Miles & Mountains
Join Nick, a social worker and coach by day, as he unravels the inspiring stories of athletes and the public, uncovering the motivations behind their actions, from conquering mountains to participating in ultra-endurance races and competing in rodeos. Get ready for heartwarming tales of community support, acts of kindness, and the revelation that everyone has a deeper story to tell. Whether it's running, climbing, or participating in rodeos, these stories will inspire and uplift. #Running, #Climbing, #EverydayAthletes, #Rodeo
Miles & Mountains
Unmasking Dylan Birchum: The Soul of a Bullfighter
Step into the wild west world of bullfighting with Dylan Birchum, an emerging star of the rodeo scene. Raised in a non-rodeo family, Dylan takes us on his exciting journey from sorting bulls in Florida to dodging horns and hooks in the arena. He candidly shares his experiences and pays homage to those who've shaped his career, such as The Backlas Family and Hollywood Harris.
Instagram:
@birchum2017
https://instagram.com/birchum2017?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Facebook:
@dylan.birchum
https://www.facebook.com/dylan.birchum?mibextid=LQQJ4d
Shoutout to:
Dylan Birchum
The Birchum Family
Dad and Mom
TY TY
Louis Backlas w/ Cross Over the Line Rodeo Co.
Hollywood Harris
Trevor Wells
Miles & Mountains Podcast in the Dirt with Trevor Wells
Miles & Mountains Podcast new Partnership is with Jokers Comedy Club. Come join me at 624 Wellsian Way every 2nd or 3rd Friday/ Saturday of the month. Stay Tuned! I hope to see you there.
Dillon Bircham. How are you?
Speaker 2:I'm doing pretty good. How about yourself, sir, doing?
Speaker 1:alright, doing alright. Thank you for calling me, sir. You guys don't have to call me sir, but it's a southern thing.
Speaker 2:I tell you this much If my mom would have found out I didn't, she'd tear my little butt up.
Speaker 1:Well, you're not so little man. Number one you're 24. Number two you're a bullfighter. Number three you're 5'11". You're taller than the average bullfighter.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sir. But man, the way I was raised, it don't matter how tall you get, mom will still catch you.
Speaker 1:Well shout out to mom. Where's mom at anyways?
Speaker 2:She lives in Rosenberg, Texas. Okay Is that where you're from. I'm actually from a little town called Elm mate. I'm about two hours southwest of Houston down on the coast.
Speaker 1:Alright, yeah, yeah Down by Matagorda Bay oh okay yeah, sir, bullfighter, protection only correct.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sir, protection. Only, I'm not fast enough yet to step around a Mexican bull.
Speaker 1:You ever thought about freestyle?
Speaker 2:Man, I have and I will, only to sell a show, but I'm not one of those guys that's set out that I'm going to go. Those hookings just look a lot worse than when a buckin' bull hits you.
Speaker 1:True, true, but if your Trevor Wells, he takes a hook, a horn often.
Speaker 2:Well, that's just because Trevor's kind of crazy yeah.
Speaker 1:And no, we're not picking on Trevor, that's just my yeah, that's my segue of just shouting them out, because he said hey, you know what you need to get Dylan Birchamon. I was like you know, I'll take your word for it. So shout out to Trevor Wells. And man we talked about when we met. We talked about how he just takes the horns man, he takes the hooks and everything. It's just like I don't know how he does it and still is able to function towards the end of the night. So that boy's crazy.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, dynamite comes in small packages, so that's.
Speaker 1:Trevor yeah, yeah, yeah, I got you, I got you. And then he also said that you also fight for or protect Keith Mendenwald.
Speaker 2:I think I'm terrible with names. I got that problem, but I'm sure. I have.
Speaker 1:Big military guy.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:I was supposed to have him on but I had to reschedule. But shout out to Keith, I'll have him back. I'll have him on eventually. Things were going on in the house and whatnot, but so is it true, you're the guy I need to have on. If that's what people say A. If Trevor says that you know, we got a. We got a segment called Miles and Mountains podcast in the dirt with Trevor Wells.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure.
Speaker 1:All right. So yeah, he will be on more often. I'm just trying to get that logo. Once I get that logo, that's when he's going to start coming on more often. But yeah, so he picked you, or he had you on in his mind and said, hey, talk to Dylan. So, dylan, how did your rodeo career start?
Speaker 2:Man, this is going to sound bad. So give you a little background on me. I don't come from a rodeo family. I mean, both of my parents are school teachers and coaches. I mean, but uh man, I I had offers to go play college ball and do all that and I didn't want anything but to be a cowboy. I mean, that's what I've wanted since I was a kid.
Speaker 2:Yeah, All I watched was rodeo I mean, but I mean I started day working in cowboy in a little bit. Then I moved to Florida for stupid reasons and say no more stupid reasons. But you know, God's got a plan. He's going to lay it out for you. I get to Florida.
