ride 'em rode 'em

Arizona Daily Wildcat Mike Seng of the UA rodeo team rides "Snuffy" at the Pima College rodeo in November of 1998.

Well, Paula, the UA has some good news for you and every other cowboy lover.

Five such citizens still exist here, and they walk among us. They're the remainder from the Old West.

They're the most rootin', tootin' club on campus, and they're headed by a man who goes by "Doc."

They're the UA club rodeo team, and they're kicking off the second half of their 1998-99 season February 26-27 at the New Mexico State rodeo in Las Cruces.

If you've never heard of them, don't feel bad - few have. The rodeo team doesn't advertise - they're in it strictly for the love, and for the chance to get to wear spurs and rassle the livestock.

Animal Sciences professor Dr. John Marchello coaches the team, which has filled five of its eight roster spots this year. Marchello owns a small ranch with livestock, and he sometimes has members of the team over to break the animals in.

Other than that, the team doesn't get together all that much. They practice on their own, and basically serve as their own coaches.

When they fall, they pull themselves up by the bootstraps (literally) and get back up again. What drives them on is the will to buck society and continue the lifestyle. All have to work outside jobs on their own in order to pay their rodeo expenses.

You'll never catch the team holding a bake sale on the UA mall. You'll never catch a team member complaining about having to fork over his own money, either.

"We just pay out of our own pockets," said bullriding junior Mike Seng. "But it's a good way to prepare you for the life. That's the way it is in pro rodeos, so there's not much of a change. Unless you're lucky enough to have a sponsor."

Seng is an honors student, a Business Entrepreneurship junior who has ridden bulls his whole life. But even Seng didn't know all that much about the club before he joined the team as a freshman in 1996.

He does, however, remember his first college rodeo.

"I was seven years old, and it was at Old Tucson," Seng said. "I remember watching the roping."

Seng is joined by four others on the team. Senior Bradford Dayzie also rides bulls and saddled broncs. Junior Rick Kieckhefer is a steer wrestler and calf-roper. Justin McCormick is a calf-roper and steer-wrestler, and senior Will Kaufman also handles calf-roping duties.

These dudes can handle most anything, whether it be getting tossed off a wild bronco, kicked in the gut by a steer, or chewing tobacco. What they can't stand is being accused of animal abuse.

Seng, in particular, thinks some animal rights activists have got it all wrong.

"Those people are really just uneducated," Seng said. "They really just need to be taken to a rodeo. We'd like to show them what really goes on.

"People have to understand that we don't make the bulls buck. People think we're bad to the animals, but if you're bad to a bull, they'll just resist you. They won't budge. Livestock owners have to protect their animals, because that's their livelihood. When a bull is performing well, they get just as proud of that bull as a parent would if his kid hits a home run in little league. There also has to be a vet present at each rodeo."

Seng also added that the spurs he and his teammates use are dull and rounded. They never draw blood.

The season will culminate in June for the National Collegiate Rodeo finals in Casper, Wyoming.

The top two competitors from each region will attend. Seng hopes to get in on it. But in the meantime, he wouldn't mind a few more pardners.

"Anyone who wants to join up should just contact Doc," Seng said.

Doc's digits are 621-7954.