One of many mini-documentaries about the sport of bull riding

I am a big fan of the sport of bull riding and as such I have viewed and/or purchased a number of these bull riding documentary videos. This one was typical in many ways - it focused on the lives and participation of a handful of bull riders currently (as of the video's production several years ago) making a run for the championship title. Being five years old, a few of the riders are still in the sport, a couple have retired, and one or two are in the 'who are they?' category for having apparently moved on a while ago.

It's a well-made documentary, as most of these are, and we get to know something about the bull riders by the interviews and glimpses of their family life at home and as they travel in pursuit of the championship. If there is one thing I noticed about this video it's that it seemed to me to be noticeably secular... while a large percentage of bull riders are not only Christian but very outspoken in their beliefs, I don't think I heard so much as one time in this documentary where any bull rider even uttered the word "God"; there may have been a couple of brief scenes where there was some praying going on but it was not highlighted and you probably would miss it if you weren't watching for it. One of the main riders in the video, Mike Lee, is very much the unabashed Christian yet somehow that never was mentioned at all. It is very common for bull riders to include "praise God" or something more specific during their remarks as they credit their relationship with God for their talent and success and protection. Somehow that just didn't make it into this video. Other videos show riders praying - individually, off in a corner or even in the arena after a ride; sometimes they show them praying as a group in the locker-room area and in one recent documentary, two riders pray together and we get to hear what they are saying. This is part and parcel of the sport of bull riding for so many of the riders, how it did not make it into this documentary almost seems like it had to be by design that it was omitted. Perhaps, perhaps not, but I couldn't help noticing it. 

Anyhow, the strength of this one for me was that it explained the way the PBR works, with the lower-level "Challenger" series as sort of a minor-league and the World Cup (currently, the Built-Ford-Tough) series for the bigger names with the higher rankings - and how riders make it from Challenger to World Cup participation, or vice-versa.

In all, it's a fairly typical video, we see video footage of wrecks and injuries and the "show" with fireworks etc. at the start of typical events. I find all of these bull riding documentaries to be interesting in their own ways and this one is at least average, but for me, even an 'average' bull riding video is quite interesting. Worth the watching.

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