During the last week and a half, I was saturated with papers and finals. However, I did manage to catch some of the nights of this year's NFR on GAC without spoilers.
Congrats to all of the winners this year. Trevor Brazile getting another all-around buckle and earnings are continue to pile high, almost to $5 million. Tuf Cooper winning another world title in tie-down, Luke Branquinho fighting a knee injury to win another world title in steer wrestling, and a close finish in the top of the standings of saddle bronc that almost saw Cody DeMoss win a world buckle. It was DeMoss' flawless 10 for 10 qualifying rides in saddle bronc that did win him a buckle for being number one in the average!
And out of all of this, comes Mary Walker, who lost her horse and went to an emotional stage in life to win the average and came away with a world buckle in WPRA barrel racing. You knew the tears were running down her face when she was awarded the buckle on Saturday night at the Thomas & Mack.
Sadly, this year's NFR will most likely be Fred Whitfield's last, despite barely qualifying for this year's event. He has been there 20 times, and won the tie-down world buckle seven times. He has a book coming out too, so keep an eye out on it.
For the second year in a row, GAC carried all ten nights, 'live'. Although I didn't like how it was stretched to believe it was 'live,' at least yet again, Geronimo and their staff, actually upgraded their presentation from what ESPN/Winnercomm had prior to 2011, simply by showing every cowboy, whereas during ESPN coverage, some of the cowboys went during break. Well done, but I wish that the coverage is actually 'live' in the near future, not delayed.
Overall, despite the nights that were conflicted with the combat sports, it was yet another good NFR. Even the prca commissioner said that their fans are the "most educated in sports." Take that Zuffa Zombies!
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