NFR: It takes 2.4 seconds to settle this score

Thursday, Dec. 4, 2003 | 1:14 a.m.

Bulldoggers compete in the game's quickest event, since its world record is 2.4 seconds.

The cowboy begins from the three-fenced box. As in tie-down roping, a breakaway rope is attached to the steer to create a head start. If the mounted cowboy breaks a barrier before the steer reaches that head start, a 10-second penalty is assessed.

When the cowboy reaches the steer, he jumps off the right side of his horse, hooks his right arm around the steer's right horn, grasps the left horn with his left hand and, with strength and leverage, hauls the animal to the ground.

To complete the run, the cowboy must wrestle the steer to one of its sides and half all four of its hooves pointing in the same direction.

A "hazer," a cowboy on a horse, is used on the other side of the steer to keep it running straight. The hazer typically receives a quarter of the bulldogger's winnings.

The flamboyant Sid Steiner did not return to competition to defend the steer wrestling championship he won here a year ago, giving rookie leader Shawn Greenfield an edge.

Cash Myers went into the last NFR as the top bulldogger, then Steiner beat him with an average time of 4.18 seconds to Myers' 4.28. Steiner sealed his victory with a stellar 3.3-second run in his 10th and final go-round.

Steiner had $162,516 in total earnings in '02, to Myers' $145,813. Without Steiner here to impede him, we're tabbing Myers this time around.

A 23-year-old Texan who is part of an influential rodeo family (father Butch, brother Rope and cousin Ty Murray are or were involved in the sport), Myers is poised for a title in his fifth trip to the NFR.