Showdown in Everett

Published 9:00 pm Friday, December 5, 2003

EVERETT — Spend any time with Space Monkey and Mr. Mean, and you’ll know they’re not entirely ferocious. Just for about eight seconds at a time.

And maybe they’re just misunderstood.

The two were pen-mates in a sort of odd-couple way before the Bullriders Challenge got under way Friday night at the Everett Events Center. Thirty-three bellowing bovines were scheduled to lock horns this weekend with 30 cowboys from around the Northwest, a first since the arena opened in September.

Space Monkey, who is 8 years old, is slightly larger than Mr. Mean and likes to wear his horns long. They are ivory-colored and stretch out more than 2 feet from his head.

He is spotted, although it’s hard to tell if he is white with black and brown spots, black with white and brown spots, or brown with white and black spots. He didn’t seem too concerned about it.

Space Monkey has nice eyes, and blinks a lot. He likes the disheveled look and has naturally curly fur.

His hobbies include bucking and twirling, and scratching the skin that hangs from his neck on the silvery steel poles of his pen.

Kelly Bowcutt, the man who drove Mr. Mean, Space Cowboy and his 31 other bulls to Everett, said Space Monkey is "nice to be around."

Mr. Mean, on the other hand, is not so genteel. His manners are questionable; he’ll pee right in front of whoever happens to be standing there.

"They’re just like people — all these bulls are athletes. They do this because they are the best," Bowcutt said.

Mr. Mean is 3 years old, a rich brown color and wears his horns "mule style," flat against his head pointing toward the ground.

His favorite foods include alfalfa and grain — maybe some oats if he gets a hankering for sweets.

Those who know him, Bowcutt included, say that sometimes all he wants to do is run people over.

Neither bull is dating right now. They are still kind of young, and they work too much anyway.

They may take it easy in the pen, but when it comes to their job, Space Monkey and Mr. Mean are fiery, consummate professionals. They take tossing cowboys around very seriously.

The object, for the bulls, is to knock their riders off in less than eight seconds. Though hardly anyone ever roots for the bulls, they generally win more than they lose.

Sometimes they twirl so fast the riders lose their grip and spin off.

Sometimes they buck and jump so hard the cowboys just can’t hold on any longer.

And sometimes they do a particularly skillful combination of bucking and jumping and twirling, and the cowboys slide until they let go and maybe get hooked on a horn or stomped on or thrown into the dirt.

The bull riders came to Everett from Idaho, California, Montana, Oregon, Nevada and Washington tocompete for more than $10,000 in prizes.

The thing about rodeo people is there isn’t really any behind-the-scenes. They are themselves all the time.

They are friendly, straight-talking and not afraid to get dirty.

They wear a lot of denim, and shirts that say things like "Real cowboys don’t line dance."

Jeff Steinman, a tall, wiry, mustached cowboy from Portland, Ore., arrived early with his wife, Brook, and daughter Jessie, 3, to scope things out.

"A lot of people start out with a dream for riding bulls," Steinman said.

"A lot of us are living our dream here," he added, motioning around the empty arena.

The first time he started living his dream was eight years ago on a bull named Booger.

"That sucker came out flinging snot from here to high heaven," Steinman said.

Later, Steinman was hospitalized after being thrown off a bull named Ice Man.

He thinks most bulls are gentle. The reason bulls get worked up while in the ring is that along with having a rider, there is a cotton rope tied around the bull’s abdomen.

Cowboys maintain the rope, called flanking, is for the bulls the same as a human wearing a somewhat tight belt. It’s uncomfortable, but not painful.

"It’s a tickle," Steinman said.

The bulls had no comment.

Bull riding, Steinman said, is 80 percent mental and 20 percent physical.

Using the music of Kid Rock and utter concentration, Steinman maintains his focus until it’s his turn to ride.

Not having focus means "you ain’t gonna ride," he said. "You’ll get bucked off."

Cowboys like to say the bulls get taken care of better than they do. They also like to recite variations of what seems to be a bull-riding mantra.

"It’s not when you get hurt, but how bad," Steinman said.

Mr. Mean and Space Monkey probably chuckle when they hear stuff like that.

Reporter Jennifer Warnick: 425-339-3429 or jwarnick@heraldnet.com.

The Texaco Xpress Lube Bullriders’ Challenge continues at 8 tonight at the Everett Events Center. Tickets are $10 to $30 at the box office, at www.

everetteventscenter.com or by calling 866-332-8499.