BALTIMORE - Ben Jones is an emotional guy.
 
When he makes the whistle, he dances to "Dueling Banjos," as he did after scoring 87.5 points in the opening round of the Baltimore Invitational on Friday night.
 
When he bucks off, he's likely to launch into an explicative-laced tirade as he storms out the arena, as he did in the first short round after coming down off of Who Dat.
 
There seems to be no middle ground when it comes to Jones - certainly not this weekend in Baltimore, where he was so keyed up for the Built Ford Tough Series event he arrived at the arena more than four hours prior to rider introductions.
 
Jones is facing being cut from the tour.

'I haven't been striving for it like I should.'
 
He came into the weekend ranked 38th in the world; 320 points outside of the Top 25, which is where he'll need to be on Monday afternoon when the first cut of the 2012 season is made official.
 
"I wasn't striving for it," said Jones, who said he took being on the BFTS for granted.
 
"I've been putting out the effort, but it's a different year, and (best friend) Jason (O'Hearn's) not here, but … at the end of the day, I haven't been striving for it like I should."
 
His inconsistency - Jones hasn't made back-to-back rides at a single BFTS event since last October in Columbus, Ohio - hasn't been for lack of effort.

In fact, on Thursday afternoon, Jones found a Fort Worth, Texas, contractor on the Internet. He can't recall the name, but he got on four of his bulls that evening and made the whistle on all four.

Ben Jones was flirting with the No. 1 spot in the world a year ago. Today, he's ranked 38th, with two rounds left before the cut.

Last week in Sacramento, Calif., he spent time talking with Todd Pierce, who is available to minister the riders. It's been well-documented that Jones has "lived a wild life," but while his personal life outside the arena has gotten better - he married his wife Christy last spring - his professional life "has gotten worse."
 
Coming into this weekend, he had covered three of 12 bulls. He will likely need to have doubled his total number of qualified rides to avoid being relegated to the Touring Pro Division.
 
His 87.5 points Friday night split second and third and earned him another 85 points in the average for the round to give him 172.5 points with two rounds remaining at 1st Mariner Arena.
 
Jones will need to qualify for the Built Ford Tough Championship Round, which would be a first this season.
 
Jones is 94th in the TPD standings with $1,679 earned, more than $10,000 shy of earning a spot in the BFTS draw as an alternate.
 
By that point, he'd have more points to make up than he already does four-plus events into a grueling 10-month season.
 
"I didn't want it to turn out this way," he said, "but at the end of the day, it's what true champions are made of - being able to come back."

'I didn't want it to turn out this way, but at the end of the day, it's what true champions are made of - being able to come back.'

This season has been in stark contrast to the start he had a year ago when he was ranked No. 1 in the world after the second BFTS event and qualified for the final round seven times. In that period he finished in the Top 5 a career-best five times.
 
It was a high point for a man whose career to that point had been defined by bad choices, heartbreak and unrealized potential.
 
The unfulfilled promise seemed to finally materialize in 2011 when Jones finished the year ranked 14th in the world, another career best for the Aussie.
 
That was then. This is now.
 
Stormy Wing, Josh Faircloth and Dakota Beck are in the same predicament, but each recorded two qualified rides Friday night. Jones desperately needs to make the whistle in Round 3.
 
"It is bad," Jones said, "but it's not the end of the world."
 
"If worse comes to worst, we'll just get in the truck and go to some Touring Pros, and the next cut I'll be back."

WATCH THE BALTIMORE INVITATIONAL tonight on CBS Sports Network at 10 p.m. ET.