What does "Cowboy up" mean?

[Uzybone]

Poll question: What does "Cowboy up" mean?

The term rankles me...especially coming out of Fox sports. Amamzing to see New Englanders embracing the term. So what does it mean?

Poll result (26 votes)
Perversion of Denzels'	(0 votes, 0%)	Vote
A subliminable message from Fox telling us to love the cowboy	(1 votes, 4%)	Vote
Meaningless sports drivel that sounds tough	(18 votes, 69%)	Vote
Red Sox are really cowboys??	(1 votes, 4%)	Vote
Other	(6 votes, 23%)	Vote

[arwalden]

1. It Sounds Vaguely Suggestive To Me...

... could just be my imagination, though.

-- Allen

[On the Road]

2. Actually, It Sounds Japanese to Me

[underpants]

3. It's Fox trying to sell W to New Englanders

and free advertising for him. IMHO

I realy am interesting in fiding out how it got started. Which Red Sox player said it?

[Blue-Jay]

4. Isn't it the same as "sack up"?

[Caution]

5. It was started by Kevin Millar

first baseman, just kind of a goofy thing on. "Time to cowboy up" It basically means that it's time to get to business and win. Silly, but it has most definitely become a rallying cry around Boston way before fox got their hands on it.

[zbird]

6. Here's a link that explains more about it.

snip...

Millar, a key offseason acquisition by a franchise historically lacking in true grit, hails from Beaumont, Texas. Timlin was born in Midland. Texas is rodeo country. In rodeo, to "cowboy up" means to suck it up in times of adversity. No boo-hooing. No namby-pamby fatalism. As one T-shirt slogan puts it, "Are You Gonna Cowboy Up or Just Lay There and Bleed?" John Wayne never said it better. (Although Bruce Willis snarled something similar in the war epic "Tears of the Sun.")

Millar trotted out the phrase last month when cynics (i.e. saddle-sore knights of the keyboard) questioned the team's toughness. "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.

snip...

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2...

[Uzybone]

9. saddle-sore knights of the keyboard

LOL.

[Braden]

8. actually Timlin coined the phrase relative to the Sox.

[SiobhanClancy]

7. They say it's a rodeo term..

here's a link about it:

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2...

[sam sarrha]

10. in this part of Texas i think it would mean to dress up a drunk in fancy

cowboy clothes to make him look respectable and rig an election to make him President of the united states.... but he is still a pathetic drug addict privileged frat boy drunk on a binge with our great great grandchildren's tax money.

[peekaloo]

13. lol

[AGiordino]

11. The REAL Definition refers to

a rodeo term which indicates that the cowboy has mounted the livestock in the chute and is ready for the gate to open and his 'ride' to commence - be it saddle bronc, bronc or bull.
No ennuendos, just plain truth.
from deep in the heart of dumbya country

[Misinformed01]

12. Rodeo term

when a cowboy is down or injured, the term "Cowboy up" basically means to "toughen up" or "get up."

The term became mainstream after it was used in "8 Seconds," the movie about Lane Frost.

There is a documentary out about bullriders now called "Cowboy Up"

http://www.lanefrost.com/film.htm

[NewYorkerfromMass]

16. "Enough with the nonsense and get down to business"

here: http://www.nynewsday.com/sports/baseball/yankees/ny-sbp...

[ScreamingMeemie]

14. Cowboy in the chute and ready to ride in a rodeo....

That's all, nothing too exciting there.

[Cat Atomic]

15. I thought it was a sexual position.

?

Reverse Cowboy Up.

[Character Assassin]

17. It's the opposite of 'cowgirl down'.

But I can't tell you what that means, either.