Interview: Austin Meier

Photo by Chip Rutan

 I interviewed Austin Meier on 10/3/2010 on the third day of the PBR event at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT.

You’re doing real well.  You’re still number one.

Yeah, definitely this weekend it was good bulls, rough bulls, and rank bulls.  The rough bulls got the best of me, but the good ones and the rank ones I rode.  It’s just a great weekend for me. It definitely wasn’t as good as it could have been, but heck, I can’t complain.  I made up some more points and made up some money, too, so I’m happy.

You look good.  You’re correcting, you look like you’re doing everything right.

I feel really well.  My body’s in great condition.  My mental side of things  is in great condition.  I'm just looking forward to every day I wake up and every day I get to get on another bull for a lot of money.

When things get in crunch time it seems like everything kicks in automatically, and that comes from practice, and being in shape, and it’s from being taught well.

You know, all the while growing up, everybody around me has done everything they could to help me be the best I could be.  And even to this point, the people that are around me are still doing it, from my wife, to my dad, everybody, even the guys here at the PBR.  It’s something that, getting this close to the finals, you’re either going up or you're going down and if you're going up you’ve got to do what you've got to do.  I thank the good Lord for the health he’s given me, because in this sport you don’t always have your health and this year I’ve really been blessed with being healthy.  And I just credit that to God. Because I’ve been in some pretty rough situations that could have gotten real ugly real fast.  Most of ‘em just looked bad, and were good for TV, and I walked out just fine.

Like Perfect Poison?

[laughs] Right.  That’s right.  That would be one of them moments!

What’s your best ride?

I don’t know.  I’ve been getting on big bulls since I was twelve years old.  So I’ve had a lot of bulls run under me.  And I’ve been on some really rank ones and made some really rank rides, so I really probably don’t know what my rankest ride is.  It’s just one of them deals, and I just keep getting on and keep making rides.

One at a time, right?

That’s right. One at a time.  Remember the good times and forget the bad.

Interview: Ryan McConnel

[I conducted this interview in Uncasville, CT on October 3, 2010.]

Ryan, it was a good weekend for you.  How did you feel about it?

 I didn’t do too bad for the weekend.  I wish I could have finished it off.  If I would’ve rode two or three more seconds on that last bull I think I would have won this real easy.  But I guess you win some, you lose some.

You mean Smack Down.

Yeah, I had that bull last year, I believe, or maybe it was earlier this year.  It was in Portland, Oregon and I rode him and I was 89 points on him.  I was probably going to be two or three points higher than that tonight.  Just made the wrong move at the wrong time

Is there a point where you knew you were in trouble?

Yeah, it happened kind of all of a sudden to be honest with you.  I was riding him pretty easy it looked like there for four seconds, five seconds.  And then he was kind of backing underneath me and I could never get my feet out in front of me and ride like I’m supposed to.  And when I let loose with my feet and everything, it just kind of put all my weight on my upper body and that’s why I came off over his front end.

When you’re on there for eight seconds, do you have time to think?

A lot of people, if you go to a bull riding school anywhere, to be honest with you, everyone’s going to say, you ain’t got time to think, you can’t be thinking when you’re up there.  But for some reason I just sit there and watch and go through absolutely every single movement with that bull and think to myself the whole time.  Everyone says you can’t think.  I’m thinking the whole time.  It’s weird to me because they say they don’t.  So, some do, some don’t.  I’ve only heard a very few people say they can sit there and think what’s going on.

When I’m watching it, there are some rides that seem to go by really fast and some that seem to go by really slowly.  Is it the same for you?

Yeah.  In the long round it was it was really fast.  In the short round time was going really slow because I was just sitting there trying to match every move perfectly.  But I knew if I just stubbed my toe a little bit, I knew I’d hit the ground, and I sure as heck did, and it’s kind of hard to accept that now.

You wanted that last one.

Yeah.

One last question, who’s your biggest hero?

I don't know if I have a - [he pauses and then speaks with great certainty]  My little brother is my hero.  Joseph McConnel. 

Why is that?

There’s not a day that goes by that I can sit there and be with him and not be smiling.  He’s a huge inspiration to me.  We do that for each other.  I can’t really explain it.  My little brother is everything in my heart to me.

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Interview: Mike Lee

Photo by Chip Rutan

I've always thought he was mysterious, and meeting him in person does nothing to dispel that impression.  He's a man who speaks in a sleepy voice and looks you straight in the eye and you feel that you are in the presence of a genuine man.  At the same time - maybe it's his deep faith, or his almost meditative approach to bull riding - there is something slightly otherworldly about him. I began the interview by asking him something that's been on my mind as I've watched some former world champions kick into action over the past three or four weeks.

Do you think that because you’ve been the world champion before, there is a competitive spirit that just kicks in for you at this time of year?

I don’t think it has to do with me being world champion before.  It’s just that I have the ability and talent to be here and to be a world champion.  It’s just a matter of me using it.  It’s just a matter of me taking my brain out of it and just react and trust God.  Rely on him and not on my own strength.

I've heard you talk about that before and I really like that idea of not letting your thoughts get in the way.  It shows in the way you've been riding the past few weeks.

I got a little weak-hearted tonight.  I lost the rope and I just gave up and got off, and that’s not going to happen again. [He laughs.]

What’s your best bull ride?  One that stands out in your mind as a high point?

It would probably be a tie between Mossy Oak Mudslinger at the World Finals in ’04, and I got on Unforgiven one year in Fort Worth and was like 93 on him.

I saw that ride on Mossy Oak Mudslinger on TV.  That was pretty amazing. 

Thank you.

Now, if you’re picking last in the short round, who do you not want to see left on that list?

Well, there are undesirable bulls.  They’re a lot harder to ride.  They don’t have good timing.  Like Uncle Buck, Spit Fire, Major Payne.  They’ve all got situations they get you in that's a little harder to get by.  Major Payne’s really big, he doesn’t fit in the chute, and it's hard to get started on him, and he’s got a long jump coming out of there.  Uncle Buck hops and skips and it’s like riding a jack hammer.  It’s really hard to get in time with him.  And Spit Fire’s a lot like Uncle Buck, and he waves his head around. 

For a while it seemed like you were picking Uncle Buck every time you had a chance.  Why was that?

Everybody hated him and was a little bit spooked by him.  And that bull kind of scared me – not scared me, but kind of spooked me and made me nervous.  And I love that feeling when I stand out and do something in faith and believe I can do it even though I have fear in me or nervousness in me.  To overcome that, and to be a warrior in that, it feels great and it’s an incredible amount of freedom, and that’s why I ride bulls.

So, you have a couple of kids now, right? 

I have a little boy named Noah, a coming three year old, and a little girl named Loralai, a coming three year old.  They’re twins. 

How has that changed your life? 

It’s been one of the best things to happen in my life, other than God.  He’s blessed me with these kids.  It’s made me a better person.  It’s made me less of a spoiled brat because I have to grow up just as much as they do.  [He laughs.]

It is pretty amazing, isn't it?  Until you have kids you don't really know how much love it's possible to have for another human being.
 
You just want to be around them all the time.  They make you feel down to earth and you can really feel your true self around them.  There’s no faking it around them.

[I laugh.]  No, there's no faking it around them.  Thanks Mike, and good luck in the Finals.

Thank you, ma'am.