Rodeo

By Jeff Medders
ESPN.com ProRodeo

After beating what could have been a catastrophic setback, Smith, with the help of his wife, Jennifer, refocused his life and priorities. With much of his self-imposed pressure lifted, Smith was back in the world championship hunt in 2004. And in 2005 (after missing the title by a few hundred dollars), he's poised for another dramatic Demember run.

Stran Smith has had to take another throw at life.

A mild stroke and surgery to repair a hole in his heart in 2003 left a lot of questions regarding Smith's future. Two years later he is a changed man.

"I thought I had a pretty good outlook before this all started," he said. "I definitely had to refocus. It humbled me and I thought I was already humble. I learned so much it is hard to put it into words. I feel like I'm now mature way beyond my years or I was way behind whenever I got started."

It is funny how something perceived as being so negative can produce such positive results. It starts with the little things. "I don't take anything for granted now," he said. "Before I took for granted that I'd be at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, that I had my health, things that I thought I was in control of I don't take for granted anymore."

"Why me?"

I don't think Stran ever asked that question. Instead it has been, "What am I suppose to learn from all this?" The life lessons haven't been wasted.

On the personal side, Stran and Jennifer Smith may be rodeo's most perfect couple. The events in the spring of 2003 have done nothing but strengthen their marriage. Their son, Stone, doesn't go far without his rope can and another Smith baby is on the way.

I definitely had to refocus. It humbled me and I thought I was already humble. — Stran Smith

On the professional side, his roping has never been better. "I think I am more focused now with my roping. I haven't got all the pressure. I haven't put all the pressure on myself now, where it's so much pressure to perform out in the arena," he said. "I just go and do what I do. I have trained myself since I was 16 years old to do this. So putting a lot of pressure on myself, that is foolishness, because I am just going to do as good as I can do and in the end I will live with the results."

Those results last December almost led to his first world championship.

Heading in to the final round, Smith was in a dogfight with Monty Lewis. But the draw was not kind to Smith. Everyone from Stran's dad to Cody Ohl said too bad, so sad when they saw the draw. But in Babe Ruth fashion, Stran called his own shot and predicted he would win the 10th round.

"I knew I had to win the round so I quit watching about six guys before me. I had to win the round and that is what I did." In those seconds after the round the Smiths thought they had captured that elusive world title. But when the accounting was finished, the difference was just a few hundred dollars in Lewis' favor.

Since Stran always looks at the glass as being half full, he took the opportunity to learn a little more about himself.

"Don't back me in the corner. It seems to be that those things have been really good for me, whenever I have been somewhat backed into the corner because I let myself go."

I hope he has that attitude right there for the entire year.

Injury Replay? I will put rodeo cowboys up against any athletes in the world.

I had dinner with a doctor friend of mine who shared the fact that he can diagnose injuries by watching the instant replay in football games. I joked that football injuries, for the most part, are child's play; diagnosing rodeo injuries is a whole new ballgame. It is hard to come up with a perforated bowel diagnosis by watching the replay. Rodeo does have its share of broken bones, but it also has a level of injuries hard to match by any other sport.

Cody Hancock scored 72 points on a bull at Clovis, Calif., and then zigged when he should have zagged and lost more than half of his ear.

I asked him an obvious question — did it hurt? And he was like "Oh, yeah!"

That reminded me of a story about bull rider Charley Sampson, who was roughed up by a bull and lost his entire ear. Charley has a prosthetic ear now and when he does interviews he likes to have that side away from the camera. The story goes that after a tough ride he lost his prosthetic ear in the arena. Unfortunately, bulls do not give you time to linger and look for lost items. So Leon Coffee, a clown and just naturally funny guy, is alleged to have picked up the ear off the arena floor and whisper into it, "Charley. Charley can you hear me?"

In a show of pure guts I would have to give the nod to 1990 and 1991 Saddle Bronc Riding World Champion Robert Etbauer.

Oh sure, I could have humped around the arena and screamed and gone on but no one would have cared. — Robert Etbauer

Robert got hung up in the saddle one year at Denver and the bronc drug him a jump or two. Billy Etbauer watched Robert curiously as he got up, dusted himself off, and then shifted through the dirt as if he had lost something. When Robert finally exited the arena Billy asked him what was wrong. That's when Robert opened his hand and showed him his detached thumb. I remember reading Robert's quotes about what happened and he said, "Oh sure, I could have humped around the arena and screamed and gone on but no one would have cared." Doctors sewed his thumb back on and he was riding broncs two months later.

A couple of years ago at the Pace Picante ProRodeo Chute-out in Las Vegas, Scott Johnston was pinned in the chute by a bronc and it had a noticeable effect on his performance for the rest of the weekend. Johnston went on and rodeoed for another six weeks before he decided the pain had to mean something was wrong. He had several broken ribs. It would be hard to get out of bed and walk to the couch with broken ribs, let alone ride saddle broncs and bareback horses and travel hard for six weeks in that condition.

Stories like these are plentiful in the rodeo industry. Someone should write a book.

