By Brett Okamoto (contact)

Tue, Dec 9, 2008 (11:30 p.m.)

This is what happens when you burst a blood vessel in your calf. The blood flows out of the busted artery or vein and, with nowhere else to go, begins to collect in the leg. As the leg swells to nearly three times it's normal size, areas around the injury fail to get a blood supply. It's terribly painful and can require surgery to fix. 

Tim Shirley, a bareback rider competing in this year's 50th Anniversary National Finals Rodeo, suffered one of these injuries at a 2006 rodeo in Red Bluff, Calif. Then he drove 1,200 miles to his home in Conifer, Colo., with no medical attention.

"I got bucked off and the horse kicked me right in the calf," Shirley said. "The sports medicine team at the rodeo told me it's a big muscle and it was going to swell but didn't think much more of it. So I drove back to my home in Colorado. By the time I got there my calf was three times its normal size so I went to the hospital and had to have surgery. They told me that none of my leg below the knee had been receiving blood and if I had waited two more hours they would have had to amputate it."

Shirley, who joined the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association in 2002, qualified for his first NFR this year by earning a career-best $75,670. It's been a big step from a $19,209 season in 2007, and a huge step from the free lunch he won off his first bareback ride.

As a home-schooled 16-year-old in eastern Colorado, Shirley got on a bucking horse for the first time in his life when a friend bet him a free lunch he wouldn't do it. He ended up riding the horse for eight seconds and began practicing bareback riding every week.

"I never really knew what I was gonna do with my life," Shirley said. "Once I did that ride I had kind of found my calling. I started going with my friend to practice every week and got involved in with the Little Britches Rodeo in Colorado."

Shirley has rode all six of his horses through Tuesday night, placing in three of them. He's currently sitting in ninth place for the average and thirteenth in the World standings. In addition to the best year of his career, Shirley and fiance Mindy, are due to have a baby on July 5.

"That's another thing that's been helping me out lately," Shirley said. "Being here at the Finals is one of those feelings that you can't even describe. It's what I've been shooting for for the last 10 years."

McTaggart Watch: Colin McTaggart is the cowboy with the closest ties to Las Vegas in the competition. McTaggart was a student at UNLV last year and plans on returning next year to earn his degree in marketing. He entered this year’s finals, the second of his career, in eighth place in bull riding. Last year he finished 15th in the final world standings.

McTaggart was involved in one of the scarier moments of the entire NFR as he was thrown hard from the bull Charlie Bullware right into the railing next to the chute. McTaggart narrowly missed getting stepped on by the bull after he ricocheted off the rail. Adding insult to injury, McTaggart rode the bull Out of Time for 73.5 points initially, but was offered a reride because of the low score. He has now ridden two of his six bulls and sits in 11th place in the average.

Notes: The PRCA has a new richest cowboy. With another $17,667 Tuesday night, Trevor Brazile passed up Joe Beaver for the No. 1 spot on the career earnings list with $2,933,427. Brazile also clinched his sixth all-around World title in seven years. He is now tied with Larry Mahan and Tom Ferguson for the second-most all-around World gold buckles, one behind all-time leader Ty Murray's seven.

"It's not the buckles that make it special, it's the company you keep when you get six of them," Brazile said. "Like I say, the only thing that would make the seventh special is Ty Murray. If it weren't for the guys who went before me I would have never ridden."

Saddle-bronc rider Billy Etbauer is showing Las Vegas why he's a five-time World Champion. The 45-year-old rider who is in his 20th NFR moved into second-place for the average and has won the most of any PRCA cowboy through six rounds with $63,822. 

"I don't think you can put one [Finals] over the other," Etbauer said. "Every one you get to is a blessing. I feel very, very blessed to be here and to be riding with these kids and to try to act like I'm 20 years old. I'm just tickled to death."

Steer wrestler Wade Sumpter's NFR is officially over after the sports medicine team announced he would miss the remainder of it with a torn right shoulder muscle. It was a disappointing ending for Sumpter who, after coming into the Finals with a small lead in the World standings, will miss out on a chance for the World title.

Round Winners

Bareback Riding: Kaycee Feild; 90.5 points

Steer Wrestling: Beau Franzen; 3.8 seconds

Team Roping: Matt Funk, Bucky Campbell; 3.7 seconds

Saddle-bronc Riding: Billy Etbauer; 88 points

Tie-down Roping: Trevor Brazile; 7.7 seconds

Barrel Racing: Lindsay Sears; 13.68 seconds

Bull Riding: Shawn Proctor; 89 points