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This blog brought to you by all of our 2008 Calgary Stampede Rodeo sponsors Frontier Western Shop, Pete the Plumber, Zytech Building Systems, and Bowridge Sports in Cochrane.

The Richest day in Rodeo is upon us with $1,015,200.00 will be given out today, no other rodeo not the NFR, CFR, or any of the other major events come close to that dollar figure.

Wild Card Saturday was just that very wild; we talked about all of the injuries in the rough stock events coming in to the day. Well when it was all said and done 2 more Bull Riders and a Saddle Bronc competitor had to withdraw. I wonder how much the nagging injuries will be a factor today with the possibility of at least 2 rides to determine a winner.

Just looking at the day sheet for today the stock is going to be the story of the day in the Rough Stock. Take for instance that the Bull Brian Canter rode for his Calgary Stampede win last year, Garfield, is in the first draw and not the championship go round which indicates the depth of the stock drawn for today.

There are 5 defending Stampede Champions in the field, and considering that only Tana Popino didn’t come back to defend here title this year that speaks to the caliber of Champion that this rodeo produces.

The story for me today is watching Davey Shields Jr. going for his 4th consecutive and 5th overall Stampede title in Bare Back. The Alberta cowboy is a crowd favorite and I am sure when he gets up on his first ride this afternoon the place will go ballistic.

For the record Bare Back will be the only event to feature the defending Stampede Champion, and reigning World and Canadian Champions. Coming into the stampede only Saddle Bronc and Barrel Racing didn’t have representation from all three current Champs.

Here is a list of the best results from the rodeo so far in each event.

Tie Down Roping - 6.6 - Josh Peek on Wild Card Saturday

Steer Wrestling - 3.3 - Baillie Milan on Day 4 (Tue) Pool A

Barrel Racing – 17.29 – Tammy Key Fischer Day 2 (Wed) Pool B

Saddle Bronc – 91.0 – Cody Wright on Cool Alley Day 1 (Tue) Pool B

Bare Back – 90.0 – Bobby Mote on Centennial Day 3 (Thur) Pool B

Bull Riding – 91.0 – Dustin Elliot on A Touch Nervous Day 2 (Sat) Pool A

This Blog brought to you by Bowridge Sports in Cochrane.

Well it has come down to this for 68 competitors at this years Calgary Stampede Rodeo, well they may have cashed cheques in the last week they didn’t get enough to advance to Sundays finale. Today the Stampede will pay out the top six in each pool but it’s the top 2 who earn the real prize which is joining the other 48 athletes already in the pools for the Richest Day in Rodeo.

If you are doing the math at home and you figure I am off by 4 cowboys in my total of entries for today, you are right. 4 competitors have pulled out due to injury or otherwise all coming from 2 of the 3 rough stock events. First off 3 time Stampede Champion Rod Hay has bowed out of the Saddle Bronc on day 3 of Pool B Hay took the extreme measure of trying to qualify by riding with his wrong hand, it didn’t work and he bowed out yesterday. Bryce Miller was bucked off his first 2 rides in Pool B and didn’t take his rides on the last 2 days, but he is scheduled to ride this afternoon. Bare Back has been tough on the cowboys no fewer then 4 were too banged up to make rides during their Pool competitions, and 3 have withdrawn from rodeo all together. Pool A cowboys Tom McFarland and Travis Whiteside appear to be out of wild card Saturday, while Pool B Cowboy Jason Havens has not ridden since Tuesday and has not been assigned a horse to ride today. It should be pointed out that Ryan Gray made enough in his first two rides that he has already qualified for Sunday and is scheduled to give it a go tomorrow.

The final day of Pool B wasn’t with out its drama. In Ladies Barrel Racing we ended up with a 3 way tie for the final spot in Sundays Finale. 3 cowgirls were tied with $6000, and it was Jolene Seitz who finally got the no to skip Saturday and go straight to Sunday due to the calculations of the tie breaking formula.

