Inside the PBR Arena, America Feels United Again

Never has so much beer been consumed at a sporting event…with so few fights.

This has become a weekly occurrence at PBR, now on a remarkable run that includes selling out all three days at Madison Square Garden last weekend, following its sold-out Boston debut to start the new year.

There’s much to marvel at in professional bull riding, starting with the David-versus-Goliath pairing of diminutive cowboys and dominating bulls on a playing field of real dirt – sports in its most elemental purity.

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The mismatched showdowns wrapped in a rock concert atmosphere have drawn nearly 150,000 fans to PBR events in the first 15 days of January. The biggest rush to the turnstiles for a 34-year-old organization is happening in cities where outside the arena, tensions flare like the Sharks and Jets sizing each other up before a rumble.

Yet, inside, the stands are nothing but positive vibes, aisle dancing, good-natured chaos, and off-key singing, with no fists thrown.

A PBR rider standing on the fence after a ride entertaining the crowd. — Bull Stock Media

What is going on here?

A brutally beautiful dirt sport is helping soothe The Great Divide?

This is true: in 10 years going to bull riding events, I don’t remember seeing a single fist fight among the fans.

Inside the home of the Celtics and Bruins, the Boston crowd was measured at 110 decibels – louder than many rock concerts. It’s rowdy but not hostile. Boisterous but never belligerent. The energy runs high; the tempers don’t.

Bull rider Andrew Alvidrez blames cowboy respect. Fans put on the hat and the boots, scan the ticket, grab a beverage, and even if not a conscious decision, they take on cowboy values – courteous, civil and considerate.

Retired rider Luke Snyder, known for his toughness and consistency in qualifying for 13 PBR World Finals, believes the communal camaraderie “begins with a united story of Americana in the openings to set the pace for a feel-good, extremely exciting, edge-of-your seat experience.”

Actor Neal McDonough (“Yellowstone,” “Tulsa King”, “Band of Brothers”), a Boston native whose mother and father landed in the city from Ireland, has shot 10 Westerns – his favorite genre – including most recently “The Last Rodeo” – playing a retired champion bull rider making a highly questionable comeback to pay for lifesaving medical support for his grandson.

At PBR, McDonough observes another familial band of brothers, where a cowboy atop the leaderboard gunning for a $50,000 check heads into the bucking chutes to pull the rope of a competitor who will go into the lead – and take his money –if he stays on for 8 seconds.

“Everyone is rooting for the eight seconds all night long,” said McDonough who with his wife Ruvé is part owner of the Austin Gamblers team.

“Every rider is rooting for every other rider. They’re helping their competitors going for the same pot of money! There’s amazing positivity in the building, something appreciated by even us knucklehead sports fans in Boston.”

There was a sense of appreciation inside Madison Square Garden as well.

Last Sunday morning, Grazyna Schulz, 76, was set to attend her first bull riding event. She woke up not feeling well. But she had agreed to take her friend Margaret to the Garden and kept the commitment. From the time the cowboys removed cover for the opening prayer, through to the last ride, she felt an experience like every other sporting event.

PBR riders in a background of laser lights. — Bull Stock Media

There was no anger. No bad blood. Everyone was pulling for the riders to make the 8 seconds, for the bull to jump and kick as fast and high as possible.

“I was inspired and energized,” she said. “I felt well again. I walked out of the area smiling and happy.”

Two Polish immigrants at their first bull riding. They felt like they belonged. And they did belong.

The only downside was choosing Championship Sunday for their introduction to PBR. They would have come back on Monday for more, Grazyna said.

For five days in packed-to-the-rafter houses in New York and Boston, Cowboys were defying good sense and gravity. Some were launched from the bull like a midlife crisis billionaire’s rocket. A few were stepped on and back boarded out. (All will be fine). Lots of beer was consumed, sometimes from a boot. And not a single fight.

Bull riding feels like America as it should be. Guys of different colors and backgrounds trying their asses off against incredible odds, knocked down, getting back up. God’s precious animals celebrated and revered. A place of acceptance and belonging governed by old-fashioned courtesy and respect.

Having an absolute blast in a big pulsating party of courage and grit in an arena full of strangers who feel like friends is becoming a fashionable ticket to score.

If only this were America outside the arena, too.