2025 PBR Chevron Showdown: The Ariat Texas Rattlers mentorship with Odessa College
The Texas Rattlers have partnered with the Wranglers leading up to the Chevron Showdown to provide a mentorship, and OC head coach Tom Kelly says it's invaluable.
'For Chevron and Kent Quick to bring the Texas Rattlers to town and then for them to also include us in this event with this training, with working out with the Rattlers, with riding with them, practicing with them, you can't put a price tag on that.'
With the Rattlers back in Odessa, they are looking to expand their brand nationwide, starting with the Lone Star State.
'Our hometown is Fort Worth, but we want to be known all over the country,' Rattlers head coach Cody Lambert said. 'Coming here to Odessa, I want fans, I want to be looked at, I want the Rattlers to be looked at as Texas' team.'
In the 2024 PBR Chevron Showdown, Odessa College's Hayden Welsh won the event, and the team gives a lot of credit to the Rattlers team. 'It just started our year off well, and we carried the momentum through. In my opinion, we owe a big thank you to the Rattlers for helping us do that,' Kelly said.
Now, the 2025 PBR Chevron Showdown expectations are at an all-time high. 'We got some of the best bulls in the business, the best bull riders in the business. It will come down to who wants to win.'
The event is set for 7:00 p.m. at Ector County Coliseum in Odessa, and tickets can be found online at Etix.com or the box office for $25. Following the event, country music legend Dwight Yoakam will be performing.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox Sports
a day ago
- Fox Sports
2025 MLB All-Star Game: Building the Best Twins Lineup
This list goes beyond the Twins legends that were once launching dingers at the Homer Dome. Obviously, there's Kirby. And Hammerin' Harmon. And even Hall of Famer Rod Carew. Plenty of top stars who kept things on target in the Twin Cities. Manager: Tom Kelly Tom Kelly took over as the manager of the Twins in 1986, after Minnesota went 59-80 with him the year after his own term as a midseason replacement. Kelly was the sixth Twins' manager of the decade at that point — Minnesota had yet to post a winning season in the 80s, and likely only escaped the AL West cellar in '86 thanks to Kelly's promotion. In '87, the Twins won the World Series, and they did it again in '91: Kelly remained at the helm for 15 years, and in addition to the championships, ranks first for Minnesota in wins. Starting pitcher: Walter Johnson There are positions in Twins' history where there's room for debate about who deserves the nod, but not at starting pitcher. Bert Blyleven is a Hall of Famer, as is Jim Kaat. Johan Santana would have been, if his body had let him. Walter Johnson is inner-circle, however, behind only Cy Young in career wins above replacement owing to over 5,900 innings with a 2.17 ERA. That figure isn't just because of the Dead Ball era, either. Johnson's ERA+ is 147: he led the league six times, and he's the all-time leader in shutouts with 110, too. Reliever/closer: Joe Nathan The Twins acquired Joe Nathan (as well as Francisco Liriano and Boof Bonser) from the Giants in exchange for A.J. Pierzynski, just as Nathan seemed to be figuring out how to succeed in relief. Over the next seven years, he was significantly better than his best effort with San Francisco, racking up both saves (246) and strikeouts (518, 11.1 per nine) as a key member of a Twins' team with annual postseason aspirations. He'd end up leaving a year later, but not before becoming the franchise's all-time saves leader with 260, passing Rick Aguilera. Catcher: Joe Mauer Joe Mauer was a true Twins' lifer. Not only was his entire 15-year major-league career with Minnesota after they drafted him first-overall in 2001, but he was born in one of the twin cities that the team is named for: St. Paul, Minnesota. Mauer was more than just a local boy, though. He could hit, and not just for a catcher. Mauer finished his career with the second-highest on-base percentage (.405) for a catcher, one of just two backstops over .400, and was also a Gold Glove-caliber defender. Even with the injuries, he was a no-doubt Hall of Famer. 1B: Harmon Killebrew Harmon Killebrew's career began in 1954, at age 18, allowing him to play for the Nationals, Senators and Twins iterations of the franchise. Killebrew isn't just the all-time home run leader for the Twins — at 559, he's the only Twins player with over 300, 400 and 500 long balls — but he's also 12th all-time in MLB with 573, who led the league in homers four times (and the AL another two). That power is part of why there are fans of a certain age who know him best from 1990s reruns of the 1960s television show, "Home Run Derby". 