Rope's Second Arena I first met Rope Myers when he was barely a rookie. We played ping-pong at the Holidome in Dodge City, Kan. This was back in the days of the Wrangler World of Rodeo on ESPN, so it had to be around 1992. The whispers were that he was going to be big time. He had all the pre-career credentials. His dad, Butch, won the 1980 steer wrestling world championship. He is Ty Murray's cousin. It's nice to see cowboys who are slated for greatness live up to all that potential.

By now you know the story of how he won a steer wrestling world title in 2001 and then took most of 2002 off to go on a mission trip in Africa. I admire Rope for what he accomplishes in the arena, but that is not what he is all about.

"I came home from Africa with even a more stronger desire to really reach people right here. The kids in the western lifestyle right here in Texas, California, all over the United States," he said. "The mainstream church maybe doesn't reach those kids very often. It's an opportunity with a rodeo lifestyle to reach out to the corner of the field, so to speak. Reach those kids who maybe aren't already in church or have a good family."

It's an opportunity with a rodeo lifestyle to reach out to the corner of the field, so to speak. Reach those kids who maybe aren't already in church or have a good family. — Rope Myers

Rope and Cash Myers grew up in the shadow of their father. Butch Myers taught his boys how to be cowboys and they use those lessons to their advantage today.

"I have a lot of experience to draw from. Not only have I been here and done a lot of things, I've also got to learn from the experiences my dad had — both good and bad — to help me and to draw from and help me do better as I compete in rodeo."

But Cash and Rope aren't the only guys out there benefiting from the experience of a legend. "He (Butch) maybe didn't invent bulldogging but he definitely compiled the very best things that were out there," Rope said. "And a lot of guys right now who are having success bulldogging can trace their roots to either a steer wrestling school that he put on or someone he taught who helped them."

When I asked Rope about his father's legacy I got a very heartfelt answer.

"I think it's a shame and something has to be done. He needs to be in the Hall of Fame. He's done a lot for rodeo. He was a million-dollar cowboy when there weren't very many million-dollar cowboys. He's made the Wrangler Finals in multiple events. He's won the average twice and set the record in the average twice and he's a world titlist. I think that says it all right there."

He's got my vote!

Getting to Know ...

As of about 1995, very few people thought we would ever see a team-roping duo dominate like Jake Barnes and Clay O'Brien Cooper. They won five straight world championships starting in 1985.

O'Brien Cooper is a quiet man. He did several movies with John Wayne but decided to be a real cowboy instead of a Hollywood version.

Barnes is tall and friendly. You might think of him as being the media spokesperson for the team in their heyday. Jake is having a great year and took time to answer my questions after a frustrating final performance in Clovis.

JM: What is the best part of being a seven-time world champion?

JB: For me it's being able to travel around and live a free lifestyle and come and go as you want. Meeting different people and going to different parts of the country at different times of the year. I have really enjoyed that part of it.

JM: What's more important, your heeler or your horse?

JB: It's a team effort. A lot of it has evolved around the head horse. The head horse is an integral part of being a dominant team.

JM: Have Speed Williams and Rich Skelton changed the way you rope?

JB: If you want to be the best you have to beat the best. So you have to do some of the things they're good at. They're really good inside. They're a great team no matter where they're at but they really shine at the Wrangler NFR. Speedy has an awesome horse that fits that deal really well and they have dominated the last eight years.

JM: If you live to be 100, what will you remember about your rodeo career?

JB: Lots of highway. It's a cakewalk now. When I first joined in 1980 you were allowed to go to as many rodeos as you wanted too. So we'd go to, just guessing, 120, 140 rodeos. This is a cakewalk & 60 rodeos for us. But it is still a lot of time.

JM: What are you thinking about when you back in the box?

JB: There is a lot of strategy that goes into it. You know, of watching the other guys compete, as they compete, how the rodeo progresses. If it falls apart you have a tendency to back off. If there are some good runs ahead of you, you know you have to match what they've done. You have to live and die with your decisions.

JM: Is team roping contagious? You see rounds that start good and stay good and rounds that start bad and stay bad.

JB: That just goes to show you that if you weren't able to watch the other guys and didn't know what was going on you would probably perform a lot better, but you get to watching the other guys and crazy things start happening in your mind and as much as you fight it off that it's not going to happen to you, it jumps up and bites you in the rear too.

JM: If you hadn't gone into rodeo where would you be?

JB: Fantasy? If I had a fantasy world I would play basketball in the NBA. I love basketball and I watch basketball all the time. That's kind of been my dream.

JM: Is the next generation of team ropers impressive?

JB: Oh most definitely! You know like I said Clay and I dominated in the '80s, Speed and Rich in the '90s. You know these young kids, there is so much information out there for them. Roping videos. Spin to Win magazine that Clay and I have out, there is just a lot of information and these kids watch and try to emulate what we do. What we did in the '80s, roping was not near as tough as it is now. I would hate to say that I was starting off right now and going to make it in team roping. It's awfully tough now. Rodeo Tickets can be found above. And there really good seats.

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