LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Some sports are a lot more dangerous than others. Take bull riding. One study suggests its injury rate is 10 times higher than football, although I'm not sure that's surprising. In spite of that risk or perhaps because of it, bull riding is hooking teen athletes. Our co-host A Martínez has a story of two young rodeo cowboys from Pahrump, Nevada.
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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: And we are one song away from kicking it off.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
This was my first rodeo, and I couldn't wait to watch the bucking broncos and bulls. Here are the basics. Riders can only use one hand and are scored on how hard and high the animal kicks and jumps. The harder the ride, the higher the score.
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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: Your time to shine. It's all on the line. Let's do it.
PONO VINCENT: When that first jump comes out, and he bucks hard, sometimes I feel like jumping off. But if you want to win something, you've got to stay on for the full eight seconds.
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MARTÍNEZ: That is 15-year-old Pono Vincent from Pahrump.
PONO: I've been stomped on my hand, my back, torn hamstrings. Yes, sir, it takes a lot to be a bull rider.
MARTÍNEZ: A study from the National Institutes of Health finds that bull and bronco riding are the most dangerous rodeo events, and Vincent knows the risks.
PONO: My mom gets scared every time I get on the bull. And I get scared every time 'cause I don't want to end up in a bad wreck and end up in a wheelchair.
MARTÍNEZ: I also met Derek Hoskins, who's 17. He's from Boulder City, Nev. I asked him what goes through his mind sitting on top of a bull in the moments before the gate opens.
DEREK HOSKINS: Aggressive body, calm mind. So you want to have that aggressive body, be ready to go, but in your mind, be peaches and rainbow 'cause that's all you can do. You know, whatever happens is going to happen.
MARTÍNEZ: Do you ever look at the bull in the eye?
HOSKINS: Oh, all the time. Yeah, beforehand, it sounds bad, but you kind of have to degrade him a little bit 'cause you got to, like, tell him, you ain't nothing - you nothing - 'cause if you go into with that attitude, you'll be more successful.
MARTÍNEZ: Do you ever get a bull that looks back at you and says, you ain't nothing?
HOSKINS: Absolutely, and they'll show that to you, too. They'll prove it.
MARTÍNEZ: Hoskins rides both broncos and bulls, and I asked him how the two are different.
HOSKINS: Both are very hard on your body. The horses don't chase after you after you're down.
MARTÍNEZ: The horses run away after throwing you on the ground, but sometimes the bulls come after you. Mess with the bull, you might get the horns. Anyway, I'm just happy that next time, I, too, can finally say what Faye Dunaway declared in the film "Mommie Dearest."
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FAYE DUNAWAY: (As Joan Crawford) This ain't my first time at the rodeo. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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