Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys

I've grown up and lived most of my life here in central Missouri. The farmer is still a big part of our culture here and so are rodeos. Now, I will be the first to admit that I wasn't much of a cowboy at one time. I had been to a couple of rodeos and knew a little bit about the sport but didn't really understand everything that went into it. My wife really got me interested in rodeoing. She grew up on a farm, had been around livestock her whole life and had traveled the rodeo circuit somewhat and knew quite a bit about it. As I started to attend more rodeos, I became addicted to the thrill and rush of what these guys do. I got to help unload a truck full of bucking bulls at one particular rodeo and got to see these beasts up close and personal. If you don't know much about the sport of rodeo let me tell you a couple of things.

These guys are athletes, and damn tough ones at that. Check out the videos here on the blog. Football players are tough, hockey players are tough, MMA athletes are tough, but these guys are a special, sick kind of tough. Bull riders are an especially different breed. These guys climb onto a two thousand pound animal that can stomp your head into mush, and then try to stay on for 8 seconds. The worst thing that can happen is that you get thrown off and stomped. The best thing that can happen is that you stay on for the 8 seconds, and then get thrown off and stomped. These guys suffer broken bones, concussions, seperated shoulders, cuts, abrasions, bruises......you get the picture. Steer wrestling is another one of my favorites. You ride a horse out of a chute chasing a steer. You then dive off of your horse onto the steer and wrestle it to the ground. Sounds easy. Try it sometime. The timing and skill that it takes to pull this off is something to watch and the power that these guys display is amazing. You think taking on a 330 lb. defensive lineman is tough, try taking on a pissed-off steer with horns.

All of the events in a true rodeo, calf roping, team roping, barrell racing, sadle bronc and bareback bronc riding are all great events and each takes a special skill. But the king of the rodeo is bull riding. They have become the rock stars of rodeo. Justin McBride is the equivilent of Tom Brady in the world of rodeo. These guys are starting to make some serious money and the sport is really growing and drawing new fans all the time.

Now a lot of you are going to read this and say to yourself, "Rodeos are for beer drinking, Skoal chewing rednecks from the South. It's not a real sport". Well, if you are that person, you are dead wrong. It is a real sport. Not everyone who enjoys rodeo is a redneck but those of us who are accept that label with a special pride. We wear out Stetson hats and boots. We wear big belt buckles with horses, bulls, stars and flags on them. We do like an occassional beer and a little whiskey to chase it down with. Tobacco is usually present in one form or another. But make no mistake about it. These guys are some of, if not THE, toughest athletes going today. Go to your local bar or club and jump on a mechanical bull and have someone who knows how to run the thing give you a ride at about 7 or 8, which is still less that what you would get on a world class bull. See if you can make the 8 seconds. Remember the machine is not going to come looking to stick a horn in your ass when its done. And then come back read this again and see if you too have some new found respect for the greatest athletes around, The Cowboy.