ARLINGTON, Texas (February 22, 2010) - Last week, Travis Briscoe had a good feeling.
He just didn’t know how good he felt until he arrived in Arlington, Texas, on Saturday and went to Cowboys Stadium for a late-morning walkthrough.
“On the drive up here I had a good feeling,” he said moments after finishing second behind Valdiron de Oliveira in the Iron Cowboy Invitational.
“All of a sudden I get here and to see the stadium, I’m like, ‘Wow.’ Then I come back a couple hours later and it’s even better than that because it’s a full stadium. It was great stuff, and it made me want to ride.”
Briscoe advanced through the first four rounds before losing to Oliveira in the fifth and final round. Oliveira collected $260,000 as the winner, while Briscoe earned $40,000 for his efforts.
He rode Paycheck for 88.75 points in the opening round to knock Ned Cross out of the tournament, and then outscored reigning World Champion Kody Lostroh by a score of 89 to 88 in moving on to the third round. Briscoe then outlasted both Zack Brown and Guilherme Marchi to advance to the final round.
In the third and fourth rounds, Briscoe bucked off Black Pearl and Voodoo Child, but said it wasn’t because of lack of effort. Given another chance, he’d make the 8-second whistle, he said.
Ultimately, the difference between winning and finishing second may have been Code Blue.
The reigning World Champion Bull was marked 46.75 points on his first out with Briscoe, who was bucked off in 3.6 seconds. By comparison, Oliveira made it 4.5 seconds on a trip where Code Blue was marked only 40.5 points by the judges.
Briscoe said he doesn’t agree with those who say he could have been the winner had he gotten the same out as Oliveira.
“They said if you would have had that trip, you’d have $260,000 in your pocket,” Briscoe recalled, “but I told them, as simple as that, if I would have done my job when they marked him a 23, when I got on his back, I would have $260,000.
“That’s on me. (Oliveira) went out there and did his job and rode him as long as he had to and it worked out for him.”
In hindsight, Briscoe, who is second in the world standings, said the stadium and the event made for a great atmosphere, and he hopes to have the same opportunity again.
“I think it’s a great idea, heck, yeah,” he said. During the competition, Briscoe was busy preparing for his next ride and wasn’t able to watch as many of the other rides as he would have liked. “The few that I did, these guys came here and tried to ride their guts out. They wanted to rise to the occasion.”
One rider in particular, McKennon Wimberly, was someone Briscoe felt would perform well in this bracket-style tournament.
Overall, Briscoe was happy with the format and happier still that it turned out the way it did for him.
“It doesn’t get any better than this,” he said. “Just to be here … if I wouldn’t have done as good, I’d still be as happy as I am now.
“That $40,000 was probably given to me to bless someone else.”
NEWS and NOTES
Surprise, surprise, surprise: Sunday evening, Cord and Jet McCoy (or “the cowboys,” as they’ve come be known) continue to surprise their fellow Amazing Race competitors. A week after finishing third in the first leg of the race, the McCoys were the first-place finishers in the second leg.
Two of the 11 teams have now been eliminated, and while the others try to figure out how “the cowboys” seem to do so well, Cord offered, “Don’t let the cowboy hat fool you.”
The Amazing Race airs every Sunday at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on CBS.
Ready for the Elimination Chamber: Tonight, live from Indianapolis, Ty Murray and Jewel are hosting WWE Monday Night Raw on the USA Network. Tonight’s episode, which reveals results from the Elimination Chamber, is at 9 p.m. ET.
