Here we are, the second round of the 2011 PBR World Finals in Las Vegas, NV.  The last rider in Flight 3 is Jason O’hearn who is sub’ing for Dustin Elliot. Riding on Hot Stuff. Jason is starting out great. Hot Stuff is showing his moves and getting a lot of air time. Jason is hanging on and doing his thing. It looks like it’s going to be a great ride followed by a nice score.
But this is the PBR World Finals and these are the best bulls in the business. So everything can change in a heart beat.
Suddenly the bull turns around as Jason begins to go head first over the horns. Hot Stuff moves again and Jason is off the bull but not fully released from his rope and is swinging around before becoming free and hitting the ground.
Hot stuff is there to meet him on the ground. But the Bull Fighters are moving in as well. They help keep Hot Stuff from doing too much more damage. Jason O’hearn is knocked out and the Sports Medicine Team is in the arena once the bull is safely heading back to the holding pens.
The LifeLine
The Sports Medicine Team are the people who keeps the cowboys going after a scrape or a cut. They are the finale word when a injured cowboy really wants to get back on the bull. They come fully equipped to handle almost any emergency and can do triage like any well worn battle line surgeon. They can get the injured back up and running or stabilized and transported to a medical facility.
After covering the PBR for five years and seeing almost ever kind of injury, I can say that these guys are the best in the business for sports medicine. Matched talent for talent with your more famous medicine teams in major league sports. Not only that, but they have to handle one more major issue not seen in other professional sports; Pride.
The reasons most athletes in any other major sport is sidelined, would be considered minor inconveniences to a PBR ranked cowboy. So its left up to the Sports Medicine Team to tame the cowboy’s pride and let him know if they can continue with the event, or sit it out on the sidelines or in a hospital, under a doctors care.
In Jason O’hern’s case, the fixed him up and got him to a hospital for further observation.
Our Prayers are with you Jason!