“Cowboy Up” became familiar to many in the East when Boston Red Sox first baseman Kevin Millar (who played college baseball at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas) used it as the rallying cry for the 2003 Boston Red Sox, a team that finally won the World Series after a long Boston drought.
 
“Cowboy Up” comes from rodeo lingo and means that a person who has fallen off a horse, bull, or another animal gets back up again (“cowboy up”) and shows his pride and toughness to worried onlookers. It’s a cowboy version of the song lyrics: “Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again.”
 
     
Urban Dictionary
cowboy up
it means when things are getting tough you have to get back up, dust yourself off and keep trying.
Let’s all cowboy up and get this job finished!
by brattygrrl911 Aug 3, 2003
 
Western Slang, Lingo & Phrases
Cowboy Up - Tuff-up, get back on yer horse, don’t back down, don’t give up, and do the best you can with the hand you’re dealt, give it all you’ve got.
   
Wikipedia: Kevin Millar
Kevin Charles Millar (born September 24, 1971 in Los Angeles, California) is a Major League Baseball outfielder/first baseman who played for the Baltimore Orioles and is currently a free agent. Millar played college baseball at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas
(...)
He became a clubhouse favorite and a sort of cult hero for the Red Sox fans after his “Cowboy Up” rally cry.
 
Internet Movie Database
Cowboy Up (2001)
Plot Outline: Two bull-riding brothers work the professional rodeo circuit.
   
Internet Movie Database
Cowboy Up: Inside the Extreme World of Bull Riding (2002)
Plot Outline: Cowboy Up: The Inside World of Extreme Bull Riding goes farther into the adrenaline-charged world of bull riding than any film before. So grab your bull rope, climb in the chute and get ready for the ride of your life!
       
Google Books
The Cowboy Encyclopedia
by Richard W. Slatta
New York: W. W. Norton & Company
1994
Pg. 134:
Cowboy Up (198?) offers a fast-paced 30 minutes of rodeo. Produced and directed by Rodney Jacobs, the film includes many comments from rodeo performers, including Leo Camarillo (team roping), J. C. Trujillo and Bruce Ford (bareback bronc riding), Dan Gay (bull riding), and Rick Chatham (rodeo clown). CLiff Robertson, who appeared as a rodeo rider in the movie J. W. Coop (1972), narrates from Old Tucson.
 
Google Books
Considerations: Emails from the Heart
by Ron Jordan
iUniverse
2003
Pg. 112:
“Cowboy Up.”
(...)
When the cowboy gets bucked off a horse, a bull, or whatever critter is trying to do him in—it becomes a matter of pride when he pulls himself up, holds his head high, and limps out of the arena in the direction of his next ride. No matter the pain, the defeat, or personal loss he feels—he goes forth to take on his next challenge, and by doing so, shows everyone that he is up again—“Cowboy Up”.
 
Google Books
Encyclopedia of Women in the American West
Gordon Morris Bakken and Brenda Farrington, editors
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
2003
Pg. 37:
Today this spirit or attitude is still very alive and embodied in the saying “cowboy up.” (...) To “cowboy up” means you must be able to rise to the occasion no matter what you are provided with. This western attitude is also so popular that you can find it on everything from bumper stickers, T-shirts, and mud flaps throughout the entire West.
 
25 February 1994, New York Times, “Finally Riding a Rodeo Bull Off Into the Sunset” by Stephen Holden, pg. C14:
John G. Avildsen’s film “8 seconds” could spawn a boom in rodeo bull riding the way the movie “Urban Cowboy” did in mechanical bull riding 14 years ago, except for one crucial fact. The sport it depicts is just too dangerous. As the film makes graphically clear, trying to stay atop a snorting, bucking 2,000-pound bull for eight seconds while holding a mount with only one hand is no idle party game.
(...)
The rowdy, hard-drinking Tuff is both a mentor and a rival to the puritanical Lane. After Lane suffers an excruciating groin injury, it is Tuff who urges him to “cowboy up” and goads him to get back on a bull before he has fully recovered.
 
8 October 2003, New York Times, “Boston’s Lowe Is Ready For a Quick Turnaround, pg. D5:
“Derek Lowe did the ultimate ‘cowboy’ thing,” said first baseman Kevin Millar, who coined the phrase Cowboy Up, two words that when joined perfectly capture the Red Sox’ extraordinary ability to overcome nearly anything.
 
