OK (looked like a painful landing though).

There were plenty of pyrotechnics, loud music, & sponsorship announcements, as you would expect for a 29-city, $10 million tour that has an estimated 100 million viewers watching the televised PBR events. We watched some of the event the next day on TV & you could see where we were in the background on some of the shots of the riders as they returned from their ride.