Sports, especially professional bull riding, are exciting, highly-charged competitions that draw people into the moment.

And it’s easy to get caught up those moments.

This season, Guilherme Marchi has had what everyone would call a great season.

The 26-year-old from Brazil has ridden in all 32 Built Ford Tough Series events, and qualified for the short go 20 times. In 15 events he’s finished in the Top 5, claimed 5 event wins and finished the season with a staggering 73.63 percent riding average.

Marchi took the lead in the world title standings following his first event win of the season in Kansas City, and in the 21 events since then, he’s built up an impressive 3,358.75-point lead over his closest competitor.

But as he draws close to what may well be his first World Championship – after three straight years of finishing second – it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement and argue Marchi is having the greatest season in PBR history.

“There (are) so many great bull riders that have great seasons,” McKennon Wimberly said. “I’ve seen a lot of great seasons and I wouldn’t say if one was better than the other. Every guy that’s won a World Championship has had a great season, and they’ve won it because they’re World Champion bull riders.

“It’s good that people get into it. It’s good that we have fans that pay enough attention to say that’s the greatest season I’ve ever seen.”

Speaking of World Champions, reigning title holder Justin McBride, along with three-time World Champion Adriano Moraes, are the two most referenced names when the Top 45 riders in the world were recently asked who, if anyone, has had a season worth comparing to that of Marchi.

In fact, Matt Bohon and Brendon Clark not only named McBride’s world title run of a year ago, they went so far as to cite several reasons why McBride’s second title in three years may have been a greater achievement.

“Justin totally dominated,” Bohon said, “but granted, Guilherme’s riding more of a percentage of his bulls, but the season Justin had last year he set a record for the most money won, the most events won and you can’t put – granted they’re both great bull riders – but you can’t put them in the same chapter because of what Justin has done with his career.”

Added Clark: “I think Justin’s year was better for the simple fact that he had someone really close to him the whole entire way. Justin wasn’t allowed to slip up one little bit. He had the pressure on him the whole way and I think it was pretty hard to beat the year Justin had.”

“It’s also allowing (Marchi) to ride at his peak because he’s not feeling any pressure,” Clayton Williams said. “He’s not having to worry about the guy breathing down his neck.”

McBride, who just this week announced his retirement following the upcoming PBR World Finals, took the lead last season following the sixth event, and while he never looked back, Marchi and J.B. Mauney were right there the entire way.

Where Marchi has a sizeable lead going into the Finals, McBride, who has two titles in 10 years, entered the 2007 Finals with a modest 1,728-point lead over Mauney.

Marchi is in his fifth season on the BFTS and has had a great deal more success early on in his career.

He has previously finished second in the standings – twice to McBride and once to Moraes – which, coupled with his 2008 statistics makes him by far the most consistent rider in the past four years.

“They ride with different styles,” Wimberly said, “but they’re both some of the greatest bull riders that ever lived. Every season is different. You can look at riding percentage, how many good bulls they’ve drawn or you can look at how good they’ve ridden.”

“I don’t know,” said Nick Landreneau, “they’re the two best bull riders I ever seen.”

Added Williams, “There’s no doubt Justin McBride is one of our greatest bull riders ever … as well as Guilherme.”

—by Keith Ryan Cartwright