Bull riding, with glam

Betting that Hollywood types wouldn’t know a flank strap from a Prada belt, promoters of professional bull riding ferried a few to the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim for a competition featuring 45 of the world’s top cowboys competing for $120,000 in prize money.

Organized to promote the sport to Angelenos -- “There’s a misconception in L.A. about professional bull riding. They consider it a rodeo,” one publicist sniffed -- the Feb. 15 viewing party drew about 100 guests, including pop singer Jewel; her boyfriend, cowboy Ty Murray; actress Melissa Gilbert and her husband, actor Bruce Boxleitner; and former L.A. Rams star Jim Everett.

As a guitarist crooned western tunes, guests gathered in the Anaheim Club to toss down Jack Daniel’s with fruit punch and talk about the original X-treme sport: staying on a bull for eight seconds, long enough to score. “It’s a thrill, and not only a physical challenge,” said Murray, a.k.a. the King of the Cowboys. “The big challenge is being able to focus your mind -- it’s a real trick.” Said Jewel, his girlfriend of five years: “It’s a really dangerous sport, but exciting. A lot of people don’t understand it. They think the bulls are mistreated, but they’re not. They treat the animals well.”

Randy Bernard, CEO of Professional Bull Riders Inc., which sponsored the party, said that bull riding was finally being taken seriously as a sport. “We broke off from the rodeo circuit in 1992 and now we’re where NASCAR was about 10 years ago,” he said. Sure it’s dangerous -- the most common rider injuries are groin pulls and concussions -- but that’s part of the sport’s attraction. “Danger is a big element, but so is patriotism. People these days are really into the cowboy as Americana.”

The bulls are selected for their ability to buck. “They’re not just spotted in some pasture and pulled onto the circuit,” Bernard said. “Their daddies were all great buckers.” Bulls are fitted with flank straps, which Bernard said is like “taking a piece of yarn and putting it on a kitten’s foot and tying it not too tight. He just tries to shake it off. It doesn’t hurt.”

Everett, for one, said he’d never get on a bull. “I figure these guys are thrown around like rag dolls,” he said. “I can handle a 300-pound guy coming at me, but not a 2,000-pound animal.”

Boxleitner said he had done some “saddle broncing and team roping.” But ride a bucking bull? Uh-uh. “To me, those guys are the ultimate kamikazes.”