Knowing Taos Muncy, his 2007 saddle bronc riding world championship might never sink in.

Just like he said his College National Finals Rodeo win in June wouldn't sink in.

Just like he said his Cheyenne Frontier Days win in July wouldn't sink in.

"It's kinda unreal, just like all the rest of 'em," Muncy said on Saturday after clinching the gold buckle at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. "You hope for it, you expect it sometimes � you know, you always have your goals � but I never seen it comin' this fast. It's real shocking to actually do well here."

"Do well" is an understatement.

Muncy, the 20-year-old wunderkind from Corona, N.M., finished second in the aggregate standings and shot from fourth in world standings to first as his three biggest competitors fell off.

For the first few days at Las Vegas' Thomas & Mack Center, Muncy was overwhelmed by the magnitude of the event. The bright lights, the 17,000-plus fans, the legendary field.

But he said, if anything, the memories of the CNFR at the Casper Events Center settled him down for the rest of the Finals. Winning the college championship gave Muncy some idea of the pressure that he'd find in Vegas.

"You try to qualify for the high school finals and then the college finals, and then you're on," said the Oklahoma Panhandle State cowboy, who won $91,755 in Las Vegas and $201,133 for the year. "It's a stepping stone � you get in that pressure situation at the CNFR, first."

Unlike Muncy, bull rider Ted Bert of Cal Poly-San Lois Obispo said that no other rodeos can compare to the Finals. Bert won the first go-round at the CNFR and ultimately finished ninth, but that was no match for the glitz and glamour of Sin City.

"None, honestly," Bert said of any comparison between the two events. "This is a whole different deal. Sure, any big rodeo's gonna prepare you for averages if you ride consistently. But I don't know if there is anything to prepare you for this.

"It's a different deal when you ride down that tunnel, I'll tell you."

Like Muncy, Bert found his jaw on the floor as he peered around the arena early in the week. Not that it affected him � Bert rode his first two bulls, collecting more than $15,000 and rode five for the week, finishing fourth in the aggregate standings.

Along with fellow NFR competitor, Steven Dent (Ranger College), who won $6,214 and $73,469 for the year, Muncy and Bert represent a new influx of talent into the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.

These new cowboys have professional attitudes that come along with professional paychecks, 10 times what they made just 30 years ago.

"Rodeo has come a long way," calf roper Houston Hutto said. "The junior rodeos are getting bigger, the high school rodeos are getting bigger. You could easily say a new era is coming in."

Added five-time all-around champion Trevor Brazile: "I see a lot of talent come up, and I've seen a lot of guys who are more business-minded trying to get the job done. They try not to shorten their careers by acting ignorant. Shoot, if you don't do well in this business, then you have to get a real job."

Central Oregon team roper Brandon Beers ranks among world's best despite rough '07

It began as nothing less than a magical, Cinderella season for Brandon Beers. The 21-year-old Powell Butte cowboy, who didn't break into the top 100 headers in 2006, spent much of this year as the No. 1 team roper in the land.

He was partnered with his father, former world team roping champion Mike Beers, and it seemed as though the father-and-son duo couldn't strike out. After a big-money win at the famous RodeoHouston in March that catapulted the team to the top of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association world standings, the Beers boys went on to set 11 arena records in 2007, including a new speed standard at the Sisters Rodeo and another at the Chief Joseph Days Rodeo in Joseph.

Then, the clock struck midnight and everything turned for the worst. Brandon Beers' three most vital assets in the rodeo arena — his heeling partner and both of his competition horses — were all sidelined with serious injuries in the span of one month.

"I've had a great year at some points, and at others it's been horrible," the younger Beers reflected this week by phone from Texas, where he was spending Thanksgiving with his mother.

Mike Beers, of Post, was bucked off a horse during a practice session in late July and suffered a broken pelvis. The season wasn't a complete loss, as doctors said the 1984 world champion heeler should recover in time to be back in the saddle come December's National Finals Rodeo.

"I was sick, I was worried," Brandon Beers said, recalling his reaction to his 49-year-old father's midsummer mishap. "He's made it so easy. If I did my job, we won. All I had to worry about was me, and that was a great feeling. He didn't make any mistakes this year, other than getting on that horse and getting bucked off."

Then, in August, Brandon Beers rolled his truck and trailer during an early-morning haul to Hermiston from a rodeo in northern Washington. The accident "just about killed both horses," Beers said. The cowboy was unhurt, but his two prized horses were badly banged up with head lacerations and other cuts.

"I was on a back road … and the front tire on my truck hit some deep sand and it just pulled me over," Beers recounted. "I went to open the windows (on the trailer) and all I could see was a lot of blood. It was a bad night. I wrecked at 1 a.m. and didn't get the horses out till 5 a.m.

"Those horses still haven't recovered," continued Beers, who praised the work of Bend Equine Medical Center, where his horses were eventually treated. "They'll be better, sooner or later, but not just at this moment."

