Do the names Chiseled and Smooth Operator ring a bell? They’ll be in Nampa this weekend
Like most things in 2020, it has been anything but business as usual for the Professional Bull Riders Unleash the Beast Tour.
Cooper Davis can certainly attest. The 2016 PBR world champion broke his neck in January and missed nearly five months of competition after he was bucked off the bull Midnight Rock at an event at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Then COVID-19 hit, forcing the PBR to rethink its plans for the 2020 season.
After a five-week hiatus, the PBR resumed competition in late April with eight made-for-TV events held without spectators. Cooper’s return to competition in May came without applause inside an empty arena.
“It was really different,” Davis told the Idaho Statesman in a phone interview Tuesday from his home in Buna, Texas. “Usually you’re feeding off the fans and feeding off their excitement. It really helps you get pumped up and get in the mood to ride a bull, but when you’re in more of a practice-type setting on bulls that buck so hard, it’s definitely tougher to get in the zone.”
Cooper shouldn’t have any problem getting in the zone this weekend. The PBR’s Unleash the Beast Tour will welcome fans in a limited capacity this Friday and Saturday at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa. It is the second-to-last regular-season event before the 2020 PBR World Finals scheduled for Nov. 12-15 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The top 35 riders in the regular-season standings qualify for the world finals.
Bull riding begins at 7:45 p.m. each night, and tickets range from $15 to $100. Tickets can be purchased through ICTickets.com, the Ford Idaho Center Box Office at 208-442-3232, PBR.com or by calling PBR customer service at 1-800-732-1727.
If you’re planning to attend the event, we’ll get you up to speed on the health safety protocols and important storylines to watch.
Spectator seating is limited
The PBR has committed to a reduced capacity at all of its events open to fans, with only up to 50% of arena capacity sold. Canyon County, which is in Stage 4 of the Idaho Rebounds plan, doesn’t have a limit on gatherings. Large venues are able to operate “under limited physical distancing protocols.”
The Nampa stop will be the eighth Unleash the Beast event the PBR has put on with COVID-19 safety protocols — coined “Be Cowboy Safe” — in place.
Masks are strongly recommended, and complimentary face coverings will be offered as fans enter the arena.
Fans will be in pod seating — similar to a checkerboard — to increase distancing and minimize crossover when entering and exiting seats. Social responsibility guidelines will be posted at restroom, concession and concourse areas.
But the PBR admits attending a public event comes with the “inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19.” Idaho reported a record 714 new confirmed and 798 total COVID-19 cases on Tuesday.
“Most athletes and stock contractors are only getting paid when they’re competing,” said Chad Blankenship, PBR’s senior vice president. “On that level for the Western sports communities, it has been important for us to continue to move forward with safely and responsibly managed events, because their livelihoods rely upon it.
“But there’s also a community economic development activity and, frankly, giving people a bit of a reprieve from the intensity of the pandemic by staging safe and responsible entertainment events.”
Riders must pass coronavirus test
Before cowboys, PBR staff, stock contractors and TV personnel can head to Nampa, they must be tested for COVID-19 within 72 hours prior to travel. Participants also are required to fill out a CDC health screening questionnaire.
Once those two steps are completed, PBR will authorize travel. Upon arrival in Nampa, all riders and personnel go through a daily CDC screening process and temperature check.
“Once we got rolling and figured out a way to get back to the arena safely and following all the protocols, it’s just been more of a little bit of a job, I guess,” Davis said. “You start the week by getting a COVID test to make sure that you don’t test positive before you show up to an event. When you’re there you have to wear a mask and then do your part as far as keeping everybody from getting sick.
“It’s been different, but everybody in the PBR is just happy to go to an event and be able to compete.”
Top-ranked bulls in Nampa?
Chiseled, the top-ranked bull in 2020, and reigning world champion bull Smooth Operator are slated to compete in Nampa.
Smooth Operator will have enjoyed a near two-week break should he compete in Nampa. The bull had his worst outing (42.75 points) in nearly three years at the PBR Wrangler Invitational Oct. 3-4 in Lincoln, Nebraska.
“I don’t know what happened there,” stock contractor Chad Berger said in an interview with PBR.com earlier this week. “We will see what happens in Nampa. Maybe he wasn’t feeling right. Whatever will be, will be. I think he is ready.”
Smooth Operator is currently ranked No. 2 with a 46.03 average. He has only been ridden nine times in 113 attempts at all levels of competition in his seven-year career, according to PBR.
Meanwhile, stock contractor H.D. Page told PBR.com he plans to haul top-ranked Chiseled to Nampa, but hasn’t yet committed to letting him loose after the bull showed signs of soreness. Chiseled was treated with shockwave therapy before making the trip to Idaho.
“I got him on the truck, but we’ll see,” Page told PBR.com. “I figure I couldn’t buck him if he isn’t there. I don’t know. He is really sore, but I hope he can go.”
Chiseled’s world average is just a smidgen ahead of Smooth Operator at 46.06.
Bucking Battle brings top riders, bulls
The best of the best — both bulls and riders — are set to compete in Nampa in the PBR’s special 15/15 Bucking Battle, which will be televised at 1 p.m. MT Sunday on CBS.
If you can’t make it to the PBR’s Nampa stop, the championship round will be broadcast at 8 p.m. MT Saturday on CBS Sports Network.
Although the lineup could change, the current matchups for Friday’s 15/15 competition are as follows:
No. 19 Ramon de Lima vs. No. 43 Good Night Robicheaux
No. 18 Marco Eguchi vs. No. 1 Chiseled
No. 17 Brennon Eldred vs. No. 2 Smooth Operator
No. 15 Alex Cerqueira vs. No. 50 Jive Turkey
No. 14 Mason Taylor vs. No. 13 Stretch
No. 13 Cole Melancon vs. No. 18 Cool Customer
No. 12 Eduardo Aparecido vs. No. 4 Hocus Pocus
No. 11 Derek Kolbaba vs. No. 14 Canadian Mist
No. 10 Ezekiel Mitchell vs. No. 61 War Fury
No. 7 Cooper Davis vs. No. 29 I’m Busted
No. 6 Lucas Divino vs. No. 21 Spotted Demon
No. 4 Daylon Swearingen vs. No. 8 SweetPro’s Bruiser
No. 3 Kaique Pacheco vs. No. 5 I’m Legit Too
No. 2 Joao Ricardo Vieira vs. No. 12 The Right Stuff
No. 1 Jose Vitor Leme vs. No. 7 Smooth Over
Davis eyes grudge match
Davis hopes to get one more shot on Hocus Pocus this weekend in Nampa.
Davis scored a season-high 92.25 aboard Hocus Pocus to win the Lincoln event two weeks ago. Last weekend, Hocus Pocus got the better end of the fight, dispatching Davis after 2.33 seconds in the championship round of the PBR Express Ranches Classic in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Davis still earned a second-place finish in Tulsa, helping him move up to seventh in the rider standings, 827 points back of leader Jose Vitor Leme.
“It’s kind of a love-hate relationship we’ve got going on right now,” Cooper said. “I rode him once and he rode me off once. I guess we need to have that third match.”
