PUEBLO, Colo. (July 7, 2010) - Travis Briscoe is believed to be the most talented bull rider among the top contenders for the 2010 PBR World Championship.
But according to the experts, the 23-year-old from New Mexico also has one problematic issue that can not only affect the outcome of an event or an entire season, but also a career. It has to do with the mental preparedness of being a professional bull rider.
In spite of being one of the most fundamentally-sound riders among the Top 5 in the world standings, Briscoe has the fewest number of qualified rides (31) and the lowest riding average (55.4-percent), among the Top 5.
A gifted athlete with the potential to win multiple world titles, his 2010 campaign has been marred by a series of injuries that took place in each of the first five months of the season.
In spite of it all, Briscoe, who is currently ranked third in the world, is only 1,388.5 points off the lead, and clearly in a position for the best finish of his career.
Riding percentage: 55.4 (2010), 40.4 (career); Influential ride from 2010: Billings, Round 4, Paycheck, 93.25 points (WATCH VIDEO); Most telling statistic of 2010: In spite of injuries to both knees and his chest, Briscoe has missed only one Built Ford Tough Series event. However, on four occasions, he’s been unable to finish the event.
In the eighth of a 10-part series, a panel of experts – Cody Lambert, Ty Murray, Justin McBride and Justin McKee – weigh in on the current Top 10 riders in the world, and what it will take for any one of them to win the 2010 PBR World Championship.
What the experts are saying:
Ty Murray: “He’s so talented. He’s more talented than most of the guys we’ve talked about, and he has that wow factor that Valdiron (de Oliveira) doesn’t. He can be memorable. He can stand out. He can make it look fantastic. And he can do it at the highest level on the rankest bulls. It’s a matter of doing it more often and staying healthy.”
Cody Lambert: “He’s incredibly talented and he tries hard, but he’s distracted by a lot of things – and the more famous you are, the more chances of you getting distracted. I think he’s learning right now to be a little less dramatic and let his riding do the talking. I think he’s getting there, and I think he will be a World Champion. I think he’ll be a World Champion by the time he’s 25.”
Justin McBride: “I’m always impressed with Briscoe’s riding when he sets his jaw and tries hard. He’s a talented guy with a ton of talent. I really don’t think his riding is his problem. He has mental issues that he needs to deal with – to figure out who he is – and grow up and show up and do his job without worrying about what the commentators are saying, or what J.W. (Hart) said last week. What the (heck) is he even doing listening to that? Or why does he care? His job is to show up and ride bulls. J.W.’s job is to show up and talk. He’s got to figure that stuff out, I think, before he can be the World Champion.”
Justin McKee: “He has the ability to get on a roll – getting on a six-, seven-, eight-, nine-consecutive-ride roll can change everything. Very few guys have the potential to ride that many bulls in a row, or even five in a row, but he can ride rank bulls, and he can ride several of them in a row. You ride several in a row and you get your confidence. But it’s still an if … I think he needed a little dose of J.W. (Hart) to get on him. I think he learned a lesson. I really do. I really think that was a painful, but a very huge lesson for him to learn when J.W. got onto him. I think it’ll be – and I hope it’s a changing point in his career.”
McBride: “This sport has changed a lot, and as a sport, as a culture of bull riders, you’re not used to having people talking about you in a negative way – ever. For years, all you ever heard were the good things. All the stories done about you were puff pieces, and the only time you had interaction with people, it was people who liked you. It’s changed now. People can voice their opinion about you and, if you so choose to, you can read it or listen to it. If guys want to see their name in ink, they have to be willing to accept what people have to say about them, and not let that change who they are as a person. In Travis’ case, it really affects how he approaches each and every day of his life… It amazes me how guys let that sway how they think about themselves. Nobody should know you better than you know yourself, but they let it change how they act as a person – for better or worse.”
Murray: “That’s been around forever – where guys get to over-thinking. Part of the battle in every sport is learning to get to the place in your head every time that you’re at your optimum performance. You see guys that will fight details – they’ll worry about details that don’t make a difference – to just fighting their head. It’s your job as a professional athlete to learn how to not do that, and to learn how to get to that space in your head – whatever it is, because it’s different for every guy. That doesn’t have anything to do with mechanics or anything like that. That’s different for every guy, and it’s their job to figure it out and learn how to get to that place each time.”
Chance of winning title in 2010:
Lambert: “He can really ride, and he made the best ride I’ve seen all year. When he got off that bull – it was Paycheck in Billings – he kind of got hung between the back legs, and he got slammed to the point that I was afraid he broke a hip or something like that. He jumped up and he was fine. But, at times, when he didn’t make the whistle, and didn’t get hammered nearly as hard, he’d lay down and collapse in the arena and things like that. He’s just overdramatic. That’s something that could cause him to lose focus when the game’s on the line. I like an athlete that’s somewhat stoic, who doesn’t show that he’s worried. He doesn’t show he’s so excited about what’s about to happen, or so sad over what didn’t happen. I like them to keep some of that inside of them.”
McKee: “Without overstating the obvious, it’s not worrying about what people think, and that’s really it for him. He worries about what people think… He wants more than anybody to prove that he’s the best. He really does. It’s another reason I’m in his camp. He may not love riding bulls as much as Renato (Nunes), but he loves the dream of being the best in the world."
Murray: “It doesn’t seem to me that we’ve ever seen him be middle-of-the-road. He’s either wowing you, or injured, or not riding good at all. If he would just do what he can do.”
McBride: “For me, Travis has got to get his head screwed on straight and show up to be a champion bull rider – not worry about what the commentators are saying, or the press or anything like that. He has to show up with bull riding on his mind. Second, he’s got to keep his upper body from getting leaned back, and by doing that, he’s got to keep his chin tucked. That will solve that, and if he can do those couple things, I think, he’s got a real good shot at making a run for the World Championship, because talent-wise, he’s got it. He just seems like a little kid to me, so he’s just going to have to grow up and get mentally tougher … It doesn’t make much sense, and he’s allowing that to cost him a great opportunity.”