Speaker 2:I lived there for about two years and a little rodeo company out of New York was putting on a winter rodeo series every week and then I was entered in a team rope and I seen they didn't have much help loading and sorting bulls. I said, hey, y'all need some help. And man, louis, louis, backless Of course that's who I'm working for this summer they said, yeah, I need some help. I don't know anybody down here. So okay, so I started in the backpins loading bulls, sorting bulls, kind of shoot balsam a little bit.
Speaker 2:I was pulling gates and a boy got stepped on, dislocated a hip, and there was only one bullfighter that day and I just kind of stepped over the top of the kid. And you know, and I told Louis I was like, hey, man, I think I might want to try and fight bulls. And he said, well, have you fought before? I said no, but I stepped around him in a cow pen all day. It can't be even different. And one thing led to another and he lost his back pen. Man, he was kind of upset about it.
Speaker 2:But you know, and then I've met, I mean the people I've met in my life that have put me where I'm at. I can't ever repay him between the boys that I day worked with to you know, like Hollywood hair. So that's a that dude right there, he, he put me on the map. He's the one who got me the gig where I met Trevor Hollywood. You know he's a great dude, great old school guy. Eugene Carter and his boys they let me step around quite a few. Billy Stokes, he, down in Polk City, florida, he give me a series deal. He actually gave me my first big deal was the Tampa State Fairgrounds.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's. I mean, tampa is no no small feat, man.
Speaker 2:No, and that you know, I I kind of didn't have anything booked and I messaged a boy by the name of Tevin Cameron. I said, Tevin, you know anybody needs a bullfighter because down in Florida, I mean you've got Jake Greg Geiger, you got Austin Cody, you got Riley Rill, you got all these big name guys down there, trevor, I mean they've got everything wrapped up, you know, and it's kind of hard for get your foot in the door. And he said, yeah, give Billy Stokes a call. So I called Billy and Billy said, yeah, I got a deal in Tampa. I kind of got all my bullfighters, but you can be, my next man out if one of them drops.
Speaker 2:Well, one of them dropped for he had some family troubles. So I got a call for that deal and ever since then I've kind of been rolling and God's God bless me Okay.
Speaker 1:So when you started, so you were an athlete in high school right, yes. Well, what, what a sports did you play?
Speaker 2:So I played football, I played basketball, but I got a little too slow for basketball, my head coach told me, so I focused more on football, baseball and golf. I ran track my freshman year but I got too lazy for that stuff because, yeah, running.
Speaker 1:All right, you're athletic, obviously, so when did you start? The cowboy, how old.
Speaker 2:Man I was, so I did it. So I've got a lot of family out in West Texas and I'd go out there every summer. But now I wouldn't call that cowboy and I just they put me on the broken horse they had because I was, you know, I was a coachy skid and didn't know any better. They put me on a horse and let me act like I was doing something you know, and that just kind of fueled the fire.
Speaker 2:But I guess when I was 17 or 18, soon as I graduated high school, I had, you know, I was Gonna join Marine Corps and I've got. I mean, I blew my knee out in high school, broke my hand, all kinds of stuff, and I got a lazy eye. The Marine Corps was like I don't think we can take you, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It just. You know, like I said, when I turned 18, I got on in a place called JD Hudgens Incorporated in Hunterford, texas, and they raised a ramen, show cattle and replacement animals and I just went to working for them and one thing led to another, and I was just going.
Speaker 1:All right, so 17. When did you start fighting?
Speaker 2:I started fighting two years ago.
Speaker 1:Two years ago and you got your own gig and it's set right. No one could come in between you and contractor, right?
Speaker 2:Oh no, sir, this man doesn't want me to leave, but it gets too cold in New York.
Speaker 1:I bet, especially Western. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:He sent me. He was sending me snapjets all winter long and he said you need to come up here Like no, there's too much snow on the ground right now for me to show up. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So so, been in the gig, been in the game, especially fighting game, for two years. How does it feel to actually have your own gig, though?
Speaker 2:My, it's a blessing, man. I mean. I know a lot of boys back home that you know they'll get gigs here and there, but for me to have it every weekend for three months is it's a blessing to know where you're going to be at, you know?
Speaker 1:I bet.
Speaker 2:Not have to worry if a cold's gonna come.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, so it's worth being in New York, oh more.
Speaker 2:I mean yes, sir. And it's worth a lot to be up here.
Speaker 1:Which fans are more, I guess, hostile? New York or Florida?
Speaker 2:Oh that's a tough one because I put it like this I'm here in New York I don't know if they're too keen to my kind because I called the lady ma'am at the grocery store the other day and she took it as disrespect and I said but I love in Florida. If you mess up Florida and Texas, you mess up down there. They know what's going on. So I'd say down south they're a little more hostile.
Speaker 1:Okay, If you weren't bullfighting right, what would you be doing in the rodeo scene?