2B: Rod Carew How many other Twins second baseman were named dropped by the Beastie Boys? Exactly. To Carew's credit, he was more than just a name that rhymed, as he was about as sure of a shot as you could get for a base hit: in 12 seasons with the Twins, he second baseman won eight batting titles, and led all of MLB in average in four of those seasons. For his career in Minnesota, Carew batted .334, and produced a 137 OPS+, third-best among Twins, while his .393 on-base is tied for first — those weren't empty batting averages by any means. 3B: Gary Gaetti Gary Gaetti's league-average 1987 season was flanked by two superior campaigns. In '86, he mashed 34 homers with a then-career-high .856 OPS, and in '88, he produced what would end up being his lone season with an OPS over .900. Gaetti didn't forget to bring it when it counted, however: in the 1987 postseason, he hit .300/.348/.650 with two homers in the ALCS against the Tigers, earning series MVP honors, then .259/.333/.519 with another home run and four RBIs against the Cardinals, helping the Twins to their first championship since 1924. SS: Cecil Travis Cecil Travis led the majors in hits in 1941 with 218, while batting .359/.410/.520. The next three seasons would be spent on military bases and overseas, as part of the United States military. Travis lost what was left of his prime years on the diamond to World War II, and while that impacted more than just his final career tallies, we can still recognize his highly productive run before then. From 1934 through 1941, Travis averaged about four wins above replacement per year while batting .327, often playing high-quality defense at shortstop, to boot. OF: Torii Hunter It took Torii Hunter a few years to get going in the majors, but in 2001, at age 25, he broke out all at once. Hunter won his first of nine consecutive Gold Gloves — the first seven with Minnesota — and his bat finally took a step forward. And then another step in 2002, earning Hunter his first of five All-Star berths, and a sixth-place MVP finish. From 2001-2007, Hunter hit .272/.326/.484 alongside his excellent defense. While he left for the Angels in free agency, he did return to the Twins in 205 for his final year in MLB. OF: Kirby Puckett The franchise's successor to Rod Carew and predecessor to Torii Hunter. While Puckett won just one batting title compared to Carew's eight, the latter never had to contend with being in the same league as Wade Boggs: Puckett still hit .318 for his career, and .329 from 1986-1992. As for the Hunter connection, Puckett won his first Gold Glove in '86 for his play in center field, then five more before his career ended. Puckett was forced to retire early due to loss of vision in one eye, but even with the shortened career, proved an easy entrant to Cooperstown. OF: Sam Rice Sam Rice, like Harmon Killebrew, played all but one season of his career with the franchise. Unlike Killebrew, though, he did it all well before Minnesota was ever in the picture. Rice got a late start in his big-league career, coming up at age 25 with Washington, but he stuck around until he was 44 to make up for it. He led the league in hits once, and the AL another time — both seasons had 216 knocks — and batted .323 for the Nationals across 19 seasons. Rice was inducted into the Hall of Fame through the Veteran's Committee in 1963. DH: Justin Morneau Justin Morneau was drafted in the third round by the Twins in 1999, out of Canada. He'd debut four years later in the majors, and had a hold on the first base job by mid-2004, which allowed him to go deep 19 times in 74 games. He won the AL MVP in 2006 after batting .321/.375/.559 with 34 home runs, but would top that mark in 2008 with 47 blasts. Morneau is fourth in Twins' history with 221 homers, and tied for 10th in doubles with 289. He's also fourth all-time among Canadian-born players with 247 homers. Honrable Mentions: Bucky Harris (manager) Ron Gardenhire (manager) Clark Griffith (manager) Bert Blyleven (starting pitcher) Brad Radke (starting pitcher) Johan Santana (starting pitcher) Jim Kaat (starting pitcher) Jim Perry (starting pitcher) Eddie Guardado (reliever/closer) Glen Perkins (reliever/closer) Rick Aguilera (reliever/closer) Kent Hrbeck (1B) Buddy Myer (2B) Chuck Knoblach (2B) Brian Dozier (2B) Eddie Yost (3B) Corey Koskie (3B) Joe Cronin (SS) Roy Smalley (SS) Zoilo Versalles (SS) Greg Gagne (SS) Goose Goslin (OF) Michael Cuddyer (OF) Tony Oliva (OF) Jacque Jones (OF) Larry Hisle (OF) Bob Allison (OF) Tony Oliva (OF) Shane Mack (OF) Nelson Cruz (DH) Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily! recommended Item 1 of 3 Get more from the Major League Baseball Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more in this topic
New York Times
27-06-2025
- New York Times
Sliders: A tribute to Scott Miller, a master storyteller who was ‘good to the core'
