Ron Kantowski explains it all, from ‘arm jerker’ to a rare ‘zero’

By Ron Kantowski

Thursday, Dec. 6, 2007 | 7:13 a.m.

The Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, which will be held at the Thomas & Mack Center, today through Dec. 15, has sold out 200 consecutive performances. Here's an A-Z look at one of the major events on the local sports calendar.

A is for arm jerker, a horse or bull that is really stout and bucks with the power to cause a great amount of pull on the rider's arm. Not to be confused with leg jerker, which is what you call the guy who wants to sell you two front-row tickets for face value.

B is for buckle bunnies and their skin-tight Wranglers.

C is for cervical neck fracture, one of the hazards of climbing onto a bull.

D is for dink, an animal with limited bucking ability that jumps and kicks or just runs around the arena. Sort of like the Colorado State basketball team.

E is for eight, as in seconds. If you can ride this long, the buckle bunny is yours.

F is for fans, 170,000 of whom over a 10-day period will turn the Thomas & Mack Center into the world's largest corral.

G is for the gold buckle, the dream of every cowboy. Next to buckle bunnies in skin-tight Wranglers.

H is for Howdy Cloud, the 11th-ranked bull rider in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.

I is for ... There's no "I" in rodeo. (At least not one we can think of.)

J is for James as in Charmayne, the 11-time world champion barrel racer.

K is for knockout, which is what Bodacious the bull did to Tuff Hedeman and Scott Breeding in 1995 before he was retired before somebody got killed.

L is for legal catch. In team roping, the header must catch the steer around the horns, head or neck. This is not to be confused with a legal catch in the NFL, which the replay officials spend entirely too much time deciding.

M is for the "Mad Dash" enabling those who don't have NFR tickets to get off their feet, if they can find a seat. But only in the balcony.

N is for no time, what a cowboy gets when he doesn't catch or throw the stock properly - or if he's from Canada and the XM radio in his pickup truck is stuck on the Guess Who channel.

O is for Oklahoma City, the rodeo's former home. Oklahoma City might be OK for the SuperSonics. We'll keep the NFR, which draws better, and the real bulls, which play better defense.

P is for pickup man, the cowboy on horseback who assists the bareback and saddle bronc riders in dismounting. It can also be used to describe any rodeo fan who arrives at the arena in a Dodge Ram.

Q is for queen of the rodeo. And not the Alice in Chains song.

R is for Rocky Mountain water, the primary ingredient in cold Coors beer.

S is for Shoulders as in Jim, a great champion and rodeo's greatest ambassador, who died in June.

T is for Trevor as in Brazile, the four-time and reigning all-around world champion bidding to win an elusive triple crown in three different disciplines (all-around, tie-down roping, steer roping).

U is for UNLV, which will play Fresno State at the Orleans because of all this ropin' and ridin' on its home court.

V is for vest. If you're a bull rider, don't leave home without your Kevlar.

W is for the Women's Professional Rodeo Association, which sanctions the barrel racing event few rodeo fans have seen because it precedes bull riding and their Coors cups are empty.

X is for X-ray, the most common method used to photograph bull riders.

Y is for yellow. Wearing it in the arena usually brings bad luck.

Z is for zero, the amount legendary "bullfighter" Rob Smets won when he drew Crooked Nose. (In rodeos, the bullfighter, dressed as a clown, engages the bull so the rider can leave the arena safely; the bull is not harmed.)