Speaker 2:Man I'd be trying to pick up. I love being on the horse, so I'd be trying to pick up. I mean, this summer, on Sundays, there's a guy that's trying to pick up bullfighting and my partner that I hold out at Florida he's a young kid too and I just let those guys work together on Sundays and I just get on a horse and try to look pretty.
Speaker 1:Well, it can't be that bad. I mean, you're 5'11, you do stick out like a sore thumb.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I do. I mean, I do stick out like a sore thumb.
Speaker 1:Not saying that's a bad thing.
Speaker 2:She'll tell you that much.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm not saying it's a bad thing, I'm just saying, dude, compared to like, I'm 6, 1, 1 on a good day, you know, and I stick out like a sore thumb. But being in the dirt I mean people look small, you don't.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I will say that when I was a kid, all I wanted to do was ride bulls. But, like I said, my parents are school teachers and, of course, school teachers and coaches don't make enough money for you to rodeo, you know, and. But like I had every county fair, anything we went to. I don't even know why my parents bought tickets, because I'd sneak off back behind the bucking sheets and man I was, I could really be 13, 14 years old and being taller than some of the guys that were riding bulls, yeah, yeah exactly what event is your favorite?
Speaker 1:to watch man Outside of bulls and.
Speaker 2:Man, honestly, because I nothing good in a good saddle brawn ride man. I mean watching a big featherfooted brawn just getting it. And I mean I like the bucking horses. I'm scared of them. I do not like bucking horses but I will. I like to watch them buck, hmm.
Speaker 1:Okay, but now? Now do you fight? You know when people are on bear and saddle.
Speaker 2:I had a couple of deals. So down in Florida a lot of rodeos we went to, they had ranch brunks, yeah. But I mean even this deal up here on the East Coast, what it seems to me is that there's nobody left out this way that you know rides bearback horses or ride saddle brunks. I mean they've all gone out West oh okay, so it's all bulls which isn't a bad thing, because nobody's breeding bucking horses this way anymore. I mean, for those guys to get any good, they gotta go West.
Speaker 1:Why do you think that? Is it the expense?
Speaker 2:I'll say this compared to like grain and corn, florida, new York is kind of more expensive than it was in Texas you know, yeah, I mean, and for a stock contractor, I mean, you look at Frontier and all those guys that are raising those big time bulls and bucking horses, dnh, they're all out West. That's where the genetics are at. Obviously, they've made their programs out there. Why can't the guys that were in the East just move out West? You know?
Speaker 1:Got you.
Speaker 2:And the ground cheaper, I mean you know. I heard the other day in New York buddy mom was looking for some new lease ground and the people said they had it listed for sale at $22,000 on acre and they'd already had four or five cows. You're a stock contractor. You can't afford that, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so cheaper land, you think or no?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think, way cheaper out. I mean, you know, just as a stock contractor, you can't have anything kept up in a feedlot 24-7 because you're not gonna make enough money rodeo and to pay for all that feed, whereas you've got two 300 acres worth of grass to turn stuff out on. You know it's a lot cheaper.
Speaker 1:So if your stock contractor tells you to move out West, right with him, what state would you hope to move to?
Speaker 2:Of course I'm gonna say Texas, cause I don't know.
Speaker 1:You guys are funny, man. When I say West, I'm like Washington, cali, oregon, utah, arizona. You guys say Texas, you guys stop at Texas, that's West for you guys.
Speaker 2:Well, that's home for me, but I don't know. I'd like to go to Wyoming, I'd like to go out there, the mountains, or maybe Montana, somewhere out there.
Speaker 1:Man, it is colder than New York.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, but I just think, you know, just studying the game for so long, you think Cheyenne and all those big rodeos out there, it's like you know, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, what athlete, especially around there, right? What athlete, male or female, do you make sure you watch perform during a rodeo?
Speaker 2:As a bullfighting. There's a girl out of Canada, her name's Emily. It's almost guaranteed every time she drops in a bucking shoot she's gonna hang up. So that's one we watch. But man, there's some boys that are riding bulls now that I Mean they've only been riding bulls since this winter. There's a Sam birdie, anthony birdie, brad Kenrod all these guys there. They just started riding bulls but they're like right on the cusp of Becoming I mean, superstars and it's like every time they drop the bucking shoots, it's like you're rooting for them because you know how hard they worked.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's amazing, right. Oh yeah, these kids that they're getting young, they're getting drafted too young, you know not, not too young, they're getting drafted to and they're young. Sorry, I don't want to be like too, yes, but but man, some of these boys that are coming up are taking over man. It's insane.
Speaker 2:I mean there's a, there's a young, there's a kid. I mean like we got one Averidge probably, and I I'm not gonna put him any older than seven, maybe eight, and he's getting on. I mean he's getting on her fridge. You know that? Yeah, because what's really good about my boss is like a lot of contractors, not like trying to death on anybody, but and it's not this, it's, the game has changed 20 times from what it was back in the day. But correct, yes, my boss, he keeps around rope and steer, or not rope and steers, but Her fruits and stuff like that, that's just gonna go out there and jump the kid that way this kids learn how to ride and you know that kid got on one the other time and we ran one of our.