11 October 2003, New York Times, “It’s a Ballgame, a Mind Game, in 0-for-85 Boston” by Pam Belluck, pg. A9:
And everywhere from schoolroom pep talks to the electronic signs on the Massachusetts Turnpike, the city has embraced a slogan that few pahk-the-cah Bostonians had ever uttered before: “Cowboy Up,” a rodeo term that describes how cowboys dust themselves off when they get knocked off their horses. Mr. Millar, a Texan, used the phrase so often that now some fans wear cowboy hats to games.
   
(Trademark)
Word Mark COWBOY UP
Goods and Services IC 025. US 022 039. G & S: clothing, namely, shirts, henleys, blouses, jeans, shorts, skirts, dresses, boxer shorts, sweaters, sweatshirts, T-shirts, jackets, coats, hats, belts, caps and shoes. FIRST USE: 19931112. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19931112
Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING
Design Search Code
Serial Number 74557077
Filing Date August 4, 1994
Current Filing Basis 1A
Original Filing Basis 1A
Published for Opposition July 2, 2002
Registration Number 2622504
Registration Date September 24, 2002
Owner (REGISTRANT) WYOMING WEST DESIGNS, LLC LTD LIAB CO WYOMING PO BOX 4557 JACKSON WYOMING 83001
Assignment Recorded ASSIGNMENT RECORDED
Attorney of Record PETER H SMITH
Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator LIVE
   
(Trademark)
Word Mark COWBOY UP
Goods and Services (ABANDONED) IC 026. US 040. G & S: belt buckles not of precious metal for wearing apparel
(ABANDONED) IC 016. US 038. G & S: printed matter, namely posters and trading cards
Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING
Design Search Code
Serial Number 74519326
Filing Date March 3, 1994
Current Filing Basis 1B
Original Filing Basis 1B
Published for Opposition March 7, 1995
Owner (APPLICANT) Super Bull Series, Inc. DBA Bull Riders Only CORPORATION COLORADO 102 Inverness Terrace East, #204 Englewood COLORADO 80112
Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator DEAD
Abandonment Date October 17, 1997
 
(Trademark)
Word Mark COWBOY UP
Goods and Services (ABANDONED) IC 025. US 039. G & S: clothing, namely shirts and hats. FIRST USE: 19940702. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19940702
Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING
Design Search Code
Serial Number 74559985
Filing Date August 11, 1994
Current Filing Basis 1A
Original Filing Basis 1A
Owner (APPLICANT) CREATIVE THREADS composed of Chris MacDonald and Raymond Domecq, both U.S. citizens PARTNERSHIP CALIFORNIA 3913 Gatesville Drive Modesto CALIFORNIA 95358
Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator DEAD
Abandonment Date January 16, 1996
 
(Trademark)
Word Mark COWBOY UP
Goods and Services (ABANDONED) IC 041. US 100 101 107. G & S: entertainment services in the nature of live performances by a musical group. FIRST USE: 19940515. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19940906
Mark Drawing Code (3) DESIGN PLUS WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS
Design Search Code 02.01.07 - Cowboys; Men, cowboys, and westerners; Westerners
02.09.17 - Humans, including men, women and children, depicted riding horses and other animals
Serial Number 74611919
Filing Date December 16, 1994
Current Filing Basis 1A
Original Filing Basis 1A
Owner (APPLICANT) Cowboy Up composed of Lou Greco, Craig Krolicki, Brad Learn, Steve Peffer, Joey Shamp and Pete Wagner, all U.S. citizens PARTNERSHIP OHIO 4073 Riblett Rd. Youngstown OHIO 44515
Type of Mark SERVICE MARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator DEAD
Abandonment Date May 9, 2003
 
(Trademark)
Word Mark COWBOY UP ORIGINALS
Goods and Services (ABANDONED) IC 025. US 022 039. G & S: western clothing; shirts, jackets, vests, pants, dresses, and skirts
Mark Drawing Code (3) DESIGN PLUS WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS
Design Search Code 03.05.01 - Horses
03.05.16 - Heads of horses, donkeys, zebras
03.05.24 - Stylized horses, donkeys, zebras
07.15.04 - Beams, wood; Lumber; Parquet flooring; Wood boards
26.11.02 - Plain single line rectangles; Rectangles (single line)
26.11.11 - Rectangles divided twice into three sections
Serial Number 74657385
Filing Date April 7, 1995
Current Filing Basis 1B
Original Filing Basis 1B
Owner (APPLICANT) Dennis, Patti INDIVIDUAL UNITED STATES 540 D Lake Mary Rd. Flagstaff ARIZONA 86001
Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator DEAD
Abandonment Date February 22, 1996