Welcome to Sliders, a weekly in-season MLB column that focuses on both the timely and timeless elements of baseball. The bulletin marked a sobering division, a before-and-after moment that could not be erased. Tom Kelly remembers it well from his friend Rick Stelmaszek, his longtime coach with the Minnesota Twins. Advertisement 'He calls me and says, 'I got a problem,'' Kelly said by phone the other day. 'I said, 'What's that?' He says, 'I've got cancer.' And then he said, 'Pancreatic.' I about dropped the phone. I said, 'Oh, Jesus.' I know that's not a good one.' Pancreatic cancer took Stelmaszek in 2017, at age 69. Last week it took Scott Miller, one of the best baseball writers of his generation, at 62. His friends in the press box feared the news from his awful diagnosis nearly two years ago. But Scott never seemed too down about it. While fighting cancer, he wrote a book. 'Skipper: Why Baseball Managers Matter (and Always Will)' is a lasting tribute to Scott's spirit. Grand Central Publishing released it a month before Scott died. Kelly was the manager Scott knew best, as the Twins' beat writer for the St. Paul Pioneer Press from 1994 to 1999. The team was in decline. It could have been tense for Kelly, but not with Scott. He brought such humanity to the job that the people he covered rewarded him with more. 'He wanted to know the ins and outs of it,' Kelly said. 'Where most of the others were, 'Hey, that's great,' he'd put on that quizzical look, like, 'No, come on.' You do your initial five, 10 minutes, whatever it is, and there might be seven or eight people in the room. You sort of give them what they sort of want and they get out. And he would come back for the real answers.' The baseball world lost Scott Miller today.@Ken_Rosenthal talks about Scott Miller, and our hearts go out to the Miller family ❤️ — FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) June 22, 2025 It is one thing for fellow writers to laud a fallen colleague, and Scott was warmly hailed by many of us on social media. It is another for the people in uniform to feel the same kind of connection. For the best of us, like Scott, interacting with players, coaches and managers is not the adversarial jousting you might think. Advertisement 'We can't really ask for more from you guys than to be fair and write what you see — if I stunk, I stunk,' said LaTroy Hawkins, the retired pitcher. 'But I also know that, the closer he and I became, it became a lot easier to read it if I wasn't doing well, because I understood that he had a job to do. 'We just always talked. Wherever I was playing, if Scott's there, we're gonna kick it for 35, 40 minutes in the clubhouse. And if he needed to talk to somebody else — 'Hey, go talk to Scott. Scott's a good dude. He's not just good on the outside, he's good to the core.'' It's hard to foster meaningful one-on-one relationships while also needing other voices, all to be collected in a limited access period. The best insights might be off the record, but you also need usable quotes for the story of the moment. Nobody balanced that like Scott, said Dave Roberts, the Los Angeles Dodgers' manager and a pivotal figure in 'Skipper.' Roberts let Scott shadow him for a late-season stretch in 2023, then met with him again for coffee last fall, in the post-World Series frenzy, so Scott could have up-to-date material before publication. 'He understood what a relationship meant, for not only the short-term — getting something on paper — but also the long-term,' Roberts told The Athletic's Fabian Ardaya. 'So for me to offer up my time with him was a no-brainer. I just thought that Scott had a different perspective on the game, in the sense of, he loved the game but he loved the people within the game.' Miller's book is an ode to personal relationships, a reminder of their value in an era saturated with data. If that sounds like an old-time sensibility, consider that his first book, 'Ninety Percent Mental,' with Bob Tewksbury in 2018, examined a side of the sport that went largely unexplored for decades. Advertisement 'It goes back to his curiosity,' said Tewksbury, an All-Star pitcher who became the mental skills coach for the Boston Red Sox and San Francisco Giants. 'He wanted to learn more about psychology and mental skills and what players go through. I think he knew how important it was because he'd been around the game so long, he saw players struggle and knew that this is an important field. 'I would get emails from people that read the book and would say how much it helped them — whether a player or a firefighter or somebody in law enforcement — and I'd send them to Scott and he would always be so happy. Like, 'That's why we wrote it.' It had an impact.' I knew Scott best at the New York Times, where we covered the majors together early this decade. His archive is filled with richly detailed profiles and sharp takes on the news. I was proud to work with Scott, both at the Times and at SiriusXM, and will never find a friendlier, more upbeat or reliable teammate. I miss him terribly. But the piece I remember most, the one that defines Scott, was a story he did for Bleacher Report in 2017 on Carl Crawford, a longtime outfielder who had been released the year before by the Dodgers with more than $30 million left on his contract. The topic was inherently touchy — a reclusive, once-great player being paid a fortune to go home. Why would he open his home to a writer? Because that writer was Scott. 