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41 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, January 27, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Opportunities Moving to Southern Oregon? MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend October 24, 2004 Matt Allison fights bulls for a living. He�ll be at it again when the Wild Rogue Pro Rodeo wraps up three days of competition today. Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Rodeo bullfighter’s job is to keep the bulls from killing the cowboys By BILL VARBLE Mail Tribune Matt Allison never knows how ornery a bull he’ll wind up fighting. Of course, when you’re facing an angry, 2,000-pound creature with horns, orneriness is a relative concept. "Really nasty, hooky bulls that’ll go for anything that moves are easier to work," he says. "Bulls that half the time just run around the arena, those are the ones you gotta watch." Allison fought bulls Friday night at the Wild Rogue Pro Rodeo at the Jackson County Expo. One of the last qualifying competitions before the National Finals Rodeo in December in Las Vegas, the event draws top-rated professional rodeo cowboys and barrel racers from throughout the country. "Right now I’m fine," Allison says Saturday afternoon. "I didn’t take any beating last night." Allison took the time Saturday to sign autographs at a Central Point grocery store. He was to fight bulls again Saturday night and at 2 p.m. today, when the rodeo wraps up. Advertisement Allison, 26, knew he wanted to fight rodeo bulls by the time he was 3. A photo of him at a rodeo at that age that was picked up by a number of newspapers testified to his interest. The summer the Grants Pass native graduated from high school, a friend who was riding bulls had a practice pen with five or six animals. "I asked him if I could come out," Allison says. "I kind of got hooked on it." He turned professional in 2000 and joined the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association circuit, appearing in as many as 30 rodeos a year. Bullfighters are scouted and drafted into the PRCA, a bit like college football players into the NFL. In the early days of rodeo, the clown’s job was to entertain crowds between events, but the job soon evolved into protecting bull riders from death at the hand — or the feet — of rampaging bulls. Unlike a horse, which will try to avoid stepping on a man on the ground, a bull wants to attack anything and anybody in its path. Nowadays, PRCA events typically have two bullfighters like Allison, whose job is to protect cowboys, and a clown or barrel man, who sometimes stays inside of just what the job title suggests, then emerges to entertain the crowd and help distract the bull if necessary. The goal is simple: keep the bull from killing the cowboy. "It’s the Secret Service of rodeo," Allison says. As with many dangerous jobs, the key is to anticipate trouble and head it off. "It’s about being in the right place at the right time," Allison says. "You get where you can read the situation." Of course, it doesn’t always work out. And sometimes a bull will throw a rider, go on the attack and get within the last couple of feet separating it from a down cowboy. "When a guy’s on the ground and the bull gets that close, it’s in a zone," Allison says. "Sometimes there’s nothing you can do, and even sticking your finger up his nose doesn’t do it. We gotta jump in and try to make him forget that cowboy’s lying there." Bulls have careers that last for years, and cowboys say they learn from their mistakes, get smarter and actually adjust their strategies. Allison has broken a leg, broken many ribs and dislocated both shoulders, twice. He broke a foot when his ankle was pinned against a panel and the bull hit him. "If you’re goin’ hard, you’re usually pretty beat up," he says. "I don’t go to doctors a lot unless I got something sticking out or something." Once when he was trying to rescue a cowboy he had hold of the tail of the bull’s rope, and the bull got its head under his arm and popped it out of the shoulder socket. Having had a dislocated shoulder before, Allison recognized the feeling. The bull then flipped him in the air, and when Allison came down he landed on the shoulder and popped the arm back into place. "The bull did me a favor," he says. Allison was one of only 10 bullfighters invited to work a bull auction at the PRCA nationals, but he works less than he used to. He married, bought a home, is down to 10 or 12 rodeos a year now. He’d like to raise bulls. He says the hardest part of the business is not the bulls but the business itself. "It’s real political," he says. "You’re on the road nonstop, living out of hotels. It’s rough on you." But he doesn’t figure to get out altogether. He enjoys the camaraderie, hanging around the cowboys, the adrenaline. "It gets your blood pumping," he says. "A lot of times I’ll jump in, and when you’re 10 feet in the air it feels like it takes a half-hour to come down." The Wild Rogue Pro Rodeo continues at 2 p.m. today at the Jackson County Expo in Central Point. General admission is $14. Reach reporter Bill Varble at 776-4478 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? 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