Building a bridge to the 19th century...
Tuf Cooper is good with numbers. From memory, he can tell you how much he won at the first rodeo on his PRCA permit — $743.37, Hattiesburg, Miss. — how much he won in his first PRCA rodeo as a card holder — $1,023, Huntsville, Texas — and how much he got for his first rodeo win — $5,371.03, Logandale, Nev.. Now he’s got a new milestone to commit to memory, and it’s a big one.
On Feb. 22, 2013, Cooper became the youngest cowboy to reach $1 million in career earnings, surpassing that milestone at the San Angelo Rodeo just 22 days after his 23rd birthday. It broke the 20-year-old record of 23 years, 9 months, set by ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductee Ty Murray during the Fourth of July run in 1993.
“That is a very cool thing to be in the same category with Ty Murray at least once in my career, considering all that he has accomplished in the sport,” Cooper said. “It’s amazing. It means a lot to me. I can still remember when I was about 9 years old and it was between him and my dad [Hall of Famer Roy Cooper] for who was going to become the first $2 million cowboy.” It was Roy.
Cooper surpassed the $1 million milestone by winning the third round of the calf roping in San Angelo, worth $2,981, and, ironically, the first check he has ever won at this rodeo.
With checks for finishing second to Justin Maass in the Feb. 23 final and third in the average behind Maass (34.2 seconds on four head) and Scott Kormos, Cooper departed San Angelo with his career total at $1,008,168.. PRCA
COYOTES OF THE WEEK
Comcast, the nation’s largest cable provider, no longer accepts advertisements from businesses selling guns.
What do you get when you mix up the Central Asian countries of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan? Apparently the new putative country of “Kyrzakhstan,” if you’re John Kerry, the new U.S. secretary of state. Secretary of State John Kerry had a slip of the tongue while delivering his first major public address as America’s top diplomat. Why the long face, John?
According to the Wall Street Journal, Barack Obama’s Labor department has now collected the private account information “on over 19 million IRA holders who hold $1.79 trillion in assets through 25.3 million IRA accounts.” Uh-oh.
Alabama high school psychology teacher Bob Grisham has been suspended for 10 days without pay for a rant that included calling the first lady “fat-butt Michelle Obama.” Grisham’s suspension from Lauderdale County High School begins on Tuesday, and he has been barred from teaching his class for the rest of the school year and ordered to attend sensitivity training. Also the school’s head football coach, he will be assigned “other academic duties’’ for the rest of the year in place of teaching his class. First Amendment does not apply to remarks about Michelle.
SAYIN’S
“The more he looked inside, the more Piglet wasn’t there.” — A.A.Milne.
Send us a sayin’ or quote and if we use it, we’ll both be surprised.
COWBOYS & RANCHERS ADVISORY PANEL
Flying increases flatulence, according to an article published last week in the peer-reviewed New Zealand Medical Journal and passengers should release the gas — or risk painful medical consequences. That’s been my excuse.
Participating in a gun buy-back because you believe that the criminals have too many guns is like having yourself castrated because you believe that the neighbors have too many kids.
Obama regime using sequester as excuse to release hundreds of illegal immigrants. Because of the sequester, the end of the world as we know it is right around the corner, according to Obama. If he’s wrong, this column will be here next week.
WHERE TO BUNCH UP
Springville Sierra Rodeo April 26-28.