Speaker 2:We just went picked up the load of two-year-olds and we were shoot, breaking everything, and that kid came to the catwalk, said I'm gonna get on that one. We're like, no, every, you're not big enough for him. Yet he's no, I won't let me on him. And it's like there's an I mean kid, I mean I.
Speaker 1:Kid got bigger balls than most of us man.
Speaker 2:Man, there's a bunch of them boys, cuz I mean I've studied it since I'm a kid, so I kind of not really teach these guys, but I can tell them what they're doing wrong. Because I watched all the old lane Frost videos and right, I mean, that's just what I watched 24-7 and I was either watching that I was watching John Wayne or Lawson Dove, one of those. That's what I was doing as a kid and I watched so many bull riding videos that I pretty much had a good understanding the riding techniques. And right, these guys like, why don't you just try to ride bulls? You understand it so well? I'm like well, here's the deal. I'm dumb enough to step around the mind, not stupid enough to turn my Time. I hand to one right, so y'all can keep that. Yeah, cuz I still got a choice. When I'm on two feet, I can. If I want to leave, I can leave.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but if I'm tired to him, I'm there.
Speaker 1:So what do you think is bringing the, the young boys, into the game? I mean they're, they're coming in and they're dominating. It's only a matter of time when the you know, the old fogies and just saying been in the game that long are Not gonna be in the limelight much longer.
Speaker 2:Man, I think it's just got like. I mean, kids are getting on bulls that are I Mean. They're getting on 21, 22 pointers as practice bulls and it's like, right there, 1415. You like there's a kid, marco Rizzo, out of South Georgia, and like there's a place in Florida it's called Torres Brothers Bucket Bulls. They used to be in North Carolina, now they're in Florida and they got a lineup of PBR finals bulls standing in their back fans.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and.
Speaker 2:Marco will show up knees. At that time he was 17 and you know if you're going to a practice pin. Most of these guys just want to get on some good stuff for them to work on. Blah, blah, blah yeah.
Speaker 2:Marco shows up and he's picking out finals bulls going I want that one, I want that one, I want that one and I want that one. And if he bucks off one he'll add three more to the list and nothing any slower. And I'm like that's where these kids are getting it. They're got you, they're. I mean you, you want, I, you know you want to ride the rank ones. You practice on the rank one. So there, it's just a different breed of kid. Now though, yeah, but, yeah, but.
Speaker 1:But the I mean I'm 41. There's some tough ones out there too, but it's just like there's something about bull riding or the sport in general that are bringing more kids in In the circuit.
Speaker 2:More, most death. I mean. I think a lot of it has to do with. I think a lot of it has to do with everything being more televised. As far as bullriding, everybody sees it on TV. They see the PBRs and they got the cowboy channel. They're watching the cowboy channel and they all want to be bull riders.
Speaker 1:You know, and yeah.
Speaker 2:Or you know also, I think, a lot of the ranch kids the way the world's going. The ranch kids are like man, there's nothing left on the ranch. I might as well start rodeoing and try to make it that way. You know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I appreciate your honesty. A lot of people would say Yellowstone is the key to success.
Speaker 2:And I'll tell you what.
Speaker 1:I'll tell you what the what's. The key to the success of the surge and rodeo sports is the fact that you know you guys don't say much, you guys do what you're supposed to do and you guys head home to your day jobs or, you know, just keep working in the rodeo sport world and just shush. I mean you guys don't talk much and you guys just do what you do best and continue to do it. I mean people caught on, and I think COVID also helped too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that helped a little bit.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So there's a lot of politics, man, and the less, the less politics. I think that people are understanding that people are going to fly to or clinch on to a little more. Yeah, yeah so.
Speaker 2:I mean talking about that. I mean, you look at it, a lot of rodeo world didn't care about the restrictions and all that crap. You see, 90% of America or not, maybe not 90%, but a lot of America was like they didn't like the restrictions. Well, who's the only ones that are still going? Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:The rodeos. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, it's just, it's just, it's. It's great to see, though. It's great to see, that you know a sport thrive during troubled times and then just get completely bigger than it ever has.
Speaker 2:Oh, yes, sure 100%.
Speaker 1:Yeah, favorite bullfighter.
Speaker 2:Oh man, a lot of people would say Tucker Webb, which I am a, all I mean. Like Tuck is, yeah, he's up there for me, so is Webb. I mean those guys, you can't go wrong with them.
Speaker 1:but I'm also Rob.
Speaker 2:Smets. You know I loved watching Rob as a kid, you know also just because I'm a Texas boy, Leon, when Texas boy Leon coffee, I mean just watching. Leon was just, you know, watching the old highlight videos of him, just being able to like, and you know they call him disco cowboy for a reason. He'd just be out there dancing in front of one begging him to come to him, it's like. But probably the guy that I look up to the most just watching day in and day out footwork would probably web.
