As a followup to our story today on three-time Professional Bull Riders world champion Adriano Moraes, who here gets thrown by bull Evil Forces during an event earlier this season in New York's Madison Square Garden in New York, we've got more Q-and-A that expands on his beliefs, expectations and desires in life as he lives in Tyler, Tex., with his wife and sons aged 9, 7 and 4.
A trip to his official website shows how the 36-year old displays his religious perseverance with a daily prayer, an online rosary and messages about the Pope. But it also shows in his biography all that he's accomplished in the field, becoming aware of the sport at a teenager and wanting to break records instead of bones.
A recent Washington Post story about the PBR calls Moraes "a phenomenon, not just because he is almost certainly the greatest bull rider ever, but because he's ridiculously charismatic, articulate and hunky in a Jean-Claude Van Damme kind of way." The National Catholic Register referred to him as the "Cowboy of God" in his native Brazil.

What else we learned about Moraes beyond what's on the PBR website (which reminds us that today's final round at 2 p.m. will be televised at 5 p.m. on Versus):

Q: They begin each PBR event with a prayer over the riders and the animals. Can you explain more about how prayer and your faith keeps you focused on competing and in life beyond the arena?
A: It is the source of all my strength and keeps me alive. A person without religion is like living as a vegetable. Without a believe in the resurrection, you live a small existence. What's 90 years in the history of humanity versus a live everlasting? The human being is the only intelligent animal but some live a wasted of exitence. Life is more joyful when you know you have eternal life with the creator. Prayer has to be apart of any Christian person. With it, anything can be accomplished.
Having been born in Brazil, I was raised with this belief in the church, but when I was a teenager, I was like many who fell away from it and didn't go to church all the time. It wasn't until I met my wife (Flavia) who evangelicized me to be like her.

Q: How is getting on top of a bull to ride it different than if you were a bullfighter? Which is safer?
A: We actually refer to the 'rodeo clowns' on the PBR as bullfighters. They are very brave and necessary and are our guardian angels. The traditional Spanish bullfighter ... they are 10 times in better shape. They're real athletes. They don't show it but when they're hurt, it's worse than we get. They don't break bones, they get stuck with horns. Our bulls don't have the sharpened horns; they are filed down. And those bulls are bred to attack, they're fighting bulls. We breed ours to buck, just as dogs are bred to retrieve or horses to either run or plow a field.

Q: What would catch a typical Los Angeles person into wanting to attend a bull riding event?
A: We think of it more as an extreme sport. It's raw. No one fixes results or the outcomes. It's like the Roman gladiator days, a sport of blood. Our's isn't as dramatic but it could be. It's a sport that runs deep into Western heritage and while it has a rural background, we have a common bond with city folks. We have a high standard of moral conduct and an image I think that many admire and respect. If you see it on TV, it's different than in person.

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