PUEBLO, Colo. (June 10, 2010) - Is this the nasty, dirty, impossible-to-ride bull that should still be named “I’m a Gangster?”
Or is it the new-and-improved, rider-friendly, honest bull whose sweet new name, “Uncle Buck,” fits perfectly?
After all, the bull’s old moniker sparks visions of Robert DeNiro as Al Capone in “The Untouchables,” brandishing a baseball bat and bashing one of his minion’s brains out during a black-tie dinner.
The stud’s kinder, gentler new name, Uncle Buck, channels the lovable John Candy character from the movie of the same name.
So which is it? It all depends on who you ask. As far as the bull’s official name, the only opinion that matters is boss man Tom Teague’s. He feeds the bull every day.
“Uncle Buck is right in his prime,” Teague said. “We’re going to buck the heck out of him this year.”
So far, the dark-brown bull has had eight outs in 2010, dusting the likes of Ross Coleman and Aaron Roy. Former World Champion Mike Lee – through bad luck, tenacity, or a masochistic streak – has tried Uncle Buck four times this year.
He bucked off all four times.
Only Valdiron de Oliveira has made 8 on Uncle Buck this season, winning the Baltimore event with 89.25 points in January.
Teague bought the bull as a 3-year-old from Canadian Loren High.
“To be honest, I really liked his half-brother, a bull called Crime Spree, better than Gangster,” he said. “I thought he had more kick than Gangster. They grew up together, so we let them hang out together every day, just those two. We bucked him once and he looked really good, and we couldn’t see that anything had happened to him. Somehow Crime Spree ended up hurting his back, we don’t know how, so we had to put him down. He never bucked in the PBR.”
Meanwhile, the 1,500-pound I’m a Gangster became the scourge of the PBR. He threw cowboy after cowboy, including Sean Willingham twice, J.B. Mauney, Coleman, and World Champions Lee, Ednei Caminhas and Adriano Moraes.
“I remember talking to Adriano about him, and he would always talk about how rank he was,” Teague said. “Gangster is almost always picked last in the draw. Well, there was this young Brazilian who picked him fourth. Adriano couldn’t believe it. He said, ‘What in the world are you picking that bull for?’ His buddy said, ‘He’s a good-looking little bull.’ Adriano said, ‘You just picked the rankest bull out there. Good luck.’ The kid went flying.”
Mauney’s with Moraes.
“Uncle Buck is a stock contractor’s bull, not a bull rider’s bull,” said Mauney, who was thrown in 2008 in Des Moines, Iowa. “Even when he has a good day, it looks like he’s going 10 different directions. I’d never pick him unless I was the 15th pick in the short round and he was the only bull left.”
L.J. Jenkins, who drew Uncle Buck in Oklahoma City last year, said he had seen signs late last year that the bull was getting more rider friendly.
“When Ross [Coleman] was on him in Columbus [Ohio] just before the Finals, he looked like he was turning the corner and becoming an honest bucker, one you could be 93 points on,” he said. “But at the Finals, he had those dirty trips again.
“In other words, there are days I like him and days I wish he’d disappear.”
The Oklahoma trip was one of the latter.
“He got me strung loose the first jump out and I flew over his left shoulder,” Jenkins said. “He stepped on my face and knocked one of my teeth out. It doesn’t matter. Hell, I’ve had all my teeth knocked out by now.”
Late in 2009, Teague confidant Johnny Morris renamed the bull Uncle Buck to honor one of his uncles who taught him how to fish. After two trips with his new name, the bull entered the 2009 World Finals with a shot at World Champion.
Uncle Buck threw Cody Campbell in the second round, Pete Farley in the fifth and Robson Palermo in the eighth. He was scored 45.50 with Campbell, 43.75 with Farley and 45.25 with Palermo. And yes, the Farley score sticks out for Teague, too.
“Uncle Buck did a great job at the Finals,” he said. “On that second ride, three judges scored him a 23 and the fourth one scored him a 21. That only cost me about $50,000, because he finished one-quarter point out of second place in the world because of that. I would have been happy with second place, and I’m tickled to death with his performance out there.
“But what in the world was that judge looking at? That bull has never been scored in the 43s. Never. Sure, he throws guys off quick and sometimes it’s hard to get a read on him, but Big Tex does the same damn thing. I think that judge was blind in one eye and couldn’t see out of the other.”
Teague knows Uncle Buck will get covered now and then.
“Every stock contractor will tell you his bull didn’t buck whenever one of his bulls gets ridden,” Teague said with a laugh. “These guys are amazingly talented athletes. They’ll ride every bull out there eventually. At some point, every bull rider will get along with some bull.”
One bull Uncle Buck definitely doesn’t mix with is Deja Blue.
“Uncle Buck is easy to handle except when he’s around Deja Blue,” Teague said. “I don’t know why, but if they ever got in the same pen together they would fight to the death. You run one by the pen with the other one in it, they will try to kill each other, so we have to keep them way apart. Maybe it’s because they both know they’re good. The great ones know it, and they don’t want to admit that anyone else is better.”
[This story appeared in its original form in the February/March issue of Pro Bull Rider magazine. To subscribe and receive this kind of in-depth reporting every two months, visit TeamPBR.com today.]
News & Notes
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