Cowboy Up!
Last night Mel and I made it out to the Reno Rodeo. It's going on from now until Friday, and thanks to certain media connections we were able to score free admission.
I've been to rodeos before (most notably the Omak Stampede in Washington, home of the infamous Suicide Race), but I'd forgotten what the sights, sounds, and smells (dear God, the SMELLS!) are like. Although I can't say I'm likely to ever be a real fan of rodeo, I can at least appreciate the difficulty and the physical challenge involved. Plus, something in me is sort of drawn to the way these afficianados cling so passionately to talents and competitions based on skills that really don't have that much practical application anymore. This is about a lifestyle--who cares if that lifestyle is something of an anacronysm? I certainly don't.
Me and Melissa "Buckle Bunny".
My only real complaint about the evening was the constant banter between the clown and the MC, which competed all night with the stadium jams being blasted through the sound system. The Clown and the MC both ran around the arena (or more accurately "rode" around the arena in the case of the MC, who didn't dismount from his horse the entire night) wearing headsets and exchanging wry comments and lame jokes. The jokes themselves had the worn feeling of vaudeville; though they worked hard at trying to make it sound fresh, you could tell that these were the same jokes they told last night and the night before and probably for years now.
Strangely, the comedy routines and stadium jams seemed only loosely choreographed to the rodeo events themselves, which were obviously taking place on their own schedule. The clown would be standing on the railings surrounding the arena, doing a faux strip-tease to the sound of blarring trombone music, when suddenly out of nowhere a mounted bronco buster would burst from a pen for his ride. Events in the arena seemed to be preceeding at times along two separate tracks, each track only vaguely aware of the other.
Melissa had a great time too, although she was obviously disturbed by the cattle roping competition. Seeing the calves getting jerked into the air by the neck and slammed to the ground was a little to much for her. Rodeos insist that their animals are very well treated, and this is almost certainly true for some animals, but I have to admit that I can't imagine those calves are having a good time. But she loved the Mutton Busting.
Above is the view from the nosebleed section of the Reno Livestock Events Center. Obviously, everyone but me got the "hat" memo.
I've been to rodeos before (most notably the Omak Stampede in Washington, home of the infamous Suicide Race), but I'd forgotten what the sights, sounds, and smells (dear God, the SMELLS!) are like. Although I can't say I'm likely to ever be a real fan of rodeo, I can at least appreciate the difficulty and the physical challenge involved. Plus, something in me is sort of drawn to the way these afficianados cling so passionately to talents and competitions based on skills that really don't have that much practical application anymore. This is about a lifestyle--who cares if that lifestyle is something of an anacronysm? I certainly don't.
Me and Melissa "Buckle Bunny".
My only real complaint about the evening was the constant banter between the clown and the MC, which competed all night with the stadium jams being blasted through the sound system. The Clown and the MC both ran around the arena (or more accurately "rode" around the arena in the case of the MC, who didn't dismount from his horse the entire night) wearing headsets and exchanging wry comments and lame jokes. The jokes themselves had the worn feeling of vaudeville; though they worked hard at trying to make it sound fresh, you could tell that these were the same jokes they told last night and the night before and probably for years now.
Strangely, the comedy routines and stadium jams seemed only loosely choreographed to the rodeo events themselves, which were obviously taking place on their own schedule. The clown would be standing on the railings surrounding the arena, doing a faux strip-tease to the sound of blarring trombone music, when suddenly out of nowhere a mounted bronco buster would burst from a pen for his ride. Events in the arena seemed to be preceeding at times along two separate tracks, each track only vaguely aware of the other.
Melissa had a great time too, although she was obviously disturbed by the cattle roping competition. Seeing the calves getting jerked into the air by the neck and slammed to the ground was a little to much for her. Rodeos insist that their animals are very well treated, and this is almost certainly true for some animals, but I have to admit that I can't imagine those calves are having a good time. But she loved the Mutton Busting.
Above is the view from the nosebleed section of the Reno Livestock Events Center. Obviously, everyone but me got the "hat" memo.
posted by Yukon Sully | 9:58 PM
2 Comments:
The Reno Rodeo looks kind of lame. Maybe I am just comparing it to the San Antonio Rodeo, which was bigger. Nice pictures, though.
Well, keep in mind this was a Monday night; if it were a weekend, there would likely have been a much larger crowd.
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