Carterville eclipses North Boone again at the IHSA state softball tournament
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Fox News
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- Fox News
From training to retirement, the bucking bulls of PBR live like star athletes
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Friday night at PBR's Stampede Days, more than 50 bulls were on-site at Bridgestone Arena. If that seems like a lot of animals, that's because it is — but for good reason. No bull gets ridden more than once per night, meaning each animal works a maximum of eight seconds on any given day. That's good work if you can get it. It's an incredible operation to load them in and out each evening. And while the riders may get most of the spotlight, these bulls are athletes, too. "These bulls have to be physically in shape to buck with so much intensity," explained Dr. Douglas G. Corey, chair of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association's Animal Welfare Committee. "These bulls go from standing in a chute to immediately firing their hind legs and spinning, twisting, and bucking, and they maintain it until the rider's off their back. That, to me, is real athleticism." And just like any athlete, proper training is crucial. Lucas Manning, a stock contractor from Myakka City, Fla., knows exactly what it takes to get a bull to the big stage. "A lot of the training gets done on calves with the box dummy, you know, and then they kind of learn a routine with that," Manning told OutKick on Friday. "And then when we start putting riders on them, it'll take them [not] very long to adjust. And then the better ones, they come here, and we just keep rolling with them." Diet matters, too, but it varies from ranch to ranch. "Mine's nothing too crazy. I just feed them really good, try to get them all they want to eat. And they're out on grass, too, where I'm at," Manning said. "Some people do it a little different. Some people, they're on dirt rocks, so they feed them hay and grain. But mine, they get a lot of grass and grain. So I just try to give them as much as I can, where they get big and stout, and it works good for me." While Manning takes special care of all his bulls, he's had more than a few favorites over the years. Buffalo Heifer, he said, was pretty special. He also loved Kickin' Chicken and Satan's seed. As for how he comes up with these names? "Oh, shoot, I don't know. We're just brainstorming," Manning said. "You hear cool stuff, you watch a movie or a song, you hear something cool, and you just, I write it down in my notes, and when I find a bull that fits it, then I use it." Dr. Corey put it bluntly: "A 1,200- to 2,000-pound bull that can buck 4 feet in the air, turn back and make six or eight rotations in an 8-second period is an athlete." And as is the case with elite athletes, the red carpet gets rolled out for them. PBR is quick to remind fans that safety and welfare are top priorities, and it's worth noting just how well these animals are treated. Bulls live on sprawling ranches, travel in comfort and retire to easy lives on the farm — often as breeding animals, sometimes as family pets. "If one of my bulls makes it to the PBR, then he's earned the right to live on my ranch as a breeding bull," the late bucking bull breeder Kaycee Simpson once said. "And when he dies, we give him a headstone." As fellow stock contractor J.W. Hart put it, "Probably 95% of the bulls that get retired, they go into, I guess, the retirement program… and if we like their breeding and their pedigrees well enough, we'll start breeding to them." That's when they get to "live the simple life with the ladies." gain — good work if you can get it. Injuries, meanwhile, are rare. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, a bucking bull has just a 0.004 percent chance of sustaining a life-threatening injury at a PBR event. And any bull that does get injured receives top-notch veterinary care. "My son plays football, and I will say this," stock contractor Matt Scharping said. "Bulls get hurt way less than football players do." At the end of the day, bull riding takes two athletes: one on top, and one doing the bucking. And PBR doesn't exist without both doing their jobs. After watching his bulls perform in Nashville on Friday night, Manning was pleased with what he saw from his bovine athletes. "We did pretty good," he said. "I'm proud of all of them."
Associated Press
a few seconds ago
- Associated Press
Orioles promote top prospect Samuel Basallo for MLB debut
HOUSTON (AP) — Baltimore's top prospect Samuel Basallo will make his MLB debut Sunday after the Orioles selected his contract from Triple-A Norfolk. Basallo, rated Baltimore's No. 1 prospect and the No. 8 prospect in baseball by is a catcher and first baseman, but was batting sixth and serving as the team's designated hitter Sunday in the series finale against the Astros. 'This is the first big Latin American signing that we've had that shows up and it's a really good one,' Baltimore interim manager Tony Mansolino said. 'So we're excited about him. We expect him to be competitive and do well.' His promotion comes a day after the team brought up No. 3 prospect outfielder Dylan Beavers. Basallo, a 21-year-old from the Dominican Republic, hit .270 with 23 homers and 67 RBIs in 76 games for Norfolk this season. He will be the team's backup catcher behind star Adley Rutschman and get work at first base. 'Adley will function as our No. 1 catcher because that's what he is,' Mansolino said. 'He's a really good catcher. Basollo will function as the No. 2 catcher, catch day games, Adley won't catch four in a row, things like that.' Mansolino added that Basollo would start at catcher Monday night at Boston and that he'd get him in the lineup at first base during the team's next homestand. Also on Sunday, the Orioles reinstated OF Colton Cowser from the 7-day concussion list and optioned OF Daniel Johnson and 1B/OF Ryan Noda to Norfolk. They also transferred right-hander Zach Eflin (low back discomfort) to the 60-day injured list. ___ AP MLB:
New York Times
a few seconds ago
- New York Times
Why there's so much we don't (quite) know about college QBs in 2025
