LAS VEGAS, N.V. – Adjustments are the name of the game in professional sports. After an opening-night no-time to kick off his third National Finals Rodeo, steer wrestler Bridger Anderson made some changes. Namely, he’s taken a better start, and the result is $54,061 earned over the last two nights. His most recent payday came with a 3.9-second run to finish in a tie for second place in Saturday’s third round.
“On that first run, I just got an OK start, and that steer ran pretty good, a lot harder than we thought he was going to,” said Anderson, 27, of Carrington, North Dakota. “I stayed in my lane and thought that steer was going to go straight. That steer just faded to the right a little bit.
“You need to ride to the cattle on every run, because this is the hardest place in the world to haze, and there’s no fault at all to my hazer. I needed to ride one to maybe two more strides to that steer, and I could have caught.”
That’s exactly what has to happen to post a sub-4-second run. For doing that, Anderson earned $25,431 Saturday night, extending his season earnings to $163,388.
“We got off to a rough start there,” said Anderson, who moved to ninth in the world standings. “I thought I cleaned it up tonight and got all of that start and had a good steer. We’ll just keep trying to make the best runs we can.
“So far, every time we’ve nailed the barrier or got close to the barrier, we’ve gotten a pretty good check out of it.”
That’s true. Steers are given a head start, and bulldoggers must stay behind a barrier line in front of the timed-event box long enough to provide the animal with a big enough lead. Breaking the barrier leads to a 10-second penalty; being too far off it results in being out of the money.
Anderson is on a roll now, but he’s also taking the time to do important things while in Las Vegas. Part of his business is giving back, so he spent some of his Saturday with the Golden Circle of Champions, which benefits pediatric cancer. He and other NFR contestants spent time with the children and their families and honored them during Gold Night at the rodeo.
“That Golden Circle of Champions is a pretty awesome deal,” Anderson said. “The pediatric cancer champions that come in that are battling for their lives puts into perspective what we have going on. It’s pretty minuscule in the grand scheme of things. It’s kind of a reality check, and it really makes you appreciate being healthy, your family being healthy and getting to live out your dreams.”
World champions will be crowned in a week, but life’s champions were celebrated Saturday, December 6th in Las Vegas.