Evelyn Robinson cried out and hung up the phone as soon as she told her older sister the news. It felt like winning the lotto, even if it wasn’t the case.
There was a PBR team visiting Brooklyn! The lively sisters moved to San Jose in the late 1970s after growing up in the most populous borough of New York City, Bedford-Stuyvesant. There, they developed a passionate interest in PBR and have attended over thirty events in the past few years. They’re fired up to go after the biggest one yet right now.
“Over the moon excited” for their bull riding experience in Brooklyn and their own team to cheer for, they will be flying in to see the New York Mavericks play their first homestand on Friday and Saturday night in front of the bucking chutes in prime seats.
Usually, cowboys are not connected to their former community, which is a few miles from Barclays Center. However, two young girls had the opportunity to experience rustic frontiers through television.
Evelyn remarked, “We watched every western on TV, including Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Rawhide, and Wagon Train. We grew up on cowboys.” We also have family that farmed tobacco in Virginia and North Carolina, so there’s a link to the vibrant cowboy culture in America that comes with PBR.
There are cowboys everywhere. It’s an unadulterated sport devoid of politics. Just show up and enjoy yourself. It simply embodies all that we adore about America. “You see kids with their grandparents; it’s a family thing,” Cynthia continued. “PBR is a true American sport and experience; it honors the flag, prays, and recognizes the military. These are all the things we support.”
Their father had four brothers and sisters, and their mother hailed from an eight-sibling southern family. They still have family in Virginia and North Carolina, including cousins all over the east coast and a great aunt who is 97 years old. Evelyn remarked,
“We value family very much, and PBR has a family feel to it.” From the stock contractors to the bull riders and fighters, from the PBR big shots to the dirt specialist, everyone is gracious and modest. The surroundings are fantastic. Everybody watches out for one another. Every occasion is extraordinary. Nothing will top that, we thought to ourselves when we go home. Then PBR repeats the action! We end up discussing it for the entire week.
In 1976, Cynthia traveled to the west first with her husband, a tennis instructor. Six years later, Evelyn followed from Brooklyn. The sisters went to rodeos and loved seeing barrel and bareback racing in particular.
Evelyn saw former world champion Guilherme riding a bull on CBS twelve years ago. Things would change throughout life. Evelyn remarked, “I was addicted.” “I found it completely absurd that someone would attempt to mount such a strong and erratic animal.
I discovered that these bull riders are real athletes, but it’s not like sports where you can read your opponent’s body language. The bulls are unreadable, but they have their own plans and are thinking. They are strong, amazing athletes in and of themselves, and I find them to be very fascinating.
After learning about the bulls, she picked a few favorites, including Dana White’s Twisted Steel, Little Yellow Jacket, Asteroid, Bushwacker, Bruiser, Pearl Harbor, Smooth Operator, Cool Whip, and Man Hater. “Up close, these athletes are just enormous, horned muscles, but they’re also intelligent and nimble. Their thoughts are visible to you.
These are not stupid creatures that you can tether. Simply put, they receive excellent care while they live. They receive hydrotherapy and massages from their owners. They fret about them much like they would a child.
When you ask the sisters which riders are their favorites, they will tell you that “pretty much all of them—the guys who are humble and appreciate the fans!” They will begin by discussing the Americans before moving on to discuss the Brazilians, the Australians, the Canadians, and finally the First Nation riders—a long list of genuinely kind people that is too lengthy to print here. Evelyn claims that she “encouraged” her sister to watch the game on television. In 2013, after a 16-month separation, the pair went to PBR Oakland. They saw a youthful, self-assured Cooper Davis win in San Jose.