The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic's daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox. Good morning! Be the leader of your offense today. Pulse Hypothesis, six days before the start of college football season: Now that teams can pay players, nobody with a clear shot at the playoff will ever go into a season with a black hole at quarterback. All 25 teams in the preseason Associated Press poll have a QB situation that I would at least describe as 'hopeful.' The highest-ranked team that doesn't is BYU, which came in first in the 'also receiving votes' section. That's because the Cougars' starter exited in July. A safe bet: If you are spending several million dollars on an otherwise good team, you won't forget to stock a QB. Advertisement There's something funny about how this is all playing out in 2025. Every team has reason for QB optimism, but the number that should expect QB dominance is roughly zero. There's nothing resembling a clear Heisman favorite this year — though looking for a value pick is fun — and this moment in quarterbacking explains why. The floor is high. The ceiling may be low. A few teams have multiyear starters who are definitely good but have left a little meat on the expectation bone. (Of the QBs at the top of The Athletic's QB Tiers, Clemson's Cade Klubnik and Penn State's Drew Allar fit here.) South Carolina's LaNorris Sellers, Florida's DJ Lagway and LSU's Garrett Nussmeier are clearly good, but also either young (Lagway) or fresh off a breakout that didn't make them a Heisman-type player yet (Sellers, Nussmeier). SMU's Kevin Jennings and Boise State's Maddux Madsen are good-ish, but you will recall the combined six interceptions they threw to Penn State defenders in the playoff. And there is a long list of hopefuls: Oh, and the No. 1 team in the country will start a Manning scion who happens to be the most famous QB prospect maybe ever. Across two years, he has thrown a majority of his college passes in two games against ULM and Mississippi State. Arch Manning is probably good, butQuinn Ewers was once almost as hyped as Manning is now, and I wouldn't claim that Ewers turned out to be 'good' in the way that Texas fans (or Ohio State fans before them) hoped. So, does your top-25 team have a good QB? The answer is simple: Yeah, maybe. Probably! I think so. All of this makes for the main reason this season is unusually mysterious. Big Ten discusses 28-team CFP No, that headline is somehow not a joke. While it's just an idea at this point, the Big Ten has at least had preliminary discussions surrounding a college football tournament with as many as 28 teams. The report comes as CFP expansion talks have hit a wall in recent months, with the Big Ten continuing to push for a 16-team model and four auto bids for its own teams. More details on what a 28-team playoff would even look like in Ralph Russo's full report. Advertisement Brewers extend winning streak to 14 Milwaukee may never lose another game. After erasing a seven-run deficit Friday, the Brewers put together another storybook comeback last night to extend their winning streak to a franchise-record 14 games. Last night's comeback featured the Brewers tying the game with two outs in the ninth before a pinch-hit three-run homer in the 11th sealed the deal. Unreal scenes. More news: Phillies ace Zack Wheeler was put on the 15-day injured list after medical staff found a blood clot near his shoulder. It could put the rest of his season in jeopardy. Luka Dončić appears to have avoided serious injury after a scary play during Slovenia's EuroBasket game yesterday, The Athletic's Dan Woike reported. Jamaican sprinter Kishane Thompson barely bested American Noah Lyles in their first meeting in the 100-meter since Lyles won Olympic gold. A budding track rivalry. Five former Wisconsin women's basketball players filed a federal lawsuit against former coach Marisa Moseley, alleging psychological abuse. More here. 📺 EPL: Manchester United vs. Arsenal 11:30 a.m. ET on NBC United try to get started on the right foot after last season's disaster. Here's a good overview of the club's plan to not be terrible this year. 📺 Golf: BMW Championship, Final Round Golf Channel/NBC until around 6 p.m. ET The top 30 players in the FedExCup standings after today's round will advance to the TOUR Championship. Robert MacIntyre, whose putter is on fire this week, leads the field by four strokes. 📺 MLB: Mariners at Mets 7 p.m. ET on ESPN The Mariners are my personal World Series pick at the moment. I'll also use this space to point you toward Sam Blum's story about a dog whose owner dresses her in Mets gear and farms her out for photos in the New York heat all summer. Good reporting, bad dog ownership. Get tickets to games like these here. Greg Olsen has strong opinions on the biggest issues facing youth sports right now. This interview is worth a read today. Even the 7-year-old now eats one Reese's cup and is willing to wait for the other out of the freezer. That's growth. Refridge your Reese's, people. — Chris Sprow If our crash course for new card collectors in last weekend's Pulse piqued your interest, you'll be fascinated by this story on a Jay Cutler card selling for over $12,000 last week. The buyer of the card got in touch to explain the situation, and his explanation is frankly hilarious. Advertisement My daughter went back to school this week (what a delight) and our new water bottle, this 'Caticorns' Thermos, is a massive hit. — Chris Branch The Athletic's weekly sports news quiz. How many times have I heard the title of Octavia E. Butler's classic 1993 novel 'The Parable of the Sower'? Hundreds, probably. But I hadn't read it until this week. It's set in — or at least it starts in — a dystopian version of 2024 and goes through the next few years, so it's a good time to start it if you haven't. — Levi Weaver Jim Bowden has an early look at the top 25 potential MLB free agents as the offseason draws nearer. Kyle Tucker is about to get paid how much? I finally bought into the HOKA hype my family has been selling me on for years. Unfortunately, they were right. Incredibly comfortable — and a little extra height never hurt anyone either. — Sam Settleman Matt Baker had a fun story this weekend on Missouri State football's rise to the FBS level, 10 years after a 70-7 loss ended any conversation of the Bears leaving the FCS. Not as fun: Their FBS debut is at the Coliseum against USC in two weeks. Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: The Brewers' first comeback of the weekend. Most-read on the website yesterday: How a catfishing scam is putting both fans and female golfers in danger. Scary stuff. Ticketing links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
