10th Round of the NFR has many upsets

Well. At least it was entertaining. Watching the finals this week was slightly disappointing as I have earlier stated in another post. But the 10th round sure did make up for it. There were many upsets and great runs. None to duplicate the 3.4 and 3.3 second runs in the team roping the night before (which both broke the world record), but the drama of who was going to win the gold buckle made up for everything else.

The steer wrestling was probably the most dramatic. Going into the tenth round, only $80 separated #1 Lee graves and #2 Luke Branquino. Luke was higher in the average and just needed to make a decent run to clinch the title and take it from Graves. However, a bad call from the flagman resulted in a no time. This left the door right open for Lee. He just did what he had done all year made a decent run, won third in the round, won the average, and won the gold buckle. More drama will commence as there has been talk of instituting instant replay at the bigger rodeos and the finals. This run will probably be a deciding factor in getting that done.

Just to put this tenth run into perspective, a judge's call cost Luke placing in the round, cost him the average, and cost him his 2nd gold buckle. All told, about $70,000 in one 5 second run. How's that for pressure.

The calf roping was also dicey. Trevor Brazile, the reigning champ, had not had a good week and Cody Ohl was hot on his heels, almost breaking his own world record with a 6.6 run. Cody was winning the average and just had to tie one down decently to win the average and put a lot of heat on Trevor. Cody ended being a 7.0, put only put a wrap and a hooey on his calf, and, to everyone's surprise, the calf got up too fast. NO TIME. Yet another run that cost the cowboy about $70,000. I think Cody Ohl will be thinking about that tie all the way up until the tenth round next year. There are times to play it safe, and times to go for the round. Cody has never been a play it safe kinda guy, but it sure did cost him a lot not being safe this year.

Drama. Drama. There is never an end to it in the world of rodeo.