COWBOY UP

[Music] [Music] A man tries to tame a buck and bronco. He takes a daring leap from a horse to dog a running steer. With the skill of a magician, he twirls the road. And if he's rich enough in courage, he'll attempt to ride an honor bull. That's today's cowboy. Hi, I'm Cliff Roberts. I think it's safe to say that at some time or other, most of us have wanted to be a cowboy. I know I wrote a movie about a cowboy, a rodeo cowboy named JW Coupe, and that was a role that I really love because to me, the cowboy is a man of character and uncommon independence. He's part of an American past so rich in history and lore that a thousand books, a thousand movies still haven't told his full story. A lot of those westerns were filmed right here, old Tucson. But without the cowboy in this scene, we're missing the living spirit of all those storied western ideals and values. During the last 150 years, most things have changed. But the cowboy, well, he's still pretty much what he's always been. There's an expression that helps explain his enduring qualities. Cowboy up means you never quit. You overcome adversity. You always get back in the saddle. And that's the attitude that settled the West. And it's a spirit of a sport as American as the cowboy. A spirit whose name means great athletes, wild excitement, danger, speed, skill. Rodeo. >> You got to love what you're doing. You know, first of all, uh it's got to be something that's enjoyable. And then you build up a competitiveness and then your consistency. You know, you get your consistency down. You ride every horse the same and try to win on everything you get on. And I just love doing what I'm doing. I love traveling. I love riding and um I love winning. >> Regardless of whether he's home on the ranch or on the road when this cowboy nods his head for the 8second lifestyle riding the bearback world champion Bruce Ford puts 101% of his effort time. >> You're in bad shape. Looks like the best situation would be to the easiest situation would be to just get off and uh start over tomorrow, but uh you just kind of grit your teeth and look back there where the action is cowboy up and get back where you belong. >> Uh the bearback ridings are really a physical event. You're you're tied on with like a or you hang on to something similar to a suitcase handle and it's pretty the horse when he bucks it really jerks on your shoulder and your arm a lot. I use a full roll of athletic tape on my elbow to keep from pulling my elbow apart every time I ride. >> Elbow is only a part of this man's life as a winner. Louis Fields from Elkridge, Utah. In an event that gives you more jerking, more ripping, more ramming than any of the contest in rodeo, fairy riding. As one of the all-around challengers, this little man knows what it takes to prepare. >> Cow Town. I don't know. I guess you'd call it bull if there was. He'd be like a Mickey Man or a Johnny Beach was or some of those guys like that in the baseball world or like the Chris Everdon tennis. We've been in the rodeo business for a lot of years and he's probably one of the rankest bulls we've ever had and we get a lot of publicity out of it and then it's a good feeling when you got a bull like that that can buck everybody off. It's the cowboys. It's kind of a catch 22 situation to them. Some of them >> want to drive and get on him, but then they hate to get on him because this bull after he bucks them off, he hooks them quite a bit. Mama, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboy. Don't let them pick your cars and drive them old trucks. Make them be doctors and lawyers and such. Mama, don't let your babies grow up to be cowards. [Music] They'll never stay home and they're always at home, even with someone they love. >> One will jump for the tail of the rope. The others go for the horns. And finally, the bull shakes him loose. A lucky young man with four of the best Wrangler bull fighters in America. >> There's about two or three aspects to our job. Uh, one and the most important probably is is protecting cowboys. Uh the way we do is is move in in order to to make his bull buck better, perform better so he can get a higher score. We maneuver oursel around to where we can uh make this bull spin, turn in a circle. After the ride's over, then my job is stepping in between that animal and that cowboy and trying to uh divert his attention to me and and let the cowboy get away to safety. The rodeo clown. A dangerous and essential job performed by a quiet hero dressed in comically baggy pants and grease paid smile. So much a favorite of the crowds. Rodeo has honored these athletes in costume with their own event, American bull fighting. A 72nd duel between a 3/4tonon bull and the rodeo clown. Armed only with quickness, daring, and inspiring courage. >> Bull fight. This American bull fighting is what it's all about. We don't have to kill our animals. They get smarter. They get to where they're throwing us baits. When the bulls are really aggressive, there's nothing better. >> Your cowboy bull fighter. The barrel also serves as a hiding place. But not from all bulls. For bull riders, as bull fighters and bull riders are a free depart. >> Well, you know, the rodeo's been dominated by the western part of the United States such as Texas and Oklahoma. you know, they have several uh they probably put on about 150 rodeos right there a year each year in the state of California. I don't know. I kind of rodeo Madison Avenue style. You know, I was born and raised in the Bronx, New York till I was about 14 years old and you know, it's been a way of life for me ever since then. I see my first rodeo at Woodstown, New Jersey and had a junior bull riding and I've been rodeoing ever since. Between the shoot gates, Delveio with the death grip now tied on, knowing that if he rides this bull, these fans will give him a standing ovation. The big bull lurches, then launches like a rocket out of control. 1,800 lb of hook and whale underneath you. Delveio in full control with the free arm, maintaining the upper part of the body balance in perfect sequence. The crowd is loving what they watch. Spin like a top, jump like a rocket, but still find a way to get loose. Out the back doors as good as any. Like they say, any crash landing you walk away from is another successful landing. Delveio takes the mark with an 80 point. Waves to the cheered him on another echo of applause or thrill of the ride that makes the life of the rodeo cowboy so appealing. Now, when you look into the western twilight and you smell a mosquite fire and you hear the soft melodies of cowboys guitar, you know why he saddles up and follows his dream. Rodeo is the paintings of Frederick Remington and Charlie Russell come to life. It let you climb up on the fence that separates yesterday from the day and peer into a past that lives in the present. History frames a cowboy in a glowing silhouette. A man on a horse measured not by how many times he falls off, but by how many times he gets back on, how well he cowboys up. for that rodeo code written in a tradition 150 years old. That's how long ago it started. Some say on a cattle drive over the limitless western frontier when two cowboys cross trails and dragon turned to bet. Who could ride a bron the longest? Rope a steer the quickest. Now rodeo is America's oldest original sport and just as spirited as it ever was. The rodeo cowboy. In 8 seconds, he rides across the boundaries of time. He leaps from the pages of a western saga onto center stage. From Madison Square Garden to small town arenas across the US heartland. Everywhere, people of all ages want to live the life of a cowboy. And they can at the rodeo. [Music]