'It's the word trust,' said Jim Tracy, the former Dodgers manager. 'I guarantee you: Carl Crawford implicitly trusted Scotty Miller to sit down with him and have that conversation. And not everybody garners that type of respect when it comes to situations like that. In order to do the real, real tough story, there has to be trust and respect.' The story lives online, with a Houston dateline and an opening paragraph so divinely poignant that it breaks your heart. Advertisement 'The big iron gates swing open,' Scott Miller wrote, 'and from the front door on the other end of the long concrete driveway a voice cheerfully hollers, 'Come on in!'' It's been a tough season for Atlanta Braves center fielder Michael Harris II, who finished Thursday hitting .215 with a career-low .564 OPS. Even so, Harris has managed a positive bWAR because of his outstanding defense. 'You have a lot more slumps on offense than you do defense,' Harris said this week. 'As long as you're saving runs for the team and still doing the little things outside of where you're struggling at, I guess it makes things a little easier. But on the defense side, I definitely feel like I can always have an impact there.' Harris, the National League's Rookie of the Year in 2022, won a Gold Glove in the minors and is still a highlight waiting to happen. He does some of his best work on the road against the rival Philadelphia Phillies, with catches like this one last August to rob Austin Hays of a homer … … and this one last month to keep Max Kepler in the park. Here are five insights from Harris on what it's like to steal a home run. Study your surroundings: You have to. In BP, you go check out the warning track, how many steps it takes you to get to the fence while you're on the run. A lot of it comes down to what you do in BP and how you prepare and know the field before the game. Defensive backs make great outfielders: I've got a little bit of a background playing cornerback (in high school), so I feel like that (when) I try to go up and get some balls from the offense. It's sort of the same thing, I mean, you're facing towards the offense and you've got to have good footwork and use your hips to get to the right angle. Try to get it to a spot and know where it's at, where it's going to be and try to minimize runs. Advertisement Timing is everything: I guess the hardest thing is not jumping too early or too late. I guess I think a lot of people make the mistake of getting to the wall too early and trying to jump then and they get stuck against the wall. That's why I like to run with the ball, because if you get stuck to the wall, you have no chance to even make the play. So I'd rather just run with the ball and then take the momentum, or if it comes back in, I'm running to a stop. Almost any wall can be a robbery site: I like Philly, because you can get back there and actually get a chance to get a lot of them. With some of them, it depends on the material of the wall because sometimes you can use the pad on the wall to get higher. So I guess it all depends — Kevin Pilar did climb up that tall wall in Toronto back in the day. I guess any fence is possible just depending on the athleticism of the player. Examples abound: I like any Andruw Jones catch. Denzel Clarke's catch this year against the Angels was nice. I liked Pillar's in Toronto. And who was the guy who robbed him in the dead center and he wasn't looking — like, over the back shoulder? Gary Matthews Jr. That was one of my favorites. The A's broke ground on their new ballpark in Las Vegas this week. But it will take generations for the new place to house as many Hall of Famers as its predecessor in Oakland. The Coliseum was practically a required stop on the way to Cooperstown. Sure, there were longtime A's like Dennis Eckersley, Rollie Fingers, Rickey Henderson, Catfish Hunter and Reggie Jackson. But look at all the other greats who dropped by for a brief stay. All of these future Hall of Famers logged time with Oakland: Willie McCovey, Dick Allen, Joe Morgan, Don Sutton, Dave Parker, Goose Gossage, Tim Raines, Frank Thomas and Mike Piazza. But the trend started with Billy Williams, who arrived from the Chicago Cubs in a trade for Darold Knowles, Bob Locker and Manny Trillo on Oct. 23, 1974. Williams — who qualified for the A's/40-WAR square on Tuesday — had never reached the playoffs in 16 seasons with the Cubs. The A's had won three consecutive World Series and were adding a six-time All-Star who would soon hit his 400th homer. Advertisement 'Well, that settles it,' Pat Kelly, a White Sox outfielder, told the Chicago Daily News. 