PUEBLO, Colo. (March 1, 2010) - Longtime Team Mexico captain Rocky McDonald wasn’t surprised to learn Saturday that he will not be leading the team in the upcoming World Cup. But he isn’t sure what to make of the announcement that the team will employ co-captains – Amando Aguirre and Ruben Mujica – along with Gerardo Venegas as a coach.
“I don’t know what the difference is between a coach or co-captain, or what their duties are,” McDonald said. “But I just feel like if Gerardo can’t be on the team and he can’t ride, then he should probably be the captain.”
The decision to reorganize the Mexican team was made last year, after what former CEO Randy Bernard called “an embarrassment.”
Last year in Barretos, Brazil, the team competed with only four riders instead of five because of travel visa issues.
But that was just the beginning of the troubles. On the final day of competition, Luis Villarreal turned out of the final two rounds. Then, just a couple of hours before the start of Round 5, it was announced that Nile Lebaron would sit out with a concussion. After riding his fifth-round bull, McDonald himself pulled out of the event, claiming that with the two bulls he rode in Round 2, he had fulfilled his commitment of six.
That left Francisco Morales as the lone representative of Mexico in Round 6.
“I guess they didn’t approve of what I am,” said McDonald, who also spoke about the visa issues that derailed his country’s chances before the team even arrived in Brazil.
“I figure the guys who come over here, they’re grown people. If you pay them to show up, they ought to get there. I’m not going to hold their hand and take them to get all their stuff done. I figure they can do that on their own.”
This year, Team Mexico includes two men with organizational backgrounds, coupled with Venegas’ experience as a professional rider.
Aguirre is the president of the Mexican Federation of Rodeo, while Mujica is the president of Cuernos Chuecos. Although McDonald stopped short of calling the two men rivals, it is widely believed the two have not gotten along in the past.
McDonald said that the hiring of Aguirre and Mujica would be like replacing J.W. Hart as the U.S. captain with Bernard.
“Who do you think is going to do a better job?” he asked. “Randy runs the PBR, or he did in the past, and did an awesome job and knows all about it, but I just kind of feel like J.W. rode bulls, he knows who’s doing good right now and who’s going on with it. I think he’s more qualified.
“In my opinion, that would be my closest example.”
McDonald said that to this point, he’s not been contacted by anyone affiliated with Team Mexico, and with the World Cup just seven weeks away, he’s begun to make other plans.
“I’ve already started looking at other places to go,” he said. “I ride bulls for a living. You ride bulls to put food on the table, and I gotta worry about putting food on the table, because I’m not part of it this year, I guess.”
He did say he would consider competing if asked, but that it would come down to who else was on the roster.
McDonald added that his philosophy when assembling past teams was to use Mexican riders who had PBR experience in the U.S. He suspects this year’s team could be made up entirely of riders with little or no experience outside of their home country.
“Yeah, I would definitely consider it,” he said. “If I’m going to go, I need to have all the confidence in the world in the other four guys. I really do believe you can come up with a team that can compete.
“Now they’re going to have to ride at their best at that event to compete, but being able to discard two scores was always to our advantage. If I’m part of the team, I need to truly believe that those guys, when they get on them, can really ride them.”
The American team has won the World Cup the past two years, and the Brazilians, who will again be captained by Adriano Moraes, won the first World Cup event in Australia.
Preliminary rosters for all five participating countries – Brazil, the United States, Canada, Australia and Mexico – are due in the coming days.
