Stretch and pray.
That’s what Cord McCoy, at 5-feet-9 and 150 pounds, does before he rides a 1,800-pound kicking, spinning and bucking bull.
In 2004, a horse kicked McCoy in the head, sending him into a coma. But he has returned to the dangerous sport he loves. You can see the Oklahoma native, 28, Friday and Saturday nights at the 1st Mariner Arena, competing against 44 of the world’s greatest bull riders during the Professional Bull Riders Built Ford Tough Series’ 2009 season opener.
Why did you return to bull riding after the coma?
It might have been different if I had a wife and kids or a girlfriend at the time. It’s not like I had someone else depending on me. I went home, and I still had the passion to ride and a love for bull riding.
Would you welcome a female rider to the series?
Oh yeah. A bucking bull doesn’t care whether you’re a boy or a girl.
I can’t think of a cooler job. Do women just fall all over you when you tell them what you do?
At first, they’re definitely excited [to] go on a date with a guy who’s living on the edge. But then they quickly realize, “Hey, I have to worry about this every weekend. He’s going to get on a 1,800-pound animal that doesn’t want him there.” And then it changes a little bit for them. It’s what my mom goes through. I’m 28 years old, but the one call I make after every bull ride is to my mom to tell her I’m OK.
You and several other riders will be at Power Plant Live’s Mex on Friday and Saturday night after the competitions, and I read on your MySpace page you’re looking for a wife. How would someone go about hitting on one of the riders?
Howdy partner [laughs]. … You know that’s the cool thing about my line of work, they’re all super-nice guys. If you wanted to talk to any of them, you could. Bull riding is a pretty humbling sport. Bulls don’t care about whether you’ve been a champion or if this is your first [ride]. Maybe that in turn keeps the bull riders more grounded than [athletes in] other sports. I feel confident you can walk up and say hello and have a conversation with any of them.
And what’s more: During 32 events across the country this year, the Built Ford Tough Series offers the largest purses riders can win in the sport. Top rider Justin McBride has earned more than $5 million during his career. He won $835,321 in 2007. The Baltimore PBR competitions will air 8 p.m. Friday on Versus and 2:30 p.m. Sunday on NBC. For tickets, visit ticketmaster.com or call 410-547-7328. – Jessica Novak
Easy as potatoes If you’ve ever screamed at your significant other to “get off the couch, stop watching your precious sports and fix the leaky sink ALREADY,” then this competition — with more than $5,000 in prizes — is a can’t-miss.
Four die-hard sports fans will compete for the laziest title ever in ESPN Zone Baltimore’s first Ultimate Couch Potato Competition, starting at 11 a.m. today. The four competitors will settle into recliners to see who can watch the most continuous hours of televised sports. They can order unlimited food and beverages. However, they may not sleep or leave their chair, and restroom breaks are only permitted every eight hours.
Competitor Dennis Burgos, 34, from Owings Mills, practiced “holding it” and staying awake for as long as possible. “It’s different when there’s no one next to you,” he said, laughing. “I’m kind of like, ‘What did I get myself into?’ I’m going to have to talk a lot of smack.”
Hampstead resident Craig McGarry, 26, said he wasn’t too worried about staying awake. “When I was in the Army stationed in Korea, we used to stay up in the middle of the night when the NFL and other American sports would come on.”
Other competitors include 26-year-old Jessica Mosley from Arlington, Va., and 23-year-old Alex Pyzik from Bel Air. The winner will receive a gift pack including two round-trip tickets on AirTran Airways, a 42-inch LCD HDTV, a DreamSeat recliner and more, plus ESPN Zone’s Ultimate Couch Potato trophy, featuring a real live spud. – Emily Campbell
Fear helps the process — or so they say Baltimore School for the Arts graduate and successful actress Tracie Thoms stops by Germano’s Trattoria in Baltimore on Friday to perform “The Journey of Love,” a cabaret about — you guessed it — L-O-V-E.
Thoms, most noted for her work as Joanne in the film and most recent Broadway version of “RENT” and as Detective Kat Miller on CBS’s “Cold Case,” said she’s an actress first and foremost. “I came up in the Arena Players Youth Theatre, and they would just give it to you straight: ‘If you are black and a woman, you best learn to sing, because there aren’t many plays for you to do that don’t have singing in them.’ I taught myself how to sing so that I could act.”
So why the cabaret? Because BSA’s theater department head Donald Hicken asked her, and she couldn’t say no, Thoms said. But she’s still facing stage fright and a deflated ego. “It kind of blows my mind that people want to come and hear me sing for an hour and a half [laughs]. I’m not particularly moved by my own singing voice. Have you ever heard your voice on tape and it sounds like an alien voice to you? It’s the same thing for me.”
This from a gal who can hit a high C, no problemo. Either way, she’s doing it for the students — all proceeds will be donated to the BSA. “I love what I do. I’m happy to be here, happy to have my first cabaret here in Baltimore, and hopefully all will have fun,” she said. “And hopefully I’ll come out of it alive.” – Emily Campbell