'Those (guys) are gonna get their four in a row.' The 1975 A's did get Williams to the postseason. But they fell to the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS, and Williams went hitless in a three-game sweep. Thirty-two years ago at Milwaukee County Stadium, ballpark entertainment changed forever. As the visiting Toronto Blue Jays casually warmed up before the bottom of the fifth inning of a win over the Brewers, three cased meats burst through the left field wall for a bumbling journey into our hearts. The racing sausages, who had existed only as crude scoreboard animation, had come to life as a bratwurst, hot dog and Polish sausage. As the footage shows, Bratwurst was the winner, with costume creator Michael Dillon inside. The race became a daily staple of Brewers games the next spring, with Hot Dog and Chorizo now part of the gang. These days, you'll find presidents, pierogies, power tools and other oversized, spindly-legged characters dashing around your local warning track. The Mets are the latest to join the craze, with a pizza slice, ferry boat, skyscraper and subway car competing to see who will beat the hapless Bronx giraffe every game. It's all lots of fun, but remember … Milwaukee's best. (Top photo of Tyler Kepner and Scott Miller in July 2024: Courtesy of Tyler Kepner)
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Yahoo
FAMU football gets commitment from Florida QB Lawrence Wright IV, son of former Gators star
Florida A&M football is still building quarterback depth. This time, the Rattlers got a commitment from the son of a college football star of yesteryears. P.K. Yonge Blue Wave Lawrence Wright IV (1) looks to throw during the first half between P.K. Yonge and Keystone Heights at P.K. Yonge School in Gainesville, FL on Thursday, November 2, 2023. [Chris Watkins/Gainesville Sun] Chris Watkins/Gainesville Sun On Friday, June 13, former Florida Gators quarterback Lawrence Wright IV announced that he is transferring to FAMU. Advertisement The redshirt freshman's father, Lawrence Wright III, was an All-American safety for Florida and won the 1996-1997 Jim Thorpe Award while helping the Gators win the national championship in the same season. Florida's Danny Wuerffel, left, and Lawrence Wright share a laugh Jan. 11, 1997, at the Gators' national championship celebration at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at Florida Field in Gainesville, Fla. Wright IV spent the 2024 season with the Gators as a preferred walk-on. He didn't make any appearances during the 13-game season. In high school, Wright IV played at Gainesville's PK Yonge, where he graduated in 2024. The 6-foot-1, 243-pound Wright IV joins an everchanging FAMU quarterback room that has added RJ Johnson III, RJ Mayes, Tyler Jefferson, and Jett Peddy this offseason. The Rattlers' returning quarterbacks are Traven Green and Bryson Martin. Advertisement FAMU football opens its 12-game regular season schedule on Aug. 30 versus the Howard Bison in the Orange Blossom Classic at Miami Gardens' Hard Rock Stadium. Florida A&M Football 2025 Schedule Week 1: Saturday, Aug. 30 ― vs. Howard (Orange Blossom Classic at Miami Gardens' Hard Rock Stadium), 4 p.m., ESPNU Week 2: Saturday, Sept. 6 ― at Florida Atlantic, 6 p.m., ESPN Plus Week 3: Saturday, Sept. 13 ― vs. Albany State, 7 p.m. Week 4: BYE/OPEN WEEK Week 5: Saturday, Sept. 27 ― vs. Alabama State (SWAC), 3 p.m. Week 6: Saturday, Oct. 4 ― vs. Mississippi Valley State (SWAC/at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium) Week 7: Saturday, Oct. 11 ― vs. North Carolina Central, 3 p.m. Week 8: Saturday, Oct. 18 ― vs. Alcorn State (SWAC/Homecoming), 4 p.m. Week 9: Saturday, Oct. 25 ― at Southern (SWAC) Week 10: Saturday, Nov. 1 ― vs. Jackson State (SWAC), 7 p.m. Week 11: Saturday, Nov. 8 ― at Arkansas-Pine Bluff (SWAC), 3 p.m. Week 12: Saturday, Nov. 15 ― at Alabama A&M (SWAC), 3 p.m. Week 13: Saturday, Nov. 22 ― vs. Bethune-Cookman (SWAC/Florida Classic at Orlando's Camping World Stadium) Saturday, Nov. 29 ― NCAA FCS Playoffs Begin (If Necessary) Saturday, Dec. 6 ― SWAC Championship Game (If Necessary) Saturday, Dec. 13 ― Celebration Bowl at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium (If Necessary) Monday, Jan. 5, 2026 ― NCAA FCS National Championship Game at Nashville's FirstBank Stadium (If Necessary) All times listed are in Eastern Standard Time. Gerald Thomas, III is a multi-time award-winning journalist for his coverage of the Florida A&M Rattlers at the Tallahassee Democrat. Follow his award-winning coverage on and contact him via email at GDThomas@ or on the app formerly known as Twitter @3peatgee. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Lawrence Wright IV, son of Florida Gators star, commits to FAMU football
