... Mauney took a job in a ball bearing plant, every day head-to-toe slathered in grease. He dreaded every minute. Four months in, he quit and headed for a bull riding.
At rider check in, he was asked, “Which doctor released you?”
“Dr. Mauney,” he replied.
That story (true, because with Mauney, they all are) is quintessential J.B. – the bravado, the lightning quick wit, the stubbornness, the questionable risk taking, and the unquenchable desire to ride bulls.
...Mighty Bushwacker, a ripped chocolate brown bull, now retired, was a smart, ultra-competitive heavyweight. His owner Julio Moreno compares him to Muhammad Ali. He knew he was the greatest and strutted around the arena as such. Out of the arena, Bushwacker was not one of those bulls with a gentle disposition, allowing you to get up close and pet him. The surly bovine with a godly physique landing him on the cover of ESPN The Magazine’s “Body” issue was standoffish. A rider might call him buck-offish. He gave up one qualified ride, early in his career, then went on a dominant buck-off streak, 42 consecutive cowboys unceremoniously flung, thrashed, dumped, and ejected.
...Twice before, Mauney had stayed on Bushwacker for seven seconds, which was as useful as one second, because you had lost all the same. In bull riding, close doesn’t count. This ain’t horseshoes.
Once, Bushwacker yanked Mauney down and busted open his chin. Another time in Decatur, Texas, the joke was that Bushwacker, getting tired of the relentless rider, decided to kick the arena’s lights out and see if J.B. could solve him in the dark.
...Finally in Tulsa in August 2013, Mauney, coming back from a fractured fibula, would mount Bushwacker for the ninth time, which proved to be the charm. This time with the lights on J.B. rode Bushwacker as if body surfing a tornado, barely making the whistle before slammed into the dirt. Many say the ride, marked a whopping 95.25 points, is the greatest of all time. The video is featured in the new PBR Hall of Fame inside the spectacular National Cowboy & Western Heritage...more
***********************************************************************
Earlier this month, Mauney landed on his neck in a wreck at an Idaho rodeo. During corrective surgery, he had a disk removed, ending a Hall of Fame career highlighted with 538 premier series rides and two PBR World Championships (2013, 2015).
No comments:
Post a Comment