Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

RON KANTOWSKI :

Eight seconds to glory

UNLV product and reigning bull riding champ walking away from sport

PBR

Steve Marcus / FILE

Former UNLV student Justin McBride holds on to win his first Professional Bull Riders world championship and $1 million at the Thomas & Mack Center in 2005. He says going to school in Las Vegas helped him become a better rider and person.

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  • Justin McBride, champion bull rider, on his plans after retirement.

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  • McBride talks about the timing of his retirement.

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  • McBride on why he chose to announce his retirement in Las Vegas.

It was almost 2 p.m. Tuesday, and the exotic fish and marine life — I think I even spotted a couple of old Devil Rays no longer needed in Tampa/St. Pete because the baseball team there dropped the “Devil” part before spring training — were swimming laps in the giant aquarium at the Mermaid Restaurant and Lounge just beyond the main entrance at the Silverton.

What more appropriate place for one of the best rodeo bull riders in history to announce his retirement?

At least that’s what Justin McBride said when he stepped to the microphone, startling a little boy who had been looking at the washed-up Tampa Bay baseball mascots that were playing pepper at the bottom of the aquarium.

Upon turning around, I noticed that a likeness of a bull rider and the Professional Bull Riders logo had been carved out of a couple of watermelons overlooking a swanky food display that looked much too good too eat.

Really? This was the place?

I was thinking some barbecue joint on the outskirts of Houston where they throw sawdust on the floor and cowgirls ride mechanical bulls in bikinis might have been a little more appropriate.

McBride explained that he won both of his PBR titles here and that he went to college here, so it wasn’t exactly like Andre Agassi announcing his retirement in Cedar Rapids. Besides, the Silverton is going to throw one heck of a retirement bash for McBride, his pals, his fans and anybody else willing to pony up $10 at the door after his final ride of this year’s PBR finals on Nov. 2.

So here’s one last eight-second ride with one of the best bull riders who ever lived — and a nice guy on top of that — through conversations past and present.

Or, another way to put it, a little bull about a lot of bull rider.

:01

McBride is only 29 years old and holds the PBR records for single-season event wins (8), career wins (32) and the most money won in a season ($835,321). Yet, he said it is time to hang up his spurs. “I don’t think I’ll ever look back and think this was the wrong decision. I’ve given this sport pretty much everything I’ve got and this sport pretty much has given me everything I’ve got,” he said. “So it’s been a pretty good trade-off.”

:02

Although his many fans are going to miss him, McBride said his wife, Jill, and his daughter, Addisen, will like having him home on the range in Elk City, Okla. “They are certainly part of the reason I wanted to retire,” McBride said. “I’ve led a pretty selfish life for 29 years and it’s time not to do that anymore.” All that and a bag of chips — did you know the McBrides once appeared together in a corn chips commercial? “It was special, it was also funny; the baby kept trying to get into a bag of Fritos,” papa Justin said.

:03

Although he makes his home in western Oklahoma, McBride grew up in Nebraska, in the tiny town of Mullen, population 492, before attending UNLV on a rodeo scholarship with lifelong friend Ross Coleman. He tried to talk another boyhood pal, John Howell, into coming out with them, to play football for the Rebels. Instead, Howell went to Colorado State — and later earned a Super Bowl ring with the Tampa Bay Bucs. A Super Bowl champ and a bull riding champ — not bad for a one-stoplight town.

:04

That’s why McBride enjoyed his time at UNLV so much. All those stoplights and left-hand turn lanes. “I really didn’t even know how to drive,” he said. “I was always a big fish in a real small pond, so coming to Vegas was a good decision for me.” He said the other guys on the rodeo team were better than he was, so coming to the city not only helped him become comfortable in a crowd, but become a better bull rider. As for the temptations of going to school in a city that never rolls up sidewalks, McBride said he somehow managed. “I was 17 and looked about 12, so it wasn’t real hard to resist the temptations. I’m a lot better racquetball player now because of college.”

:05

The two things I’ll always remember about McBride’s first PBR title in 2005 are former Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda giving him — and the other riders — a pep talk before the final round, and the way McBride clinched the gold buckle. He was practically hanging upside down from an ornery bull named Camo when the eight-second whistle sounded. Although I wasn’t privy to what Lasorda told McBride and the others, when you’re hanging upside down from an ornery bull summoning the (other) bullpen for a left-hander isn’t an option. “Actually, I was hung up (in the rigging) so I could have stayed on as long as I needed to,” McBride said about his less-than-graceful title-clinching ride. “But no, it was not the recommended procedure.”

:06

Another Camo role: When McBride won his second PBR title last year, he also drew Camo in the final round. This time, he was able to use his spurs instead of an insurance policy. “In 2005 he popped me in the chin during the ride and I was just hanging on but this time I wanted to see how hard I could spur him,” McBride said. I didn’t check the card on the floral display on the food setting at the news conference, but somebody said the flowers were from Camo, wishing McBride a happy retirement.

:07

McBride, who had surgery last year to repair extensive ligament damage and a torn rotator cuff in his left shoulder, said you can get hurt crossing the street, but that it’s hard to get hurt providing expert analysis on PBR broadcasts and singing country and western songs — two interests he plans to pursue during his retirement. Unless, of course, you land a gig with the Blues Brothers at some honky-tonk downstate where they were expecting the Good Ole Boys. None of the songs on McBride’s debut CD, released last year in conjunction with the PBR Finals, was a cover of “Rawhide.” But, as they say in Elk City, he ain’t half bad with a gee-tar.

:08

Before he stepped away from the podium to check out his likeness carved from a watermelon, McBride said he would have no regrets about calling it a career. Well, maybe one small regret. “The money records that I’ve set will not last very long,” he said. “I think I will see guys who were nowhere as good as me make a lot more money than I did. But that’s definitely a good thing for our sport."

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