Speaker 2:I mean just the way that guy can, the way that guy can step around one or he just steps into a hang up. Just effort. I mean effortless, you know, it's just I look up to web the most, okay.
Speaker 1:But bull rider.
Speaker 2:Oh, bull rider man, only because I'll say this when I was 13, 14 years old, edna, texas, was where my parents were coaching as Jackson County youth fair, uh frontier rodeo company. So of course Donnie Gay was there, because he's their producer, you know. And yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm standing back behind the backpins and Donnie Gay comes walking up to me and he's like what are you doing back here? I said I'm watching them load bucking horses and bulls. I mean I don't want to be up there in the front, I'd rather watch stock. And he said why don't you come stand on the bucking sheets? And right then, and there Donnie Gay coming up to just a little brat pretty much. So why don't you just come stand on the bucking sheets and watch from there? I was just all right. I guess Donnie's probably one of my favorites. Close second Probably go to JB.
Speaker 2:You can't go wrong with you, can't go wrong with the dragon slur, I mean yeah, greatness that guy yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, all right. So you're from Texas and I got a question. I got the number one question that I asked every one and because you're from Texas, you're going to change it. I'm pretty sure you're going to change it. I know it's a regional thing. Have you heard any of the podcast?
Speaker 2:Yes, sir, I listened to Travers and I started listening to another one, but yeah, Well, I appreciate this report, man, if you just listen to Travers, that's all man.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's all I have to listen to. All right, do you eat peanut butter jelly sandwiches? Or I've noticed Oklahoma and Texas boys, they eat cheese sandwiches. Which one do you prefer?
Speaker 2:And I'm going cheese because that's just childhood, you know, but also we were always broke, so bread and cheese was always what it was Okay.
Speaker 1:So, so, so it is All right. So, bread and cheese, I've had it myself. But you know poor man food and also a little sustenance in your belly, especially in the mountains that I, you know that I climb in the miles I run. I like peanut butter, jelly sandwiches, but what flocks people to just bread and cheese besides being poor?
Speaker 2:is easy. Okay, I mean peanut butter and jelly. You got to get the peanut butter and spread it on, and then you got to get the jelly and spread it. I mean, man, you get two pieces of bread and a slice of cheese. You're good to go.
Speaker 2:It's not worth the extra step, though, come on, no no, I'm lazy when it comes five o'clock in the morning, when I'm leaving the house. I'm just, I want to leave in that early and I'm that 15, 30 seconds it took me to make that peanut butter and jelly. I could have still been asleep, so All right.
Speaker 1:So are we talking about a block of cheese and you cut it yourself? Because that's a step, that's a couple steps. No.
Speaker 2:I buy the slice cheese, the singles Yep, so all right.
Speaker 1:So we're talking about convenient, being lazy and just don't have enough time, all right. So cheese, all right. What kind of bread? Plain white bread, that's just me.
Speaker 2:The cheap. I grew up mom.
Speaker 1:It wasn't, we didn't ever get anything special.
Speaker 2:It was just a grilled cheese. That's what you had, grilled cheese. Sometimes you got lucky and she threw some ham and made a hot ham and cheese and you got lucky, right. So I hear you, I hear you, okay.
Speaker 1:All right. So cheese sandwich the folks I thought I was done asking that until I got some more Oklahoma and Texas boys on there. But cheese it is Okay, all right, well, thank you, thank you, and people are going to love your answers, I hope.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, favorite Adam Sandler movie oh, Favorite Adam Sandler, movie because I'm a golf kid. Happy Gilmore, okay, yeah, all right, or?
Speaker 1:maybe I'm going to go to the golf club, all right.
Speaker 2:Or Billy Madison. I like that one too. Yeah, that's a good one.
Speaker 1:So how do you stay healthy in this game? But?
Speaker 2:I'll be honest, I'm not the best picture perfect of health, but you know, like everybody's like oh, I work out, and da, da, da, da, da da, man, I'm stacking hay, riding horses, I'm I'm always doing something. So it's kind of like when it kind of people are like oh, I get up, work out, but I had worked out since I graduated high school, I mean yeah. I'm just I'm more of an active person. I'm always out doing something. We're sorting bulls, we're moving feed, we're doing something you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah sure, okay, so just active throughout the day.
Speaker 2:Trying to quit drinking Dr Peppers. But I'm, you know, I'm a South Texas kid, so that that's not leaving. Yeah, so I got this little poochie gut, I got, but yeah.
Speaker 1:Dr Peppers. Man, they're, they're, they're addicting. You know what else is addicting? Squirt?
Speaker 2:Squirt, squirt.
Speaker 1:You never heard of squirt. It's a great fruit. It's great fruit soda.
Speaker 2:I might have to try that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's good. It's good. Check it out. All right. My girls are always like dad why do you drink squirt? Because it's good. They're like no, it's not. I'm like wait until you get older, because the shit is good.
Speaker 2:Well, you just got to keep the little girls happy, that's all that matters.