Despite the setbacks, the Beers' lucrative early-season surge was plenty to secure a spot at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. The world championship rodeo begins its 10-day run on Dec. 6. There, Brandon will ride Cadillac, a horse lent to him by Riley Minor, a Washington team roper who narrowly missed qualifying for the NFR.

Father and son are meeting next week in Arizona — Mike Beers' part-time residence — for the first time since Mike's injury to get in a few practice runs before heading to Las Vegas. Brandon was initially concerned that his father might push himself too hard to be ready in time. But he said he has his dad's assurance that he's feeling good and ready to rope.

"He says there's not much pain," Brandon offered. "He thinks he shouldn't be a step behind, just where he was when he left off."

And it's not as though Mike Beers needs the practice. His professional rodeo career has spanned nearly three decades, and he has now qualified for the National Finals Rodeo 21 times.

"(His layoff) doesn't bother me. I'll be ready and I know he'll be ready," said Brandon Beers. "I'm excited, but I'm really nervous, too."

Brandon, a Crook County High School graduate, said he charted a course toward qualifying for the NFR back in 2005, when he was in Las Vegas to accept the PRCA's Rookie of the Year award for headers. But his results the following year brought little to call home about.

The difference this year, he said without hesitation, has been the horses. Beers purchased two new mounts for the 2007 rodeo season, a palomino he calls "Yeller," and "Blowfish," who recently earned runner-up honors for the PRCA's Heading Horse of the Year award. Blowfish, Beers noted, had never been to a rodeo before this year.

"My horses were phenomenal," he said. "They were as good as you can possibly have, (and) that makes a huge difference.

"They like what they do," Beers continued. "You don't have to go out and tune on them to make them do stuff. You never back into the box and worry that they're not going to do what you want them to. They just do it."

After his dad was sidelined, the younger Beers couldn't match his early-season success while continuing to travel the rodeo circuit with other roping partners. Since August, Beers has earned only a little more than $10,000 and fell from first to third in the PRCA world standings. He enters the NFR with $88,987 in regular-season earnings, trailing the world heading leader by approximately $20,000. Mike Beers remains at $77,500 — his total earnings as of July. He has dropped to fourth place in the world rankings and trails the No. 1 heeler by some $30,000.

"It hasn't felt the same," said Brandon Beers of competing without his father. "Him and I had kind of a chemistry going. We got on a roll; it was great. It didn't feel like we could ever do anything wrong. (Since then), it hasn't been horrible, but it hasn't been great."

Beers noted that coming back to Central Oregon last weekend for the Columbia River Circuit Finals — where he teamed up with Dean Tuftin of Prineville to win the team-roping average — was good medicine.

"Being home for the circuit finals was as good for me as anything," he said. "Everybody is so supportive. You got the guys in town who own the feed store, they know who you are and seen you grow up and are happy to see you doing good."

And with a tumultuous season behind him, Brandon Beers is glad December is finally almost here.

"Without the wreck and my dad going crippled," he said plainly, "there wouldn't have been nothin' wrong with it."

I'm often asked "when's rodeo season" or "what's the status of rodeo season."

I've learned to say that we're always in rodeo season though there are rare times that rodeo activities are less intense.

When a person opts to participate at the top level of rodeos and horse shows, there will be little or no rest. For example, the first Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association events were in the first week of January and the National Finals Rodeo ends Dec. 9. The season for Professional Bull Riders' top series began Nov. 18 and ends Nov. 5. The National Cutting Horse Association circuit also goes year round.

And some competitors also have children on the high school or collegiate circuits from September through June.

For example, Texas High School Rodeo Association Region III (the North Texas area) concluded its regular season last weekend at Cowtown Coliseum, and the top competitors will advance to the Texas High School Rodeo Finals in June in Abilene. This weekend, Tarleton State will compete in the Howard College Rodeo in Big Spring, closing the regular season for the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association Southwest Region. Top competitors will advance to the College National Finals Rodeo in June in Casper, Wyo.

Unlike most other college athletes, college rodeo competitors can compete on both the collegiate and pro levels. For example, Texas Tech bareback riding star Ryan Gray excelled at the 2005 College National Finals in Wyoming and the PRCA's 2005 Wrangler ProRodeo Winter Tour Finale in Reno, Nev., during the same week. The Reno rodeo helped Gray earn his first bareback berth in the NFR.

Rodeo and horse show circuits are different than mainstream sports such as football. Actual NFL competition runs from early September to late January or early February.

Briefly

Dylan Branson of Burleson won the boy's all-around and Shelby Smith of Stephenville won the girl's all-around at the Texas High School Rodeo Association Region III Finals last weekend.

Guilherme Marchi of Decatur earned $17,550, finishing second at the PBR's Built Ford Tough Series tour stop Friday and Saturday in Chicago.

Fox Sports plans to broadcast the PBR's Oct. 29 World Finals performance from Las Vegas. It's among three shows that the network has scheduled.

