It's one big rodeo weekend in Lubbock.
The Championship Bull Riders, a national circuit that's headed up by four-time world champion Tuff Hedeman, is closing its regular season with a tour stop Saturday at the City Bank Coliseum.
Hedeman, who is famous for his bouts with the legendary bull Bodacious, is scheduled to attend the Lubbock show and will sign autographs for fans.
The Lubbock tour stop will be the last opportunity for riders to earn qualifying points for the CBR 2009 Tour Finale, which is scheduled for Oct. 30-Nov. 1 in Kansas City.
In the CBR standings, former National Finals Rodeo qualifier Jarrod Craig of Hillsboro leads the title race with 1,317.5 points. Mexico cowboy Hugo Pedrero is ranked second with 1,210.5.
Lubbock's second annual CBR show begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15 to $50. Kids 12 and younger can get in free. For information, call 806-770-2000 or 800-735-1288 or visit www.selectaseatlubbock.com.
If that's not enough, this weekend's 60th annual Texas Tech rodeo is scheduled for today through Saturday at the Texas Tech Equestrian Center.
Tech will enter the school's traditional rodeo ranked third in the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association Southwest Region men's team standings. Tech's women are ranked fourth behind No. 1 South Plains College of Levelland.
The Tech rodeo is the fifth of 10 shows that the NIRA has scheduled in its Southwest Region for the 2009-10 regular season.
During the Saturday night performance, organizers will celebrate the rodeo's storied history. One local couple who will be honored is Alvin and Barbara Davis. Alvin Davis heads up Lubbock's annual Cowboy Symposium. He also managed the NIRA from 1955 to 1958. Barbara Davis was Tech's rodeo queen in 1953.
Organizers also will recognize Tech winning the men's national team title in 1955. One 1955 team member who is expected to attend is Dave Hopper of Hereford.
The inaugural Texas Tech Rodeo was in 1950 at Jones Stadium. That would never happen in today's sports world. But back then, the campus was much smaller and it just made good horse sense to convert the football field into a rodeo arena.
Closing out
For many years, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association closed its regular season with the lucrative Grand National Rodeo in San Francisco.
Then, it was the Texas Stampede in Dallas. The Dallas show was created in 2001 and it was the last major rodeo of the season through last year.
But this year, the Heartland Pro Rodeo Championships, which is running this week in Waco, is the high-paying season closer.
The $471,000 rodeo began last weekend and concludes with a final round Saturday at the Heart O' Texas Coliseum. Like the great season-closing rodeos of past years, the Waco rodeo will feature some notable world-class contestants who come in near the bubble and qualify for the NFR.
One cowboy who already has made a successful last-ditch effort in Waco is steer wrestler Matt Reeves of Pampa. He entered the Waco rodeo ranked 16th in the steer wrestling world title race. The 2007 NFR qualifier was unofficially $1,810 from making the NFR, and he was eyeing the 15th hole held by Gabe Ledoux, who is not competing in Waco. But during the past weekend, Reeves earned $2,200 after competing in a couple of preliminary-round performances in Waco and he unofficially has earned enough to go to the NFR.
PBR update
The organizers of the Professional Bull Riders' Built Ford Tough Series are preparing to conduct the last regular-season tour stop this weekend in Uncasville, Conn.
Kody Lostroh enters the Uncasville show ranked first with 11,649.25 points. He held onto his lead although he was bucked off in the final round last weekend in Columbus, Ohio. After finishing third in Columbus, Guilherme Marchi is second in the standings with 10,895 points. J.B. Mauney is third with 10,359.25.
After this weekend, the PBR's top 40 riders advance to the Oct. 30-Nov. 1 and Nov. 5-8 World Finals in Las Vegas.
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