There were numerous re-rides in Bull Riding yesterday, for some reason the stock in many cases just didn’t want to participate. As a matter of fact they were still holding a re-ride for Pool B winner Mike Lee 30 minutes after everybody had left the grandstands. Lee was easily off to Sunday regardless of the outcome of his 2nd re-ride of Friday, but once again for these riders they are to win everything they possibly can. For the record Lee was bucked off and didn’t add to his total but he still avoided Wild Card Saturday.

For the record it was a pair of Saddle Bronc riders winning the most money in both Pools. The first four days belonged to JJ Elshere who took home $18,500 in day money by far and away the most won by any leader in Pool A. Pool b was dominated by the soft spoken Utah cowboy Cody Wright he won 3 consecutive days in Saddle Bronc before being bucked off on the 4th and final day, but his $15,000 was the most won in Pool B.

The infield looks like it is in great shape for today, yesterday early on it was slick and tough to get a footing on, but today there out spraying some water on it since it was too dry. I give the Stampede board workers a lot of credit they work night and day to make sure the conditions area as good as possible for both the Chucks and the Rodeo.

The end is in sight for the 60 competitors in Pool B here at the Calgary Stampede, as day number 8 is upon us.

Injuries are starting to mount in Pool B Ryan Gray was leading into day number 7, but he didn’t ride. He joins Jason Havens who was hurt on day 1 of this pool that leaves more money for the remaining 8 competitors. In Saddle Bronc, veteran Canadian rider Rod Hay has changed hands to try and qualify; he took two rides yesterday with the wrong hand but was unable to get into the money. Think about that for a second, he has rode all his life one way, and all of a sudden to try and qualify he switched hands it was a minor miracle that he got two rides in. Saddle Bronc is also missing Bryce Miller who didn’t take a yesterday looks like he is out as well.

The Ladies in Barrel Racing weren’t happy with the set up of their track in the first 2 days of Pool B, and they were listened to, as the ground was evened out at the first 2 barrels. Pool leader Lindsay Sears said in our post radio show yesterday that they were much happier with the run after the extra work was put into it, she did win $5000 yesterday so maybe she is biased ( I’m kidding).

It wasn’t 5 minutes after day 7 that the heavens opened up and pelted the infield with hail and lots of rain. When I got here this morning at around 10:30am they were already working on the ring, but man it was mucky. At around noon it is looking much better and with the sun and wind it should dry out nicely.

Today there are some spots in Sunday to be determined in all 6 pools, but there are a number of Cowboys coming into to today’s proceedings with no pressure. How about Cody Wright in Saddle Bronc has won 3 straight go’s in Pool B and has $15,000 already, we will be loose as a goose and probably has a good chance of winning again today.

Today’s Rodeo Blog brought to you by Zytech Building Systems.

Day number 7 of the Rodeo, but more important then that day number 3 of pool B and with just this afternoon and tomorrow to get money there are some Cowboys feeling the heat.

Heat is an interesting issue here at the infield this morning, it is cold, almost toque and mitts cold, and if it stays this way I wonder how much of an affect it will have on stock and competitor alike. The forecast isn’t real positive with some outlets predicting as much as 15 mm’s of rain this afternoon, that will have a huge influence on the outcome as the ring will turn into a mud bog. Yet there is hope, weathermen in Calgary are about as accurate as sports talk show hosts, so who knows maybe it will all blow over.

Was here around 10:30am and watched a couple of ropers fine tuning their gear and horses, didn’t see both of them but one was Hunter Herrin, so we will watch if that helps him. Fred Whitfield in Pool A did the same thing and ended up winning the $5000 in his last 2 go arounds.

Jason Havens did not ride yesterday in Bare Back which leads to speculation that the trouble he had getting off his horse on Tuesday, ended up injuring his riding hand pretty badly. With any luck we are going to get an update on him later today.

