Ty Murray

Ty Murray is more than just the boyfriend of singer-songwriter Jewel. He is, by many accounts, "the most famous cowboy in the world." He is also a cottage industry. Want the straw hat he wore during the 1998 bull riding season? It's available on his web site . . . for $300. Just click on the memorabilia icon. Or swing by his online store, where you can buy everything from Ty Murray T-shirts to Ty Murray spurs. In the works, a Ty Murray children's clothing line.

Ty Murray is more than just the boyfriend of singer-songwriter Jewel. He is, by many accounts, "the most famous cowboy in the world." He is also a cottage industry. Want the straw hat he wore during the 1998 bull riding season? It's available on his web site . . . for $300. Just click on the memorabilia icon. Or swing by his online store, where you can buy everything from Ty Murray T-shirts to Ty Murray spurs. In the works, a Ty Murray children's clothing line.

The dream was recurring . . . It is the final night of the rodeo. The strobe lights play around the chute where the fiercest bull in Christendom is busy kicking the gate to splinters, his mean little eyes red with fury, his hoofs cutting like razors, his dagger horns glistening in the spotlight like ivory sabers showing the blood spots.

The dream was recurring . . . It is the final night of the rodeo. The strobe lights play around the chute where the fiercest bull in Christendom is busy kicking the gate to splinters, his mean little eyes red with fury, his hoofs cutting like razors, his dagger horns glistening in the spotlight like ivory sabers showing the blood spots.

World all-around champion Ty Murray won his fourth consecutive title, and saddle bronc rider Billy Etbauer broke several rodeo-earnings records at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. Cody Custer won the world bull riding championship, his first world title. Wayne Herman won the world bareback riding title.

Romantic relationships may be put to the test on the new season of "Dancing With the Stars," with couples taking to the dance floor with and against each other. Pop star Jewel and her husband, rodeo champion Ty Murray, will compete for bragging rights on the ABC series' eighth season, which begins March 9, while country singer Chuck Wicks will take the floor with his girlfriend, two-time "Dancing With the Stars" champion Julianne Hough. Professional dancers and series regulars Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Karina Smirnoff, who are newly engaged, will be waltzing in the arms of others.

What: www.Stablegate.com Launch date: Today Interested in horses? Here's an all-inclusive Web site for you. There are other horse racing Web sites, but this is one that deals with a variety of equine interests. Besides horse racing news and topics, pages focus on Western riding, English riding, rodeo, breeding, health, travel and entertainment. The Web site was created by eStable, Inc. of Torrance. Paul Magnier, founder of eStable, says, "The goal of Stablegate.

Betting that Hollywood types wouldn't know a flank strap from a Prada belt, promoters of professional bull riding ferried a few to the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim for a competition featuring 45 of the world's top cowboys competing for $120,000 in prize money. Organized to promote the sport to Angelenos -- "There's a misconception in L.A. about professional bull riding. They consider it a rodeo," one publicist sniffed -- the Feb.

Is bull riding really a sport? Ask Chris Shivers, who lost six teeth when a bull gored him in the mouth. "I see it as a sport," Shivers said. "It's probably the toughest sport going. Basketball players get hurt, and they sit out for two or three months." Is bull riding really big business? The Professional Bull Riders tour stops tonight at the Arrowhead Pond, with real bulls and real athletes.

Right away, one thing was clear. The Mighty Ducks weren't playing at the Arrowhead Pond Saturday night. People, actual fans, were lined up an hour before the doors opened, itching to get inside. Nope, this wasn't a Duck game. There was a different aroma. The smell of money. Professional bull riding came to the Pond Saturday. The shiny belt buckles and legions of cowboy hats were tipoffs. Still, these were more suburban cowboys. There were as many minivans as pickup trucks in the parking lot.

Los Angeles may be a city of countless attractions, a veritable fun house of beaches, cinemas and concert halls, but there is one thing you don't get much of: good old-fashioned bronco busting. Today and Saturday, Pierce College does its darndest to compensate for this shortcoming with the 37th annual Pierce College Round-Up. This rodeo will bring together teams from 10 colleges in California and Nevada.

You wanna be a cowboy? That was always going to be a tough stretch for a charismatic kid from Columbus, Ohio, named Louie Vito Jr. (And, no, going to Ohio State football games at The Horseshoe doesn't count.) Vito had never heard of cowboy legend Ty Murray but journeyed to Texas to walk the walk, or in this case, dance the dance. Vito had to prepare for a high-pressure two-step for one of his turns on "Dancing With the Stars" and wanted to tap into the cowboy mentality.