Mauney: ‘It is 100 times better than it was before’
By: Justin Felisko
PUEBLO, Colo. – Over the last few seasons, two-time World Champion J.B. Mauney has learned – or maybe the better phrase is “come to terms with” – the need to sit out or miss a few events because of various injuries.
Instead of simply trying to cowboy grit his way through injuries as he has done throughout the majority of his 15-year career, the future Ring of Honor inductee has begun to realize years and years of being battered and beaten against the rankest bulls in the world was making things a little bit harder to mentally overcome.
However, having to sit out the first six months of the 2020 season following offseason reconstructive surgery on his right shoulder has been a completely new experience, especially considering this past surgery was nowhere near as serious as his career-threatening one in 2017 after being severely injured at the Calgary Stampede.
To be frank, Mauney hates sitting out.
“It is real hard for me,” Mauney said during the 2020 WinStar World Casino and Resort Global Cup USA, presented by Monster Energy. “I have never been one to sit out very long. This is my second shoulder surgery, and I am not trying to get the third one just yet.”
Fans that have missed seeing Mauney in action can tune in on Wednesday night to RidePass at 8 p.m. ET for a FREE airing of Round 4 of the 2015 World Finals. Mauney goes on to ride SweetPro’s Bruiser for 92.5 points inside the Thomas & Mack Center minutes after clinching his second world title.
Mauney said he has been “gunning for” a return to competition this year on July 20-21 for Last Cowboy Standing at Cheyenne Frontier Days, and he has said recently he still believes to be right on track.
The North Carolina cowboy is being cautious this time around before rushing back aboard a 2,000-pound beast. This is the longest amount of time Mauney has ever missed since winning the PBR’s Rookie of the Year in 2006.
The now 33-year-old reflected on his last three seasons during the 2019 PBR World Finals after his failed attempt to ride with not only a torn up shoulder, but a broken one.
Mauney, with his right shoulder in a sling, leaned back into a blue metal locker just beyond the sports medicine room this past November and let out a sigh.
There were no more bulls to ride this season. He could not continue any further at the Finals, and he was beginning to mentally prepare for an upcoming surgery – one that he would eventually get done the first week of January.
“Today (the PBR Sports Medicine Team) asked me if I was going to sit out the whole six months, and I said, ‘I do believe I will this time. I want to make sure it is completely healed because I ain’t for sure positive that when I came back (in 2017) I didn’t tear it up when I came back too early,’” Mauney said.
“I think that is when the process of tearing it up (began), and I kept going and going. Finally in Tulsa (this year) I was like, something is not right with it. The MRI then showed the main rotator cuff tendon was torn in two.”
The 2017 surgery performed by Dr. Tandy Freeman lasted nearly six hours and involved 13 anchors and a screw. Mauney’s surgery three years ago involved Freeman repairing torn ligaments, his rotator cuff, a transplantation of Mauney’s bicep tendon and removal of bone fragments after Mauney was injured during a gruesome wreck attempting to ride Cowahbunga at the Calgary Stampede.
At the time, Freeman compared what he saw inside Mauney’s shoulder to that of a grenade going off.
Mauney said at the 2020 Global Cup USA that he always knew he was never truly right once he decided to return and compete at the 2017 World Finals.
There were glimpses since his first surgery that Mauney could still be his prior self, such as when he won the Bad Boy Mowdown last year in Little Rock, Arkansas, for his PBR-record tying 32nd event win. Nevertheless, for the most part, Mauney has not returned to his championship-contending form.
“It was never really right after the first surgery because they put so much stuff in there,” Mauney said. “Something had to give. It was locked down in a few places and I couldn’t move my arm a certain way. I just tried to fight through it and change my riding style.
“After this surgery, he cleaned up a lot of that scar tissue. I got out of the hospital and I was like, shoot, this sucker is a breeze compared to the last one. It hasn’t hurt. I can do about anything I want to do. I just have to watch it, not overdo it, and tear what he fixed again.
“It is 100 times better than it was before.”
Freeman said in January that it is no surprise Mauney feels better compared to his first surgery.
This second surgery was less severe compared to the one in 2017. There was less damage inside Mauney’s shoulder this time around, and Freeman was able to use the surgery to clean out a buildup of scar tissue, too.
“It went well,” Freeman said earlier this year. “A lot of scar tissue in his shoulder. I was able to resect all that, which got him a little bit more motion while he was asleep. It won’t restore normal motion, but if he works at it, he’s going to be better. Other than the (rotator) cuff tear, the rest of the structural part of the shoulder looked good. The joint capsule, the labrum, the articular cartilage was all intact, which the MRI indicated. So he had a high-grade partial thickness tear of two of his cuff tendons. He had good tissue. (I was) able to get a good repair.
“There was a lot less to do, so he should feel better. Back then he had a three-and-a-half tendon cuff tear, and he had a capsular evulsion, and his shoulder was a lot worse off than it is now, so he should. And I think he has a chance for the shoulder to be better, and we’ll just have to see. If it all heals, he should have better motion, and the pain that he’s had since he hurt it back in August certainly ought to be better, because it got reattached well.”
Mauney said getting his motion back could be a major game changer when it comes to his riding. The 2017 surgery had really forced him to ride with a completely different style than he was accustomed.
If Mauney can have better free arm motion this time around, it may lead to more glimpses of the pre-2017 Mauney, who was ranked No. 5 in the world at the time of his injury.
There has been nothing harder for him to overcome in the arena, says the chronically injured Mauney.
“Shoulder surgery. It was hell on me,” Mauney said. “It was the worst thing that ever happened to me. My whole bull riding was pretty much set up on my free arm. That is how I rode bulls. I would kind of sit on my outside shoulder and then I would make those big moves and try to catch them back up. When they took my free arm away from me, I couldn’t do it again. I had to try and change my riding style. I didn’t like it too much.
“I have to get the motion all back. That is what we were all worried about. Once we get the motion, then we can get the strength back.”
MAUNEY IMPRESSED BY OUTLAW’S ABILITY TO BOUNCE BACK
Another rider working his way back from offseason shoulder surgery is Chase Outlaw – someone who Mauney continues to have a high level of respect for.
Outlaw has undergone four shoulder surgeries in the past five years, but he has never missed qualifying for the World Finals since making it as a rookie in 2012.
“He is just wild and reckless,” Mauney said in Las Vegas. “He ties his hand in there and he means it. He is a bull rider. He don’t play the odds. He doesn’t look at this or think what the needs to do. He gets on there and tries to win every time he nods his head.”
Outlaw’s second career premier series win is airing Wednesday on the PBR’s Facebook account at 5 p.m. ET. Outlaw won the 2014 event in Nashville, the last year it was a regular-formatted event before switching to a PBR Major in 2015.
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
Courtesy of PRCA