J.B. Mauney followed up his PBR Rookie of the Year season by winning the first two Built Ford Tough Series events of the 2007 season in New York and Worchester, Mass.

Before he left the DCU Center in Worcester, then-CEO Randy Bernard told him, “J.B., you’re going to be the Dale Earnhardt of the PBR.”

Born and raised in Mooresville, N.C., where Earnhardt lived and had his DEI team headquartered, J. B. Mauney knew all about NASCAR and its ardent fan base. But he didn’t understand what Bernard meant.

Bernard explained, “The fans are either going to love you or they’re going to hate you. There’s no in-between.”

With five seasons as a professional athlete under his belt, Mauney still recalls the conversation.

“That’s part of it, and if a fan wants to pull for one guy more power to them,” he said. “Everybody doesn’t love the same baseball player.”

And as The Q Scores Co. reported earlier this week, some fans change their minds.

Much has been made in the mainstream media in the past 72 hours over the fact that LeBron James now ranks as the sixth most disliked athlete in professional sports. The Top 5 disliked athletes include Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick; golfer Tiger Woods; Cincinnati Bengals receivers Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco; and Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant.

According to The Q Scores Co., James was viewed in a negative light by 39 percent of the country, compared to 22 percent when the poll was conducted six months earlier. James was still viewed positively by 14 percent of those polled.

In 2009, Woods was No. 1 on the list of the “most popular male athletes” conducted by the Harris Poll. James and Bryant were third and fourth on the same list.

Similarly, Mauney knows the very different reactions he stirs in the PBR fan base. His popularity at live PBR events has been explosive, yet online, he elicits often negative comments about his perceived cockiness.

“I don’t pay attention,” said Mauney, when asked about his polarizing effect on PBR fans. “There have been people who call me and tell me what’s being said, and it doesn’t bother me. People are going to talk.

“There are some fans who like me and some that don’t. I really don’t know why. They just don’t like my style, I guess.”

“I get up and put my pants on the same way every morning,” he continued. “It doesn’t matter what anybody says about me, because I know what I want to do and what I expect myself to do, and that’s what really matters to me. Some people take it the wrong way and I try to tell them I’m not like that. I’m not cocky. I just want to win.”

Even last year, following his World Champion campaign, Kody Lostroh joked that he thought Mauney and Lostroh fans were going to fight it out.

Regardless of occasional online jeers, Mauney is well aware of the positive response he receives during the rider introductions at live events.

“I like it,” he admitted. “It makes you feel good. When they call your name out it’ll make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck when they go to hooting and hollering.

“It’s a good feeling.”

NEWS and NOTES

Live Event Center: Follow all the action from this week’s BFTS event in Springfield, including the second of five bonus rounds for the Top 10 riders, by logging on to the Event Center at www.pbr.com/live. The multimedia center provides live scoring, live blogging and event-related interviews.

— by Keith Ryan Cartwright