Speaker 1:Exactly All right. What helps you get ready for an event?
Speaker 2:Man, I've got my faith always Because I you know, if you trust in God, he's going to take care of you every time you step into something and he's opened a lot of doors for me. So I just put my trust in him. But also like camaraderie with like back then crew and those guys, that kind of behind the scenes guys. But you know they're doing just as big a job as we are. They just do it behind the scenes. So you know, right before the show starts, the music's bumping. It's just and of course a crowd I mean you got a big crowd, there's nothing better that kind of just pops you up, you know.
Speaker 1:Well, you guys are almost behind the scenes too, you guys. You guys aren't really showcased like you should be.
Speaker 2:No, and you know that's all right. I mean, you know they say we're the unsung heroes and yada, yada, yada man, we're just guys living dreams that you know. I don't need my name called every Saturday night. I don't care about that I'm. I'm getting a living dream that I've had since I was pretty much the day I was born, I mean. So it doesn't bother me any that we don't get a, do I think we should get a little more credit from time to time? Yeah, but is it going to happen? No, because bullfighters are not who. The game's about? Games about the boys that are strapping cattle yeah, that's true, yeah, yeah, or the bulls. The way the world's turning now, it's about the bulls too. They're just as big superstars as you know, that's true, I got you.
Speaker 1:I got you, but in my eyes, man, bullfighting got me back into the game and spectating Right, full force into the game, and man, I'd tell you what, dodging a 20.
Speaker 2:There's nothing better, man, there's nothing better 2000 pound bull, man, 2500 pound bull.
Speaker 2:Come on, come on man, we got a bull up here. We call him Patrick. He's a big baseball bat horn bull and he will smoke you quicker than Snot. I mean he's, he's a, he's out to get you and I grabbed him right between the horns the other day and just stepped right around him. Man, you don't feel like you know, just 10 foot tall and bullet free, if I mean you grab one like him. But you just sit there and you're like, yeah, I've arrived.
Speaker 1:I mean you really haven't, but you just sit there and you're like, yeah, but so the crowd and the Lord pretty much gets you ready and it gets you pumped. Now have you always been a religious, a religious man?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I sure. So if I can, I give a little backstory. When I was a kid, my daddy's school teacher and coach in a course in Texas. High school football is everything, and it is.
Speaker 2:We were in a little town, port Isabel, which is way down, I mean about as far south as you can go in Texas. My dad was very much. Two days came around at the end of July. I didn't see my dad till December. I mean it was that's just how it was.
Speaker 2:My dad came down with headache, sinuses, but I thought it was sinus infection, but he was having nosebleeds every day, went to ear, nose and throat, ended up having cancer and he had stage four squamous cell carcinoma and basically taught him to go home and spend his time with his kids. He only had six months but my dad he kind of just he got right with the Lord and things started to improve. He lost his eye. Of course, he was going through chemo, radiation, but his will and his drive and, you know, his relationship with God just kind of drove me to want him to be better. I'm not the closest man with God. I'm the first one to admit that I don't go to church every Sunday but, like you know, just when God does something like that for your dad, just I mean I can remember being a kid.
Speaker 2:We went to state semifinals and my dad he's defensive coordinator, so he'd go call defense. They'd have a lawn chair. He'd go sit in the lawn chair because he was too weak to stand the whole game. He'd go sit in his lawn chair and then they'd get back on defense. He had enough strength by that time to get up and go call place and he did that, for I mean, he lost his eye on a Thursday. He coached Friday night.
Speaker 1:The next day.
Speaker 2:Yep, my dad, he's that. You know, people talk about heroes. I mean my dad. After everything he's been through sickness and just life in general, everything he's been handed my dad's my hero. Just the way he's been able to step and overcome yeah, I mean just. And then another, you know, another one is I've got, I guess, people special me. He's got a very special place in my heart and there's a I've got him. I call him a brother.
Speaker 2:He's not, he's not blood, but he is to us. I mean he's got Down syndrome and you just look at a guy like him and you're like man, here he is. He's got Down syndrome, one of the worst things you can have. What we think, you know, as a quote, normal human man. I'm crazy. I ask anybody. But you know just like you look at him and it's. You sit there and you know man, here he is having a deal with that every day of his life and he still wakes up with a smile on his face. And just he's first one. He gets mad. If he doesn't say the prayer, then he is mad.
Speaker 2:I'm talking about not a little mad, a lot of mad. I mean he sits there and you, just at Sundays at church, he's got his little prayer book. Nobody can read it but him, but he walks around to everybody in that church asking what kind of prayers he can say for him that week and he checks them off every night and it's like man. Here he is following God as close as he is with the issues that he has, and it's just like man. So those two figures right there, they're the reason my relationship with God is as good as it is.
Speaker 2:I've drifted away at times, like everybody does but, my mama gets mad because I don't go to church every Sunday. But hey, I get to wake up his creation every day and see, you know, see what he's created. I don't need to go sit in church to know he loves me, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So, I'm glad you shared that man. I'm glad you shared your. You know that story about your dad and everything else. Can I ask you a question? Is your dad still around?
