Over the years, the Boston Garden has provided much excitement in many forms of sports…the Boston Celtics and their NBA championships, the Boston Bruins and their Stanley Cup championships, but Boston delivered a new excitement – the sport of Professional Bull Riding – ‘Unleash The Beast.’ Using the clever spinoff name for their Boston shows: “One if by Dirt, Two if by Sea,” the PBR connected neatly with American poet, Henry W. Longfellow’s “One, if by land, and two, if by sea,” the phrase he used in his poem – ‘Paul Revere’s Ride.’ That well-known phrase was a signal to alert the arrival of the British troops to Boston to begin the American Revolutionary War. Only this time it was spun with “One if by Dirt, Two if by Sea” by the PBR, as a ‘heads up’ warning that the thundering bulls and their fearless riders were coming to the Garden for two shows (Friday and Saturday). Those who may not be familiar with PBR rules, the challenge is to stay aboard the bull for eight seconds to receive a score, each ride is worth up to 100 points: 50 points each for the bull and the rider, if he successfully rides the bull for eight seconds. Four judges award 25 points each to rider and the bull, points are added together and divided in half to reach a score between 0 and 50 for both the rider and the bull. Those final numbers are combined for a final ride score between 0 and 100.
The excitement was overwhelming, and for that reason, both PBR events were sellouts, with outstanding performances by both the bulls and the riders, and judging by the crowd’s reactions, they certainly got their money’s worth. Australian Brady Fielder topped his Friday night first-round number of 86.8 atop Uptown Funk as one of the 22 riders who moved on. Following the showcase, the eventual PBR Boston winner on Saturday was Fielder on the bull Eyes On Me, posting a point total of 91.20, for his first win of the year, after having delivered a solid 87.15 on board Cliff Hanger. It was a back and forth night with Fielder and Marco Rizzo changing positions in the standings. At the end of the night, Rizzo’s 215.50 points allowed him to hold onto the number one spot in the World Standings by the narrow margin of 27.50 points over Fielder. In what was a most interesting Saturday night event, four riders at some point had the lead. Finishing up Saturday night, the top five riders listed: 1. Brady Fielder (Australia), 2. Marco Rizzo (Georgia), 3. John Crimber (Texas), 4. Claudio Montanha Jr. (Texas), and Clay Guiton (North Carolina). If you missed this year’s PBR Boston event, be sure to catch their next Boston stop, as the success of this year’s event will surely warrant a stop the next time around.