‘8 Seconds to Glory’

It’s the only sport where 8 seconds feels like an eternity. It’s also the only sport athletes spend each of those precious seconds on the back of an angry, snot-blowing 1,500-pound beast.

The sport? Professional bull riding, aka PBR.

Houma native D.J. Domangue is among PBR riders who will compete at Thibodaux’s Warren J. Harang Auditorium Nov. 13 and 14.

The event, dubbed “8 Seconds to Glory,” features 30 to 44 of today’s top professional bull riders and 45 of the meanest four-legged bulls on the circuit.

“People say it’s the longest eight seconds of your life, but I don’t believe that,” Domangue said. “It is the hardest eight seconds of your life, but when you are on the bull you don’t even think about the time. All you want to do is hold on for eight seconds.”

The 27-year-old H.L. Bourgeois graduate is thrilled to compete in front of the hometown crowd. He’s been competing in the PBR for eight years, and professional events are few locally.

“It’s cool to be able to come to a professional event in your hometown,” Domangue said. “I look forward to that.

“I think there should be more professional events in the South. It looks good on our part as professionals instead of having a bunch of amateur shows around. Everybody expects amateur stuff, but when you get the professionals, it makes it that much more special.”

The Thibodaux competition falls a week after the rodeo World Finals and marks the start of the 2010 PBR season.

Riders will be looking to begin the season earning qualifying points toward the $1 million world championship prize at the 2010 World Finals.

“The results from the Thibodaux event go toward their qualifying points on the year,” said event organizer James Pierce, of Why Be Normal Productions.

Jerry Nelson, of Frontier Rodeo fame – the biggest promoter in PBR events – is organizing the event. “People can expect a big show,” Pierce said.

The “8 Seconds” show marks PBR’s return to Thibodaux. The circuit was last in town in 2005, before Hurricane Katrina damaged the Harang Auditorium.

Among the riders that year was Justin McBride, who would go on to win his first World Championship shortly afterward. “Big Bucks,” a Frontier rodeo bull, was also a standout at that event. “Big Bucks” went on to kick his way to earn PBR’s “Bull of the Year” title.

Domangue hopes to follow McBride’s path when the chute opens the first day of competition.

“Everybody is trying to win enough money to make the first cut,” Domangue said. “It should be good competition. They have good bulls and it’ll be a great professional event. That’s why I love the sport. You have the potential to make a lot of money and you don’t have to work.”

So far, the Houma rider has won a PBR bull-riding championship at the 2007 Enterprise Tour in Rupert, Idaho, and Professional Rodeo Cowboys’ Association events in Caldwell, Idaho, and Okeechobee, Fla. Domangue’s also earned his way to the National Finals twice, netting more than $48,000 in his three-year career. The most he’s won in one night is $23,000, which he got at the Professional Rodeo Cowboys’ Association Tour finale in Dallas in 2006.

Hard knocks – literally – have kept the big money just out of reach. “But I’m looking to change that,” he said.

Domangue’s drive for the sport has been evident since, at the age of 13, he began hanging around Blanchard’s Arena in Bayou Blue. It’s what keeps him competing.

“I want to be successful,” Domangue explained. “I didn’t come from money, always winning in every other sport. I didn’t start winning in bull riding right away. It took me about five or six years before I started winning.

“(Bull riding) is something I can punch and drive for and I don’t have to depend on a team to succeed,” he continued. “Every time you make an eight-second ride, you feel like you’ve accomplished your job for that day. When you don’t succeed, it (angers you). You say a few words and work harder next time.”

Professional bull riding “is a self-motivating sport,” according to Domangue. “It actually helps you in life to motivate yourself. It’s more than bull riding; to me, it’s life.”

The hardest part of competing professionally isn’t the ropes and the reins, as Garth Brooks’ song implies.

For tough-as-nails Domangue, it’s being separated from his best friend – his wife Tammy.

In 2006, the Houma rider was on the road 270 days – an eternity for a lonely cowboy.

“It sucks, especially if you’re not winning,” he said. “You lose money and your wife is hollering at you. It’s awesome when you’re winning, though. You can just fly home and see your wife. I’m sure it will be harder once I have kids; right now, not seeing my wife is hard enough.

“It’s probably no different than working offshore and working 14-and-7,” he added.

Offshore work, however, may be a safer option. Domangue’s unexpected bucks have resulted in 58 broken bones and countless other injuries. The last – he broke his femur in five places – kept him out of competition for nine months.

“I scare my family to death,” he admitted. “I’ve been through a lot of injuries and they’ve learned to deal with it. It’s just what I do; this is my career. You can go out, drive your car and somebody T-bones you and you get hurt. You’re not going to drive again? No. It’s part of life. Things happen and you just roll with it. It’s what I do.”

Tickets to the Friday, Nov. 13, and Saturday, Nov. 14, events are $10 to $20; children ages 12 and under are $6. They are on sale via Ticketmaster.com or at the Thibodaux auditorium.

Saturday morning, the Bayou Area 4-H and Future Farmers of America are hosting a fall livestock show beginning at 8 a.m. Proceeds will benefit the family of Danny Quebedeaux, the FFA advisor who recently died.

For more information on the rodeo or livestock show, call (985) 446-7260.

‘8 Seconds to Glory’