American Nomads Page #5

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'He drove 820 miles

straight through to get here,

'and he doesn't consider this

hard driving. '

When did you get into here?

About half an hour ago,

45 minutes ago.

That's about, what?

11 hours on the road, to get here?

We didn't drive very fast.

About 12 hours, I guess.

How did you get into rodeo?

Is it a ranch family?

Yeah, I was just raised on a ranch,

I guess,

I mean, that don't necessarily

make a rodeo guy,

but I was raised on a ranch, so I was

always riding horses and cowboying

and stuff, so when we got a little

older, we started junior rodeo.

Mom and Dad took us to junior rodeo

and we just

kind of got into it that way.

It's a fun way to live.

What are some of the injuries

you've had?

Sh*t! See, '08,

I dislocated my elbow,

right out the back of my arm,

at Calgary.

I come back from that, rode for

another while, went to Pecos.

I was getting ready,

and the horse flipped over on me.

That raised two bones up into my hand

and then they went back down.

Long story short, flipped over again,

this guy came up,

sitting on his butt, and just went

on it and broke it in 28 places.

They fixed that all that up,

that was quite a while before

I was able to come back,

I come back from that, went to Houston, I

broke my finger and all my bones across my foot.

And I come back from that,

things were going pretty good,

and I tore my bicep off my arm

and rolled it up.

They sewed that back down,

and I've been rodeoing ever since.

It's all in the game.

That's two wild cowboys there.

THEY WHOOP AND HOLLER

'They're coming in from other

rodeos in Texas and Oklahoma

'and Atlantic City, New Jersey.

'Tobacco-chewing Wade Sundell

is a young, hard-drinking,

'up-and-coming star in the small,

closed world of saddle bronc riding. '

So, how did it go in Atlantic City?

A case of beer

and six bottles of wine!

I feel good today, though.

Now I've taken the day off.

You had a day off drinkin'!

I drank wine, freakin' kicked me

in the butt, now!

INAUDIBLE HUBBUB

'There's a definite tribal identity

to these cowboys.

'Look at their body language, the

way they talk and greet each other.

'They travel all the time, but they never

leave the world of rodeo and cattle ranching.

'Everyone in this world

wears the same uniform,

'and the media can't get

into a rodeo,

'without putting on

cowboy hats and boots.

'Rodeo is a multi-million dollar

televised sport in America now,

'rising in popularity, and the

television rights are strictly controlled.

'For this event, they keep

our cameras behind the scenes,

'but we'll catch Tommy

and Wade in action at the next rodeo

'down the road in Logandale,

Nevada. '

'I once spent six weeks

driving around America

'with three rodeo cowboys.

'They were young and wild,

drinking like crazy,

'taking a lot of drugs,

hardly ever sleeping.

'It nearly killed me, and I wasn't

riding bulls or bucking horses.

'One of those cowboys is dead now.

'He got gored in the chest

by a bull in the arena.

'Another one is in prison

for assault.

'No-one seems to know what happened

to the third guy,

'but I seriously doubt

there was a happy ending.

'All right, action time.

'This is the Clark County Summer

Fair and Rodeo in Logandale, Nevada.

'There's wine-drinkin' Wade Sundell,

with a feather in his hat.

'And there's Tommy McFarlane.

'They've all just arrived half

an hour before their events start.

#... Does that banner yet wave?

# O'er the land of the free

# And the home of the brave? #

All right!

RAUCOUS APPLAUSE

Put your hands on the beat,

come on, put your hands up.

'These are unbroken horses,

bred to buck.

'Riding them is a kind of dance

that gets scored out of 100.

'The horse gets marked out of 50

for the way it bucks.

'It's supposed to try

everything it knows

'to get that cowboy off its back.

'The cowboy tries to stay

on the horse for eight seconds

'while spurring it

and holding one arm aloft.

'Tom's got no saddle or stirrups,

'just a handle tied onto

the horse's back with a strap. '

Let's hear it for Wade, great guy,

great football player.

Right now, we got

Tommy MacFarlane.

He's goin' hell for leather!

CROWD CHEER AND WHOOP

Gee! Never had a spread so buckin'

enormous. What an amazing cowboy!

After breaking his arm in 26 places, he

put out his knee in Houston a year ago,

but when that guy stays healthy,

he's well for riding

a buckin' horse.

Riding a very high...

COMMENTARY BECOMES INDISTINCT,

DROWNED OUT BY CHEERING

...Puttin' in a score of 80 points!

'A good ride from Tommy.

80 points might win him some money.

'Next up is Will Lowe,

Tommy's travelling partner,

'and a three-time world champion. '

Horse is called Ladies' Man.

'They travel around in a white

Chevy van with two other cowboys,

'and they call themselves

The Wolf Pack. '

Get your hands going

to the beat of the music.

Go on, Willy!

Folks, there he is. Three-time world

champion, three-time Calgary champ.

'It's America's

original extreme sport,

'invented by working cowboys

in the 1880s

'to make a contest out of their

skill at breaking wild horses. '

His name is Will Lowe!

CHEERING:

How many days a year

are you on the road?

Over 200.

It varies, there was a couple years where

I was hurt and stuff for a couple months,

so quite a few less rodeos, but I would say

on average, probably 220 to 240 days a year.

My office is where I make it!

What did you think would happen

to you

if you tried

to work a 9 to 5 type job?

I wouldn't enjoy it very much. I

could do it, but I wouldn't like it.

But you wouldn't blow a gasket?

No, I wouldn't blow a gasket,

But I wouldn't enjoy it very much.

It'd actually be work!

This is fun.

Check out the horse!

How many of y'all

like that bucking horse?

CHEERING:

This guy won the World Championship.

'Next out of the bucking shoots

comes wine-drinking Wade. '

Wade Sundell...

COMMENTARY INDISTINCT,

DROWNED OUT BY MUSIC

That guy can play into the back

of the saddle. Come on, everybody!

Wade Sundell!

Second in the national finals,

second twice in Houston.

I tell you,

you can bet on this kid.

Score comes up out of 90

for Wade Sundell.

CHEERING:

87 points.

Everybody told me that horse is

a pretty nice horse, and everything.

But she was strong

and I just kept on gassing on,

trying to get to the front

and hopefully it all worked out.

I probably did!

How many points?

What sort of money

are you looking at?

Well, shoot, I don't know.

I suppose if I win it

this rodeo'd pay about 4,000 or so.

And then I'm winning Pocatello,

and they'll probably pay that too.

You're on a streak.

I had a good weekend. Hopefully

they'll both hold out for me.

Then I'm just going to drink beer in

Arizona and chase wild cows. For a week.

If I can afford the cash,

I'm ready to do so!

Where y'all from? England.

That's just like America

but different, ain't it? Exactly.

They're having a ball. 27 years old,

riding from rodeo to rodeo.

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