I can’t imagine what it must be like for the hundreds of people working behind the scenes here at the rodeo; this is the 7th consecutive day of doing the same thing over and over. It reminds of Baseball, get up go to the ball park, take batting practice, play the game, have a post game meal, and get up and do it all over again tomorrow. Personally I am not one who handles repetition very well. I find that getting up and doing the same thing over and over again challenging, you have to try and re invent your show prep and broadcasts every day so they sound fresh. Hockey is fairly easy, game day, then non game day, there is a rhythm to it, but with 10 consecutive days of the same events it is a change for sure. I love it because I know this year what to expect, but man if you were working the chutes, or helping in the infield I can only imagine that yesterday and today are probably the 2 days you have to pump yourself up for. As of tomorrow you can see the end coming, and once you get to Saturday the final 2 days fly by.

Here is a little perspective we are just 5 days from the opening of training camps of the new Kontinental Hockey League over in Russia and surrounding areas. The KHL has taken a number of big time NHL players, no no they took a number of decent NHL players, well they got Jagr, Emery, and Simon to name a few. I intend to monitor that league quite closely this coming season which starts I believe on September 2nd.

I will give it to Darryl Sutter he is certainly a man of his word, in an interview with Darryl in early May Boomer and I asked why his team didn’t have a “posse” of lieutenants like the Wings or some other teams. It seems to be a trend in hockey now to have a GM and then a number of assistants and special advisors, to this point on trade deadline day or July 1st it has been Darryl alone in his office with Ron Sutter, Mike Holditch, and Mike Burke hanging around outside if he needs them. Well the ranks are starting to swell a bit in the Flames hierarchy as of today, Sutter has added his brother Duane as Director of Player Personnel, and former Flames goalie Jamie McLennan has been give the role of Pro Scout and Director of Goaltending Development.

As I understand it McLennan will work in concert with Flames Goaltending Coach David Marcoux on goaltending through out the system, freeing up David to work mainly with the NHL goalies during the season. Considering that goalie is the position of strength for the Flames in the organization this move makes a lot of sense.

We are into day number 2 of Todd Burtuzzi gate, and I have some rather strong feelings about some trends I am seeing. First off these have nothing to do with the player; I will get to him in a moment. It is truly disappointing to me to see how little actual debate there is on this topic, in the last 24 hours the discussion on this signing has broken down into child like name calling. Let me just say for the umpteenth time I have little interest in having anybody agree with me, but what I am interested in is someone’s opinion, thats it nothing more, nothing less. Yet when I open up my e-mail or open up the Calgary Herald today and read all of these postings with the following terms “your not a fan if” or my personal favorite “bandwagon jumper…” I can’t help but scream give me a freakin break.

While I am not mad at anyone particular person, as a group it is getting more and more disjointing that what use to be heated debates on real topics have degenerated into simple school yard name calling. I have talked about it on Overtime and on Sportsline as a society it really pisses me off where we are headed to. For a couple of countries that pride itself on being open democracies, Canada and the US sure have become havens for xenophobic people. Either you agree with me and are like me or there is something wrong with you! It started in American political coverage, but now it permeates through all aspects of our society. Sorry about the preaching today but this whole process is pissing me off, lets debate the merits of this signing and this individual and leave at that.

For those who insist on calling into question someone’s fitness as a Flames fan because they don’t share your feelings, and for those who believe you either agree with Burtuzzi signing or you are a “bandwagon jumper” answer this for me. What, or who is a Fan? You can’t, no one can, fan’s come in all shapes and sizes and with varying degrees of dedication, and none is more valuable then another.

For those of you who are not going to cheer for the Flames since they signed Burtuzzi I admire your principles but I have a question for you? If you are prepared to quit caring about your team because they signed this player, why didn’t you quit caring about hockey 4 years ago when this went down in the first place?

I hope you understand that I think this is a very important debate, and I don’t care which side you come down on, but honestly can’t we just debate this with out the personal attack bull s*** coming into it?

