CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Kansas City Outlaws coach J.W. Hart summoned his team to a mid-morning meeting Tuesday at the Red Lion Hotel & Conference Center in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Hart was not looking to chew out his young team following its 0-for-5 performance on Monday night in the team's 0-0 game against the Oklahoma Freedom. Instead, Hart wanted to challenge his team to answer the bell on Tuesday night and embrace the pressure, intensity and expectations of riding for the Kansas City Outlaws.
"How do they make diamonds?" Hart asked. "Pressure and heat. Pressure is high, and bulls are bringing the heat. So we know what we're up against, and we will adjust accordingly and be better today."
The Outlaws (1-1) showed improvement on Tuesday night, responding to Hart's challenge and delivering their coach his first victory in team history by defeating the Ariat Texas Rattlers (0-2) 173-85.75.
"To me, anything's an excuse," Hart told PBR.com. "All it is is an excuse. So that being said first and foremost, we had brand new gloves on everybody, brand new vests on everybody, brand new chaps on everybody, brand new helmets on everybody, pressure, everything. There are nine million things that cause what happened to happen (Monday). So it is what it is, and we really feel like we've come into the season as the favorite team. We want that target on our back. Maybe we come in a little too confident. Maybe that's one of the many things that went wrong."
Marcus Mast got things started for the Outlaws against Texas by riding Hundred Bad Days for 87 points Tuesday night. Texas got an answer from Rafael Jose de Brito (85.75 points on Slim Shady), but 2019 Rookie of the Year Dalton Kasel clinched the Kansas City victory with an 86.75-point ride on WSM's Nasty Wishes.
Mast lasted only 2.55 seconds on JAG Metal's Grand Theft in the Bonus Round, resulting in Kansas City finishing the season-opener in sixth place.
Kasel and Mast are the two veteran leaders on a Kansas City squad that started two teenagers in 2022 Rookie of the Year Bob Mitchell and three-time Kansas High School Rodeo Association state champion Tate Pollmeier in Cheyenne.
Kasel explained that Kansas City will need its youth and depth to step up come the team's host event – Outlaw Days – on Aug. 5-7 at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.
Outlaw Days will be the first PBR Team Series event with a home-crowd advantage for a team.
"I need to still do my part too, but it's a team deal," Kasel said. "We need them to step up majorly. And I trust that they will. We've been through a bunch of training – very difficult training – and we did it as a team and pulled through together and pushed through it. Just me being on Global Cup and stuff, I feel like I have an edge, almost. Just the feeling. And I've been trying to drive those guys to have the same edge that we have."
Hart said he has no qualms about sending a younger ride like Pollmeier into the fire of the PBR Team Series. He knows it is certainly a step up from the high school level, but Hart believes in the youngsters on his team.
Hart and company selected Pollmeier in Round 5 of the 2022 PBR Team Series Draft, presented by ZipRecruiter.
"We drafted them, didn't we?" Hart said. "We drafted them to use them. If I'd have wanted to play somebody first, I would've drafted him first. I'm playing who I drafted. I know Tate's still young and he's a work in progress, don't have the experience of some other guys we could've took, but his health, his maturity that we see in the future of him, and I'm not going to show him any disbelief by drafting him No. 5 and playing him No. 6."
The Outlaws next take on the Arizona Ridge Riders (1-1) on Aug. 5 at Outlaw Days (8:30 p.m. on RidePass on Pluto TV).
Hart admitted it was a tough pill to swallow on Monday when his team put up a goose egg on the scoreboard, and it can be hard as a coach when he has to sit back and watch the event unfold out of his control.
"It ain't no different than helping your son learn how to play tee ball, when he gets up there, and the pressure gets him," Hart said. "The ball is right there on the top of a stick, and he strikes out. It hurts. It hurts, and you can't go up there, and you can't help him swing that bat. You can't go up there, and you can't climb in that chute and do it for them."
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media