Tarleton State's men finished second in the team race at Tarleton's annual rodeo in Stephenville.

Trevor Brazile of Decatur and Rich Skelton of Llano tied for first in team roping with Nelson Linares and Travis Woodard at the PRCA Wrangler ProRodeo Winter Tour stop last week in Red Bluff, Calif.

Kyle Bowers says he ran out of rodeos to enter, and that's from a man who competed in almost 100 of them this year.

The 28-year-old from Brooks goes into the Canadian Finals Rodeo starting tomorrow with a lot of kilometres under his belt and a fair bit of money in his pockets.

Bowers, the 2003 Canadian bareback champion, went hard on both sides of the border and qualified for both the CFR, with a total prize purse of $1 million Cdn, and the National Finals Rodeo, with prize money of over $5 million US, next month in Las Vegas.

SECOND IN THE WORLD

Bowers entered the maximum 100 rodeos and says he made it to 95. His season earnings of $106,670 puts him second in the world behind Will Lowe of Canyon, Texas.

But any money he wins at the CFR won't count towards his world ranking. Bowers thinks he'll have a hard time hanging on to second as Andy Martinez of Pavilion, Wyoming, is hot on his heels and will likely pass him by the time the NFR starts on Dec. 2.

Still, he says heading into the NFR in third spot isn't a bad position to be in. Unlike the CFR, where all contestants start from zero, competitors take their season earnings with them into Las Vegas.

There aren't many on the pro circuit who attempt to compete in 100 rodeos.

"Lots of people make comments on it," Bowers said. "But I'd rather be out there than at home watching television.

"Your body actually gets used to it. If you haven't been on in two or three weeks, when you get on, you feel sore."

Bowers finished second in the Canadian standings this year to Davey Shields Jr., who spiked his season earnings with the $50,000 winner's cheque at the Calgary Stampede.

But Shields, a three-time Canadian champ, won't be competing in Edmonton as he underwent surgery to repair torn biceps in his right arm.

The face of Canadian rodeo is expected to change dramatically in 2006.

The Canadian Professional Rodeo Association and the U.S.-based Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association recently parted company over sanctioning issues.

The upshot of that is that money won at any Canadian rodeos will no longer count in the world standings.

That will force Bowers into more rodeos in the U.S.

"It's going to be a change. There's been a lot of conversation about it behind the chutes," he said. "But nothing is final yet."

A NEW FORMAT

A more welcome change is that the Calgary Stampede is overhauling its format by cutting the number of entries, but upping prize money by half a million dollars to $1.6 million Cdn.

Each event winner will get $100,000.

Their skylines are only a half-hour apart and people constantly converse about how Dallas and Fort Worth differ.

Dallas is more fast-paced, Fort Worth is more down-home. And so on.

A common thread unites the two: big-time pro rodeo.

However, the rodeos are as different as the cities in many respects. Cowtown offers one of the more traditional big-time rodeos: the Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show Rodeo, which will conduct its 110th edition in 2006. The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association show runs Jan. 20-Feb. 6 at Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum.

Dallas offers a rodeo that's contemporary. The fifth edition of The Texas Stampede runs Friday through Sunday at American Airlines Center.

The two have a very different look and feel.

Fort Worth's Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum is a historic venue that was constructed during the Great Depression. For a rodeo or a cutting horse fan, walking into the grand venue is the equivalent to a baseball fan touring Yankee Stadium. Legends such as Jim Shoulders, Casey Tibbs, Larry Mahan, Ty Murray and Trevor Brazile (the defending world all-around champion) have thrilled fans at Will Rogers.

The Texas Stampede began in 2001, shortly after the American Airlines Center opened. It offers the same back drop for bronc busting and calf roping as it does for pro basketball and hockey.

Fort Worth also offers traditional sights and sound. A traditional live band that plays upbeat tunes with a big-band flare during each ride and during the traditional grand entry of riders on horseback carrying the historic six flags over Texas.

The Texas Stampede kicks off with laser lights and Longhorns stampeding on the video screens. Rock music plays during the performances.

The Texas Stampede offers three performances. The Stock Show Rodeo has 30, more than any PRCA rodeo.

The Texas Stampede features a concert after each performance (this weekend's card includes Martina McBride and Mercy Me). The Stock Show Rodeo hasn't featured a concert in years.

Fort Worth's rodeo helps kick off the PRCA's regular season and its sister rodeos are Denver, San Antonio and Houston. They award competitors from $12,000 to $18,000 in a single event.

The Pace Picante ProRodeo Classic has become the PRCA's dramatic season-ending rodeo. It's the finale for the Wrangler ProRodeo summer and winter tours and the Pace Picante ProRodeo finales. A competitor can earn $10,000 to $20,000 in an event, which can make or break a berth in the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas on Dec 2-11.

When the 2005 National Finals opens, the championships will feature cowboys and cowgirls who had their tickets punched in both Fort Worth and Dallas.