Arizona Diamondbacks left hander Madison Bumgarner has been competing in rodeo events under the alias Mason's Saunders and even one of twenty six thousand five hundred sixty dollars and a team roping competition in December according to a story published Sunday by the athletic Bumgardner was told I told the website that he has discreetly competed in rodeos for awhile including in March of last year two days before pitching for the San Francisco Giants in a cactus league spring training game he's been roping since he was fifteen or sixteen and said he's been added so long that quote it's just part of who you are he's the twenty fourteen World Series MVP if he agreed to an eighty five million dollar five year contract with the Diamondbacks this past December and I'm sorry Courtney if I was the diamond backs I wouldn't be thrilled to find out that my ace left hander yes competing in rodeos in the offseason this is the same guy who got injured on a dirt bike do not remember that when he was with the giants and that was a serious injury that put him out for a very long time no wonder he was performing I guess you want to call that under a pseudonym or a fake name because had you found out about this the Diamondbacks might not have spent eighty eighty five million dollar a gigantic sum over a five year contract on this guy I mean it doesn't make any sense like I understand the thrill of competition and this is who we is but these risky things every sport has stuff like this written into players contracts that you cannot do I mean I always go back to when it when he got hurt in San Francisco a few years ago do you remember the month Taylor's thing when he was with the warriors he fell off the scooter when he went back to Mississippi for the offseason S. lied about it yeah that was a story that came to mind and I feel like any time something like this it comes to the light I'm not one of these people is like all the cool funny look how cute of the story is I'm like what is he thinking like you get injured and made these you know these are animals eat these things have a mind of their own they're powerful they're strong and certainly he's you know well conditioned and knows how to be around horses but you know that to me is way too big of a risk if I'm a professional athlete you know the prime of my career to take but you know he's done it before and that he is you know we don't really get that much of outside having serious injuries at receiver big penalty from the team for you know the motorbike thing according to have the details how did he come up with the alias of Mason's Saunders instead of going with you know his own name Madison Bumgarner sell it this came from directly from the athletic article that broke the story said quote if you competed as Madison Bumgarner every phone camera in the area that would have been trained on him he said so he devised Mason Saunders the surname is the maiden name of his wife Allie Mason is a shortened version for Madison and it's something allegedly his wife called him out in public so people don't recognize them so very clever I'll give him that but I don't think the whole thing is a buzz saw her story totally bizarre and the other thing is you know if this was an NBA player everybody would recognize them already because NBA players are actually recognizable it just goes to show you how anonymous baseball players are that the most clutch postseason pitcher maybe of all time can compete in rodeos and nappy racket I think what I know it's wild lake in the in the fact is here like he continues to go what do these very risky things it just doesn't seem to care yeah if you get caught I mean there's the photo in that athletic article where he's smiling and you know he's with I guess that it's a two person thing that team roping so I hope twenty six thousand dollars I hope that Madison Bumgarner did not keep that for myself given the gigantic contract he just signed in December the but yeah he looks he's not there we is in this picture I mean I just think it's hilarious how almost incognito so many baseball players can live their lives in that matter just because they blend in because they're not these gigantic athletes by and large I mean they're not six eight or you know they don't think Shaquille o'neal out there everybody would be able to tell if you're you know for the most part with NBA athletes I just don't understand why when you have hit the genetic lottery anyway to be able to throw the ball a hundred miles an hour the end and to be able to make eighty six million dollars really it's more than that doing this why you would ever risk your body or put like what your fans in your organization is rooting for on the line so recklessly and you pointed out he already ruined the giants season aired my fantasy baseball season which is far more important Courtney by falling off of that dirt bike a couple years ago and here he is I guess he says I'm just going to live my life and Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen told the athletic that quote he was not going to get into discussing specific contract language but you pointed this out that we know the player contracts have I can't imagine that the Diamondbacks are cool with their ace pitcher also being a rodeo road being a cowboy literally let alone they don't want to be a Dallas cowboy let alone in being a literal cowboy well I just remember a couple years ago at the end I felt combine whistle and was talking to Mike Zimmer about you know the quarterback situation at that point he had said that Sam Bradford had a degenerative knee I come to find out later that offseason I was speaking with Kyle Rudolph who said that he went skiing with Sam Bradford that off season right around the time of the combine so I'm thinking to myself you are here you are a health concern and you're going skiing or you could very easily risk tearing your ACL for a third time and you already had your season cut short because of injury like I wonder if these guys just do it for the thrill or maybe they just don't care because they have ungodly amounts of money to begin with if they feel like they can the kind of invincible they can do whatever they want but you do wonder like this has to be in contract language if you cannot do things like this because we know across sports there's certain things you're just not able to do I it's a liability reasons you ever been to a rodeo Courtney I half I went Mississippi when I work down there the show but county fair rodeo I've been to the Cheyenne frontier days shout out if you're listening in Cheyenne Wyoming on the ESPN radio affiliate there I gotta tell you it's oddly it is oddly entertaining but the the thrill of it is almost that you think that the that the ball right is just going to charge and block these cowboys into next year it is one of the most dangerous things I have ever seen and I never in my life once thought you know what it be cool to jump in there with these bowls and try to try this on for for my but how do you even practice you know you kind of just have to get in there and and take it on right yeah I guess I guess so what I mean I've seen the photos of Madison Bumgarner I'd taken the horse around the warning track at AT&T park when he was still a giant I just think that that's who he is this is got this guy is a country bumpkin at heart from North Carolina and I I just think that he grew up this way and it's always gonna be a part of him so he feels like Hey I'm an able bodied individual and I also have more money than anybody at this rodeo thing I'm gonna do what I want and it's somebody else take issue with it I'm sure they actually would found out about it right now well look I know why it's so good in the clutch in game seven of the World Series because if that that's nothing compared to facing down the eyes of a bull