- This was a North Carolina event, chock full of North Carolina bulls from two of the premier stock contractors / breeders in the bull riding world, Jeff Robinson and Tom Teague. Also in the home state of Jerome Davis, J.B. Mauney, Shane Proctor, Josh Faircloth, and Brian Cantor (and I'm probably missing a few). That's a nice weekend for a state that is the sole pocket of bull riding gold on the east coast.
- It was one of the two-day events that continue to plague me with the decisions about whether to listen to the event live on the PBR Event Center, or wait to watch it on the broadcast. I end up doing both, which is not a great way to partake of bull riding, since you already know the results. "Wait," I tell myself, and then I don't.
- The east coast bulls were the highlight of the weekend. I always enjoy seeing new bulls and Teague bulls never disappoint me. Gypsy Boots (Robinson) and RFD HD (Teague) were standouts among the bulls we don't get to see every weekend. Hopefully we will see both of them more in the future.
- With no 90+ point rides, only one 89+ point ride, no 88+ point rides, and all others under 88, it was a little bit lacking in the ride department, which makes for a somewhat dreary bull riding.
- Ben Jones finally removed himself from competition following what appeared to be a episode of unconsciousness after hitting the ground in his first out. We wish him well and a full recovery.
- With Marchi being out with an injury, Austin Meier has advanced to 4th place in the PBR standings. With Palermo injured and likely to miss a couple of events, and Meier only a few hundred points behind him, Meier has his chance to move up even further. His riding has started to improve in the past couple of events. As we saw last year with Renato Nunes, a lot can happen at the end of the season. I think it's going to be Alves and Oliveira down to the wire, but wouldn't it be nice to have a dark horse to root for?
Scroll down to read Bulls and Bloodlines and Charlotte by the Numbers.
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