For the record I have talked twice to the Flames in the past 2 days and to this point no one has cancelled a season ticket, and while I do expect there will be those who do follow through on their threats, I refer back to my original post on this topic, this will burn hot for the next couple of weeks and likely be over by the time camp rolls around.

Have the Flames lost fans? Yes I do believe they have, not as many as some probably think but there is no doubting that this move has made some people mad.

I have had a couple of days to think about the on ice impact of this move, and while I did answer Dean Molberg’s question on Monday that I think if the moons align and stars all match up that Todd could score 30 goals again, I am not sure how realistic it is to lean on astrology to make predictions. Burtuzzi has worked extra hard in the couple of days to try and fit in, I did a talk show in Vancouver and they were shocked when I told them Bert did a live interview on our station. He comes with the reputation as a difficult guy for teammates and media alike, if he starts slow I real wonder if he won’t become a distraction. In my eyes he is the same on ice gamble that the Flames took on Tony Amonte, Jeff Friesen, and Owen Nolan, I would venture a guess that most of us probably agree that Nolan was the only one that paid any real dividends.

One unrelated Calgary Flames note or observation, has anybody else noticed that after calling him an elite coach after the end of the season Darryl Sutter has been very matter of fact about Mike Keenan. When speaking to the media about his July 2nd signings and the Burtuzzi signing Sutter brushed off questions about Keenan’s input in player transactions, saying that coaches coach nothing more. I get the sense that the honeymoon maybe over between Iron Mike and his former pupil for this season coming, I don’t know it may just be me.

A couple of NHL thoughts, Ray Emery is going to Russia this year, I guess who choose 2 million tax free over a 2 way contract. How about the Blues signing Bernier to an offer sheet, tit for tat I guess, all of this coming in the same week Bettman lectures Burke and Lowe. This league needs rivalries, so Gary stay the hell out of the way and let the kids fight.

Today’s Blog is brought to you by Frontier Western Shop in Claresholm who have outfitted the FAN960 crew in western wear for the Stampede.

Day 1 of Pool B was fairly eventful, with 3 first place ties in the 6 pools. Barrel Racing, Steer Wrestling, and Bare back saw 2 competitors each split the 1st and 2nd place money. On the surface it may not seem like much but remember two of these events are timed which speaks to the caliber of performers here in Calgary.

Yesterday saw the infield a little sticky and slick at the same time, the rain form the day before really had an impact on the grounds. That said it was rather amazing to see the ring when I got here at 10:30am and how it was worked over before the 1:30pm start. Today they are already working hard dry it out even more for today, not that the cowboys would complain, but watch for times to be half to a full second quicker today.

An update on Bull Rider Tyler Pankewitz from Alberta, who was stomped on Monday afternoon in the final performance of Pool A, the unofficial word, is he suffered a concussion. We will have to wait until Saturday to see if he gives it a go in the Wild Card event. The Stampede and the cowboys themselves are tight lipped usually about injuries that is except for the PBR. The PBR provides a number of the Bull Riders for the Stampede and are a stand alone rodeo organization that only put on Bull Riding events. If you go to their website www.pbrnow.com they have the most amazing information on each rider and the injuries they have suffered. I know the NHL GM’s are all in a fluster over the divulging of information on injuries and how they would like to not have to give out injury information, the PBR is a breath of fresh air. I understand that Bulls won’t be reading the website information so there is no competitive advantage, that’s the code word for going after a know injured body part, yet it is refreshing to see a professional organization putting such a priority on useful information. By the way if the NFL can release detailed injury information, surely to GOD the NHL can.

Day 2 in Pool B should prove to be interesting; in Pool A we saw a spike in penalties and knocked down barrels as the athletes tried to even the gap between those who picked up cheques on day 1 and those who go skunked. I can’t see that trend ending any times soon.