Speaker 2:Oh yes, right, Wow, oh yeah, he's a shout out to dad man.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, actually I can't. I don't want to be wrong here, but I think this year will make 18 years, yeah, 18 years of that he's been in a man I can't think the word right now, but it's late, but it's still daylight, but no, my and he's, you know, he's kind of carried on that Him and my mom got divorced and and I was in the seventh grade, yep, yeah, so in the seventh grade year my parents split up, which, hey, you know what, they were having their issues, they had their issues. You know, I mean, it's not like people are like, oh, I hate that my parents got divorced and all that.
Speaker 1:Well, if they're not happy.
Speaker 2:I mean took me a little while to get understand that I had to get a little older. But now, looking back on it, you know they weren't happy together. My dad has always been his kids are always first and it just I just hope, like me the dad that he has if I'm blessed with children. You know just, and my dad, he's just kind of the guy that anybody we like when I was in high school it didn't matter who it was. If they were having trouble they knew to come to my dad because he'd help them.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Whether it was financially anything along those lines. My dad was helping, so it just kind of you know yeah. Yeah, sure.
Speaker 1:Well, shout out to dad man.
Speaker 2:What's his first name?
Speaker 1:What's his first name? Wade. Shout out Wade. Yeah, sure, Shout out man. Man, that's a trooper, man, that's a fighter.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, now I know where you get it from.
Speaker 1:Now I know where you get it from Now he took all the.
Speaker 2:He took all the jokes of losing his eye, like poor kids would walk up to him and go, how'd you? They'd stare at him and ask him how he lost his eye. Because he used to wear an eye patch, yeah, and you know they had a skin grass and all that to give him an actual like what looks like an eye, but it's not. But how'd you lose your eye? My dad, well, I was on the sword fishing trip and he jumped out of the water and there was that one. Or he was at the bowling alley and he was looking down the ball returning the ball, just come up and hit him in the eye, lost his eye. That way he just come up with dumb stories just to A scare kids because he loved doing that or make them laugh. So right, yes, yeah.
Speaker 1:I appreciate you sharing that story, man oh yeah. You said you wanted to share or you asked me if I didn't. If I mind, man, I'm always game to hear stories like that and I appreciate you, man. And yes, the story with the kid with the Down syndrome man, the yeah, but we considered normal man, they just we take for granted man they, they fight every day, you know every day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, I tell you this, I was in Texas probably a month ago, went and visited them and he said I'm showing you my garden today. And we walked outside and he had a garden that was probably I don't know. It was a big garden, I mean a lot better than I would have ever planted. And he said I said did you plant all this? He said, yep, man, pup all, which is my Pup all, ronnie, yeah, this is our garden. And I mean he had he could tell you every plant how much it had produced all this. And I'm like, all right, buddy.
Speaker 1:Right, slow down. Yeah, but he's.
Speaker 2:he was so proud of that and it just, you know, it's like little thing like that. He just, I mean what can you do, you know, but just Right.
Speaker 1:Just be in the moment with him, man.
Speaker 2:Oh, always. I mean yeah, what's his name? His name is Ty, but we always call him Ty Ty.
Speaker 1:Ty Ty Shout out, ty Ty. That's awesome. Yeah, you thought it was like a little garden raised.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, it was. It was a full blown cultivated, I mean like yeah of course my Pup all Ronnie, did the track driving all that. I was like man, I thought you were going to show me like four or five squashed plants and no, it was Rose and I was like holy cow, go bigger, go home for that kid, oh man. But.
Speaker 1:Dylan, what's your, what's your ultimate goal, man? And my ultimate goal in the game, in the game.
Speaker 2:In the game I want to fight in and for one day I mean, I would love to step out in front of yellow bucket cheeks.
Speaker 1:Okay, what's, what's your ultimate goal in life, man? You seem like a down to earth guy who cares a lot.
Speaker 2:And my, my, my ultimate goal in life is just to be a good dude, you know, be somebody that people know they can lean on for help if they need it. You know, yeah, but also I'm the kind of guy if you need something, I'm giving it to you. I don't. I don't care if it comes back to me. I've had enough people in my life that were that way to me that it just I'd like to pay it forward. And when my time comes, I just I wanna be remembered for the good deeds that I did. You know that I wasn't a bad dude, I just I don't know the best way to put it, but my goal in life is just to be a good guy.
Speaker 2:That hopefully, if I have a wife and kids one day, that I raise a good family and, you know, keep a wife happy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I got you All right. What's your number one bucket list? What's the number one on your bucket list, man?
Speaker 2:And my number one bucket list. If it had to be, my dad's a history teacher, so of course that's just me. I would love to go to Normandy.
Speaker 1:Normandy.
