By: James Youness
FORT WORTH, Texas – The saying traditionally goes “I’m not here for a long time, I’m here for a good time,” but for the world’s most colorful rodeo clown, the professional bull riding industry certainly made an exception as the talented entertainer enjoyed his last dance Sunday afternoon after more than 26 years of … well EVERYTHING Flint Rasmussen has done for the PBR.
“Flint is the epitome of a hard-working, honest, good friend of everybody at the PBR. He has never, and I mean this … he has never had a bad day when it comes to entertaining the fans. Week in and week out,” PBR CEO and Commissioner Sean Gleason shared with the Dickies Arena audience as the organization honored Rasmussen one final time.
Gleason had much more to say, but the crowd couldn’t suppress its appreciation much longer, as they forced a brief pause in the presentation to cheer on the beloved “Clown Boy” as the commissioner says.
“One of the most common questions I’ve been asked this week is ‘How are you going to replace Flint?’, and the answer is we’ll never replace Flint. Ever.”
Presenting Rasmussen with a custom trophy of himself doing the classic flint pose: Hands to the air, embracing and welcoming bull riding fans from around the world to the biggest stage in the industry, Gleason couldn’t help but jokingly point out that this whole thing really HAS been all about the face of Cooper Tires:
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“We’ve honored Flint several times this week, and it seems like every time, we’ve given him an image of himself,” he joked as the pair enjoyed a laugh together.
On behalf of every single member of the PBR who has been here throughout the years from the beginning up to today, we love you, we’re not going to miss you because you’re still doing TV, we love you, and we are going to miss you here on the dirt.”
But it wasn’t just the boss man and Rasmussen on the stage.
“I can guarantee you my mom will make it down that ramp much faster,” he joked after seeing his mother and father join the stage a minute or two into the ceremony. Always with the humor, that one.
Flanked by his mother, father, two daughters and brothers under the bright lights, who were all in town to celebrate his on-dirt retirement, his friends from college cheered on from the crowd as all of his biggest supporters were present.
“I grew up in a camper in a pickup because my dad was a rodeo announcer, and he taught me about rodeo clowns and when they should talk and when they should they shut up. Things they should say, things they shouldn’t say. He was the greatest straight man in the business and taught me everything I know about this sport,” the entertainer offered.
“What’s important for me is that you guys (the crowd) cheer for us every week, but we have the hardest working group and I hope they know that I love those guys and that when it’s all said and done that they can say that I was a pretty good guy to them because man, they worked their asses off.”
Not to mention his entire greater PBR family who’s spent the better part of the last three decades on the road beside him.
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“I get to hang out in the locker room with the coolest sons of bitches I’ve ever known in my life and I hope the fans know that everything I did out here and every time I stepped out here, no matter how bad I felt, or whatever I was going through in my personal life, I poured it out for you guys so that your day would be a little better when you left here then when you got here. I’ve got the best two fans right here,” Rasmussen said as he pointed to his daughters.
Getting a little choked up, he turned to them and embraced them with one of the biggest hugs of his career.
The night prior, his daughters actually performed the national anthem on Saturday night as part of the evening-long tribute to the entertainer.
With each of the World Finals-qualifying riders sporting the beloved blue and white Cooper Tires jersey on Saturday in his honor, they lined the dirt with hands outstretched as the man himself took one of his final energetic strides into the arena.
Presented with a custom piece of art from the lovely folks at Monster Energy as the ceremony concluded, he went on to dance his way through the remaining eight outs in typical Flint fashion.
While the legend may be hanging it up in regards to dirt-side performances, PBR fans can stay tuned throughout the summer for additional updates on how Rasmussen will continue to impact the industry he loves dearly.
Photos courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media
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Source: https://t-tees.com
Category: WHO