We will also be watching with great interest to see if Bare Back rider Jason Havens returns to action today. The 31 year old got his hand hung up on his mount yesterday as he tried to get off at the end of the ride. Haven’s was violently spun around by Atomic Betty as he tried to keep up with the horse while running beside it. I am not positive but I am pretty sure Jason saved himself by tipping the horse over on to her side. Peter Maher once told me not to try and be a doctor from the broadcast booth, but I can’t help but think that Havens didn’t suffer a fractured hand at the very least.

This blog brought to you by Pete the Plumber!

Day 4 was a wild one, I have done a lot of radio remotes in my time, more then anybody I know, I have never had to cut a broadcast short because a threat of electrocution, but that’s what happened at the end of Bull Riding. The weather, which had held off until the end, hit the infield hard and pretty quick our broadcast equipment was swamped. While I am no engineer, I do know that water plus electronics usually doesn’t work out very well, but everybody survived.

Just after we went off the air there was a bad wreck in the bull Riding, Alberta rider Tyler Pankewitz was stomped hard by a bull known as cuttin’ corners, and in the pouring rain Tyler was carried out of the infield on a stretcher. He was taken to hospital, and as of noon this morning I haven’t heard any word on his condition but when we get it we will pass it along.

Also up in the air right now is the final standing in Pool A in both Bull Riding and Bare Back. The dollars aren’t final in Bull Riding due to an outstanding re ride that could impact which 4 cowboys will move straight to Sunday. It is quite possible that a determination has been made, but it hasn’t been communicated to us, hopefully by the time we go to air we will know. The same in Bare Back I am not sure what we should tell you since we have a tie for 4th place, I doubt 5 cowboys will advance I am sure they have a tie breaking system in place, but it hasn’t been circulated to us.

Rodeo is different for someone like me who is used to the NHL were they overwhelm you with information, some useful and some not so much. In Rodeo you do have to a lot of rooting around for info, that’s not a complaint, just an observation.

For the complete results and who is moving on and who is going to wild card Saturday I would direct you to the stampede website.

www.calgarystampede.com

Just go to the Rodeo section and follow the links.

Day 5 brings us a new group of 60 competitors who for the next day will try and avoid having to perform on Saturday as they want to be in the top 4 of their pool to go straight to next Sundays finale.

What happens for the 60 people in Pool A, well some will stick around and enjoy Calgary, but a great majority will go compete at other Rodeo’s and come back for the weekend.

Just a quick note yesterday on Steer Wrestler Tanner Milan of Cochrane, on Sunday he jumped right into the horn of his steer, and I am here to tell you at the time it didn’t look good. After spending time in the hospital on Sunday night he showed up here yesterday and put up a 3.8 good for 2nd place money. Some just expected Tanner to show up and take a no time and try and heal up for Saturday, he had other things on his mind. In the span of just 24 hours to go from looking like he was done for a while and to come back in obvious pain and compete like that, well it was an honor to watch.

Today’s rodeo blog brought to you by Pete the Plumber the superhero of plumbing!

Day 3 wrapped up yesterday with more questions then answers, setting up a real interesting day 4. The 60 competitors in pool A have until today to finish in the top four in their group in total day money if they want to avoid having to come back next Saturday for the wild card event. Finish in the top 4 in your pool and you’re off until next Sunday when you will be part of the richest day in rodeo. Day 3 traditionally sees some money leaders run and hide from the competition and while that happened for JJ Elshere in Saddle Bronc and Fred Whitfield in Tie down all of the other pools thickened up heading into today’s action.

Look no further then Ladies Barrel Racing and Bull Riding as 2 of the 6 competitions with a lot yet to be determined. Barrel Racing is top heavy with a number of Ladies with money already won and a big check could catapult someone in to Sunday if some of the top racers fail to pick up a cheque. In Bull riding the money is spread out after 3 days and a big ride and $5000 could literally take someone with no money and put them into Sunday’s finale.

Weather has been a non issue to this point but rain looks like it is going to threaten again today. The infield looks like it is good shape, but the track behind the stands is pretty mucky, or at least it was around mid morning.