(Sutherland would be perfect as Millar in "The Kevin Millar Story," though.) Alas, in terms of box-office staying power, it was a lot closer to "8 Seconds" than "24," his hit TV series. Kiefer Sutherland starred in a rodeo-themed movie titled "Cowboy Up" that was released in 2001. Notwithstanding the fact that "8 Seconds" rode straight to video, more or less, "cowboy up" has managed to buck the odds and hit linguistic pay dirt, having been branded onto everything from clothing lines and bumper stickers to bull-riding documentaries and coffee-table tomes about the Wild West. Not unlike the Red Sox bullpen this season, come to think of it. By "cowboy up," Hedeman explains, he means carry on "when you are injured or down and the prospect of doing whatever you're about to try is so bleak that the best you can hope for is to live through it." In the film, fellow rider Tuff Hedeman admonishes Frost to climb back aboard after he suffers a bad spill. Played by "Beverly Hills 90210" hunk Luke Perry, Frost was a legendary tough guy who rode hard and died young. (Eight seconds is how long a bull rider needs to stay astride to win - not how long it took the ball to roll through Bill Buckner's legs in 1986.) ![]() Insofar as it can be determined, the expression got its biggest boost from the 1994 movie "8 Seconds," a lame Hollywood oater based on the life of bull-riding legend Lane Frost. a bunch of guys that go out and basically cowboy up." "A cowboy is just like your tough guy, the guy that falls off the horse, broken arms and all that kind of stuff." Recalling how he and outfielder Trot Nixon picked up the phrase back in 1995, when the two played winter ball in Mexico together, Millar added, "This team has that kind of makeup. ![]() "For this team it's perfect," Millar told a reporter from South Florida's Sun-Sentinal last week. The Red Sox began playing "Cowboy Up," a song by Ryan Reynolds, over the Fenway PA system - with accompanying video. ![]() so cowboy up") to drive home the message. Timlin has supplied T-shirts to Sox teammates ("The time is now. ![]() "I want to see somebody cowboy up and stand behind this team and quit worrying about all the negative stuff," Millar growled after a loss to the Oakland A's. saddle-sore knights of the keyboard) questioned the team's toughness. Millar trotted out the phrase last month when cynics (i.e. (Although Bruce Willis snarled something similar in the war epic "Tears of the Sun.") As one T-shirt slogan puts it, "Are You Gonna Cowboy Up or Just Lay There and Bleed?" John Wayne never said it better. In rodeo, to "cowboy up" means to suck it up in times of adversity. Millar, a key offseason acquisition by a franchise historically lacking in true grit, hails from Beaumont, Texas. Around Fenway Park, where doubt is the bucking bronco every fan rides toward postseason play, this year's rallying cry is "Cowboy up." Seldom heard around these parts - or east of Dodge City, anyway - the expression became popular several weeks ago thanks to Kevin Millar, the first baseman and designated hitter who obviously knows a cutting horse from a cut fastball, and relief pitcher Mike Timlin, a stalwart of the Sox (Brahma) bullpen.
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