Speaker 2:I would love to go to Normandy, go to the kind of take a little tour of France and just see what you know, just I've got an uncle that he's still in the Air Force. But like military is a big deal for me. But like World War II and yeah I love that was like my niche. I wasn't very much into the books but World War II was kind of my niche, that it was like I'd like to go see some of those sites Because I just can't imagine being 17, 18 years old you know, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Stepping off the boats on, you know, see what those guys went through. Or go to Iwo Jima. You know some of those bigger sites like that. I mean yeah.
Speaker 1:I got you. You know, some of them were 15, 16 years old, lying to the recruiter, to get in. Man, it's crazy, right? Can you imagine 15, 16, don't know anything, but you're going to go fight for your country, man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure.
Speaker 1:That's how I guess.
Speaker 2:You just sit there and you just think man, no, right, here we are thinking we're patriotic. Look at those guys.
Speaker 1:Serious. They paved the way, man, but I think that's what's best the great thing about this country. So, yeah, yeah, sure, yeah, what's next, what's next.
Speaker 2:What's next? Yeah, so next for me is man, we'll finish up here. The second weekend of September I'll go back to Florida, pick up my horse and the rest of my stuff, go back to Texas. Hopefully there's some stuff coming down the line. I'm working on Hopefully getting into the PRCAs and going that route.
Speaker 1:Let's go.
Speaker 2:Let's go, god willing. That's the plan. But if he changes that plan and shoots me in a different direction that's the direction I got to go I can't, really I can't fall to away from it, because he's gonna put me where he wants me anyway. So, right, might as well not fight it, but I'm really hoping that PRCA deal November. I'm going to a Miles Harris and Rob Smiths have a bullfighting school in Belton Texas. I'm going to that, yes, and then hopefully after that I can pick up some PRCA stuff, get my permit and all that. Okay, we'll see where it goes. Hopefully I'm making a living at it, not just a summer deal. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and will that?
Speaker 1:contractor. Will you still be with the contractor too next year?
Speaker 2:So, honestly, I was hired from first week in May until second week into September, for the whole summer. Yeah, but I'm already been asked if I'll come back next summer and I'm like, hey, man, I'm game to come back. But he also said because he's just open rodeos and he said, if you get PRCA deals, you need to do those because your name's gonna get bigger off of those deals and yes, yes.
Speaker 2:I mean we'll see. I mean hopefully I'm blessed. I mean I've been blessed enough as it is already. But yeah, we'll see what's in store Right When's your next event?
Speaker 1:Actually, we've got one that's coming.
Speaker 2:Saturday Saturday night at five. All right, we're at.
Speaker 1:It's in Alden Texas.
Speaker 2:We're at.
Speaker 1:It's in Alden, new York. Okay, all right, dylan, did I miss anything? You want to mention anything that I forgot?
Speaker 2:No, I don't think there's anything else, not unless you think you won't have anything else you want to talk about.
Speaker 1:I'm impressed by the cheese sandwich. I'm glad you brought light to that. That's the most indebted answer that I had, since you know that cheese question, cheese sandwich question. So thank you.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:No, dylan, man, you know it's pretty interesting. Man, the people that I've had on here, you know everybody's different. Yes, that's true. But man, you guys, you yourself, man, you're just a Good old country boy who just has a kind heart, man.
Speaker 2:I try to.
Speaker 1:You're doing your best, you're, you're, you're actually doing what you wanted to do, since you were, you know, yay, high Not not 511. Yeah, sure, but you know I'm pretty sure people are going to listen to this like Nick. Don't say much, just leave it as this, and you know I'm going to let the listeners just know that, man, I appreciate you doing.
Speaker 1:And story about your dad and tie, tie you and your answers on paying it forward. I mean you're a wise man for 24 years old and I mean keep doing what you're doing, man, and I hope, I hope you do get it. I know that yellow bucket shoot kind of deal and and paved the way for the young, young boys that are coming up, man, because there are a lot of them and they know there's a lot of them coming.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and they. They need some people to show them the ropes, that have good head on their shoulders and that are able to have time to set them straight, or Well, that's, that's like the deal.
Speaker 2:You know, you talking about that. I mean, I'm working for it's Christian rodeo company. I mean, there's no drinking. There's no, there's nothing. Not knocking anybody else, I mean I'm not doing that whatsoever, but it's just like it's a good family and atmosphere for these kids to just come out. Their parents don't have to worry about them getting anything dumb. You know, it's just, I don't I do it, I don't say they, I take it back, I do it for the kids because I'm just, I love kids.
Speaker 1:Same and I think that's why I'm putting it to the side and my listeners will know, because my listeners know what I stand for. You know I'm a coach myself at a high school and I work for and with kids, troubled kids and everything else. And you, you're, you're, you're on the right track, man, I respect you and this is me saying to keep, keep doing what you're doing. Respect.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sir, I appreciate that so.
Speaker 1:Dylan, thank you, and you're always welcome to come back, especially when you get your that yellow buck and shoot card.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sir, all right, yeah yeah.