Pushing The Limits

Charlie Scudder: Flies landed on the beast's back as the cowboy got ready for his ride. He pulled a flank strap around the bull's backside and a bull rope with a leather handle around the animal's shoulders, letting it sit loose. He still had time before they would meet again in the chute facing the arena at the Mesquite ProRodeo Series.

It's the most dangerous 8 seconds in sports, but on this recent evening in June, McKennon Wimberly was smiling. He used to shadowbox behind the chutes to get more pumped before strapping himself onto 2,000 pounds of angry beef.

But after everything he's seen the last few years — the coma in 2011, the trigger he pulled in 2012, the birth of his son in early 2014 — he takes it easier now.

"I ride better when I'm that way," he said. "Why not have fun at your job?"