‘Wild guy’ wins 1st title

Monday, Dec. 16, 2002 | 9:52 a.m.

Steer wrestler Sid Steiner, speaking in tongues?

The 28-year-old Texas native emerged from a jumbled pack Sunday to become a world champion at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, then he was struck by an odd request in a Thomas & Mack Center tunnel

He polished off a plastic cup of beer, set the empty container aside and tried to muster his best south-of-the-border accent for a foreign-language cable television promotional spot.

"Hey, they got me speaking Spanish over here ... ridiculous," Steiner said to nobody in particular. "Hola, yo soy Sid Steiner ... depuertes ... Whoa, I said depuertes. I meant, deportes. Let's do it again.

"Hola ... "

That the exotic Steiner became a first-time world champ, then followed it with a bilingual performance that he also wanted to ace, showed that rodeo had better not limit its growth potential.

From the record $4.8 million that was doled out at the NFR to the record 211 hours it will appear on some form of television next season, including its CBS debut, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association is making epic popularity strides.

Steiner is leading the way. He fed off the Thomas & Mack energy of more than 17,000 fans Sunday afternoon by getting a magnificent jump on a savvy steer, pinning it in an incredible 3.3 seconds.

Nobody had a better bulldogging run during the NFR, and it shot Steiner to the top of the money standings and to a crown. And he knew it. He jumped up, flung his arms and roared to the arena's rafters.

Including the top average steer wrestling prize of $35,705, with a total of 41.8 seconds for his 10 steers to Cash Myers' 42.8 seconds, Steiner earned $87,802 at the Mack. He made $162,516 on the season, ahead of Myers ($145,813) and Bill Pace ($140,739).

"I'm just a wild guy," Steiner said. "I just have a lot of flair, especially with these big crowds. When they go wild, it goes right through me. I stayed pumped up all week out there. I love rodeoing in Vegas. It's just been a thrill."

Past multiple champions Charmayne James (barrel racing), Fred Whitfield (calf roping), Rich Skelton and Speed Williams (team roping) and Blue Stone (bull riding) all let experience guide them to more glory.

Trevor Brazile needed 11 NFRs to win a world championship, doing it in style by claiming the celebrated all-around honor. He finished the season with $273,997, with $79,157 of that coming courtesy of calf roping in the NFR.

Brazile, 26, also qualified in steer and team roping, and he ended with approximately $14,000 more than bull and saddle bronc rider Jesse Bail in the all-around chase.

"This sport is about the fans, and the young and upcoming guys," Brazile said. "I just want to, maybe, give back and help them."

Saddle bronc rider Glen O'Neill got a title in his eighth NFR, and bareback rider Will Lowe and barrel racer Tammy Key, both NFR rookies, showed that they will be forces to be reckoned with by winning three and five go-rounds, respectively.

Like Steiner, bareback rider Bobby Mote, who staved off the hard-charging Jason Jeter, became a world champ in his second appearance on rodeo's grandest stage.

Steiner, however, added considerable spice to the 10-day event, even though he didn't sport the cornrow braids that highlighted his appearance here last year.

Loud shirts with a long right sleeve and a rolled-up left one, designer jeans, pierced body parts that include at least a looped left eyebrow, and a penchant for removing his shirt to reveal a sleeveless black undergarment and a tattooed right biceps make Steiner more Hard Rock than Westward Ho.

Or, at least, more Orleans. That's the hotel his brother, Tommy Shane Steiner, performed at with his rock band Saturday night, after they had sung "Ring of Fire" at the NFR's opening ceremonies for its ninth evening of events.

Many might be surprised that the rollicking Sid is useless to Tommy Shane on a stage.

"I'm terrible," Sid said. "I wish I could help him out, but the best I can do is just cheer him from the stands and holler for him from the cheap seats."

Sid said his brother's band relaxed him on the eve of what turned out to be the rodeo performance of his life.

"I just had a really good time at his show," Sid Steiner said. "After the show was over, I tried to get a little rest. I woke up, had me some pancakes and here I am."

He also had some help from his father, Bobby, who was a world champion bull rider in 1973. Bobby always told his son to practice hard, that earning a title takes a lot of work. It would also require some luck.

"He admitted that things happened his way," Sid said. "Thank goodness some good things went my way. There are so many guys here who deserve it, I'm just thankful it went my way this time."

Steiner drew a cagey steer that neither he nor any of his peers knew about before the NFR. By abruptly stopping 15 or so yards out of the chute, the steer quickly became notorious and demanded perfection from Steiner.

"I knew I needed to win the go-round or place really good, and that that was the steer to do it on," Steiner said. "He's a little scary to catch, but he's what I needed."

It played another role, too, when the other bulldoggers approached Steiner before Sunday's round to congratulate him on drawing the sneaky steer and to let him know that they were rooting for him.

They yelled, 'You got him, man! You got him! You got the one you needed! He's yours! Now, it's up to you!'

"It was really good to see that," Steiner said. "That made me feel really good, that these guys out here were pulling for me to win a world championship. That's just, to me, acceptance by your peers. Especially me. I'm a little different. I'm a little out there.

"It's just, they were really cool. I'm really happy about that."