CHICAGO – Sarah Berger made her way down to Chad Berger’s office a year and a half ago trying to wrap her head around how she was going to tell her husband the awful news.
She had no answers as to what may have happened, or why it did. All she knew was this was news no stock contractor ever wants to hear.
Sarah had just been informed that Berger’s staff had discovered Pearl Harbor – the No. 1 bull in the world at the time – had passed away.
Chad had fallen asleep in his office so no one could get ahold of him instantly. Chad very much would have liked if what Sarah was about to tell him was nothing more than a bad a dream.
Once Chad learned of the news, he bolted out of his office and sprinted his way to Pearl Harbor’s pen.
Unfortunately, the news was very much a living nightmare.
“I am sure he wanted to think it was a bad dream,” Sarah recalled during the 2019 PBR World Finals this past November. “It was awful. It was heart-wrenching. It was horrible. For a long time, it was really hard. He cried for a long time.”
2018 was supposed to be Pearl Harbor’s year. In Chad’s mind, Pearl Harbor would have been the 2018 World Champion Bull.
Pearl Harbor was going to be his first World Champion Bull since being co-owner of Code Blue (2009). Never before had Berger had full control of a World Champion Bull.
The loss of Pearl Harbor was a crushing blow to Berger. The 6-year-old was the MVP on the Berger trailer.
“Oh yeah, I wanted Pearl Harbor to win it real bad,” Chad said in the fall. “It can be a little disheartening. You only lose if you quit, though.”
Think of an NFL team losing a Hall of fame quarterback in the prime of his career. How do you replace him?
Berger had to go back to the drawing board in his pursuit of the next great champion.
He did not have to look outside of his ranch to find a bull ready to fill the void, though.
One of the least-loving buckers in his pen coincidentally filled the emptiness in Berger’s heart.
Smooth Operator.
Berger never gave up on Smooth Operator despite a series of injuries that threatened the bull’s career and multiple failed attempts at winning the world title previously.
Still, even an optimistic Berger could not have believed last year that, when the 9-year-old bull erupted for a 46-point score at the Chicago Invitational, his bull could push for a world title for an entire season.
Now Smooth Operator returns to Allstate Arena as the defending YETI World Champion. Smooth Operator will make his 2020 season debut in the championship round of the Chicago Invitational (Sunday 8 p.m. ET CBS Sports Network | RidePass 2:45 p.m. ET).
“Smooth Operator coming out (last year) at 9 years old. I didn’t know,” Berger said. “He never ceases to amaze me. He keeps coming and trying his heart out. It is all you can ask out of a bull. It is kind of a surprise to me.”
Smooth Operator never quit on Berger throughout 2019.
The six-time PBR World Finals qualifier capped his YETI World Championship season by bucking off Berger family friend Chase Outlaw in 4.11 seconds for a career-best 47-point score.
Berger looked up at the jumbotron inside T-Mobile Arena as the cameras cut to his face during Championship Sunday of the Finals. His bottom lip began to quiver, and the tears began to form in his eyes.
“I said a little prayer right before he bucked, and thank God for today,” Berger said. “I will tell you what. That bull. I don’t know if that bull knew today was the day, but he left every ounce he had right here on that dirt. I never seen a bull try that hard. He is 9 years old, and to come out and do what he did was amazing.”
These were the tears Sarah and the Berger family have always wanted to see, not the ones they saw that fateful spring morning in 2018.
“It means everything,” Sarah said. “We have had Smooth Operator for a long time. It is really special. Chad is so emotional anyway.
Sarah then pauses to laugh, “He even cries at commercials.”
Chad was not alone. His daughter Sadie also shed a few tears watching her dad finally receive that long-desired World Champion belt buckle.
“I am so happy,” Sadie said in Vegas. “I cried. It means more than anything to him. He can win Stock Contractor of the Year a hundred times, but this means the world to him.”
Smooth Operator concluded 2019 with a World Champion Bull average of 46 points to defeat No. 2 Smooth Wreck (45.63), No. 3 Heartbreak Kid (45.55), No. 4 Fearless (45.45) and No. 5 Lil 2 Train (44.95).
The veteran bull went 14-3 with an average bull score of 45.51 points. Smooth Operator was marked 46 points or higher in seven of his 17 outs.
Chad had thought about retiring Smooth Operator following his 2019 YETI World Championship, but instead the now 10-year-old bovine will look to become the fifth bull to win back-to-back YETI World Champion Bull titles.
It may be hard for Smooth Operator to recreate his magical run from a year ago, but that will not change how much love and joy the ornery bull brought Berger and his family in 2019.
“This just means so much more to me because I have had this bull since he was young, and he has went through so much to get here,” Berger said.
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko