Does the sports media dis rodeo?

To this day, the most fun I had covering an event was the 1988 Indiana High School state rodeo finals, which I covered in college on a side trip from the Indiana-Kentucky high school all-star game. The competitors were great, and they had a particular (buffalo) chip on their shoulder because even hicks in Indiana looked down on the rodeo kids. You had great stories like the kids who bought old mechanical bulls to train on those, or the kids who trained by sitting on a 55-gallon drum, hooking ropes to it, and having people yank on them furiously. There was also a black cowboy there who talked a lot about being, well, not exactly in the mainstream anywhere he went. Hmmm -- I wonder if I was talking to Cowboy Troy?

 

because for some reason the publisher won't foot the bill to vegas for the national finals when i promise i only want to cover the local guys and am not interested at all in gambling and drinking. damn him.

 

Yee Fucking Haw, rube.
No. Why do you ask?

 

I've always wanted to cover a rodeo. I read an article in the T-U last Christmas week when I was in Jacksonville visiting my parents. The bull riding tour was in town, and the story was a feature on the tour's only black cowboy.
That has to be one tough SOB riding those bulls right there.

 

The PBR will be the death of the NPRA.

 

What you got against Pabst Blue Ribbon?

 

That made me laugh.

FYI: Spike Jonze's documentary on rodeo/bullriding is quite good. I think it was one of the first things he ever did.

 

One of the most embarrassing stories I've ever authored was about a rodeo.

I was 20 years old, working as a summer intern, and decided to write it in the second person.

Whenever people talk about working at small papers so you can learn to fall on your face on a small stage instead of a big one, I think about that story.

You hear that, cowboy? That's your heartbeat, pounding too fast from the adrenaline in your veins. You mind is telling you not to overwrite, but damnit, this hangover is telling you to conjure up some purple prose and get a better intership next summer. You're too big time for a one-horse town like this. So tip your hat, wipe the dust and grit from your forhead, and pound that keyboard. Deadline is fast approaching, and your boots are sore and your beer is gettin' warm. There will be more bulls tomorrow. Ain't no winners or losers in this writing game, really. Just quitters.

 

We find it distasteful to write about the calf-raping event.

 

To this day, one of my five favorite stories I've ever written was about some local bullriders at an event. Why they do it, what they get out of it, etc. Wrote it during my first year in the biz. It was a small-time event (top prize might have been a couple hundred bucks, which no one stayed on a bull long enough to claim), but it was a blast. I almost got trampled while trying to shoot a picture with a tiny point and shoot.
That said, bullriding is fun and interesting because of the danger element. Barrel racing stories suck ass.

 

I wish they'd name the cows so I knew who to root for. I always root for the cows.

 

What exactly is the NPRA?