1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

"Ocho secundos," my ass

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Twirling Time, Oct 17, 2020.

  1. Twirling Time

    Twirling Time Well-Known Member

    Please indulge me for a moment of wonder in a niche sport.

    Rodeo is an activity that exists in a very thin sliver of the Homeland. I always wanted to cover it more, but local circuits are notoriously either inept or completely hush-hush in publicizing local events.

    Recently because of a semi-related news story, I became aware of a version of bullriding called "jaripeo" where riders try to stay on until the bull basically gives up and stops bucking. That sounds badass to me. It apparently originated in Central and Southern Mexico.

    The Star Tribune did a good feature on this last year: Experience Jaripeo bull riding

    (The only time I ever got on a bull was on a Sunday buckout when I was college age. I was lit as hell — the only reason I got up the first place — and got thrown in a microsecond.)
     
  2. Driftwood

    Driftwood Well-Known Member

    I used to love watching bull riding on weekend mornings on TNN as a kid.
    A long time ago in (thankfully) a career far, far away, we were forbidden from doing anything - other than paid advertising - to promote or cover a rodeo in our area because the publisher's wife thought bull riding was animal cruelty. I tried to point out that the bulls outweighed the riders 10-fold, and dudes actually died, but no doing.
     
    maumann likes this.
  3. Mngwa

    Mngwa Well-Known Member

    I went to the rodeo the first time last year. It was a small rodeo but they did have bull riding. And they had four guys riding and three of them got hurt. We think one of them was pretty serious; it looked like a head injury.
     
  4. 2muchcoffeeman

    2muchcoffeeman Well-Known Member

    I’ve had the chance to cover rodeo fairly regularly … including more than one show in which zero bullriders made 8 seconds.

    Bareback bronc riding is harder on the cowboy than bull riding is, though.
     
  5. Neutral Corner

    Neutral Corner Well-Known Member

    I've watched rodeo over the years, from Wide World of Sports thru a little Pro Rodeo on TV and multiple trips to the Houston Rodeo, although that's a civic event/concert/rodeo. Still, you get a good dose of live rodeo, although it's held in a large venue. Fuck a bunch of getting on a bull's back. Nope. Not this old boy. I like my bones as they are, not rearranged.

    I've got a ton of respect for the athletes who do it, from the barrel racing right on up. I don't understand how guys with testicles that large lower themselves onto a bull without hurting themselves.
     
    maumann likes this.
  6. OscarMadison

    OscarMadison Well-Known Member

    Sweet old horses that follow you around get my vote. I used to pet the bulls before they were kitted up for the Raiders rodeo team practises. Big, docile doofuses in the paddock, danger on the hoof in the ring.
     
  7. Driftwood

    Driftwood Well-Known Member

    I grew up on a farm. I can't tell you the number of times we "played rodeo" but jumping on the backs of sleeping calves. Most of them were probably less than 200 pounds. We'd sneak up on them in high grass, jump on, hold on around their necks for dear life, and see how long we could hang. Fortunately, the worst injuries were some busted nuts when they started bucking.
     
    Liut, maumann and Flip Wilson like this.
  8. Pilot

    Pilot Well-Known Member

    Rodeo always proved to be very fertile ground for stories for me. You have a bunch of young men and women who really, really believe they're going to make it big and (in some events at least) put their bodies on the line as many times per week as possible to make it happen, all while traveling insane miles to get to the next ride.

    Show up, start listening and you're about 80% of the way to a good story.
     
    Batman and maumann like this.
  9. maumann

    maumann Well-Known Member

    NSFW. Canadians are awesome.

     
    Huggy likes this.
  10. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    I remember being in Dallas in '96 for a Pats game and seeing that the Morning News had a weekly Sunday rodeo column. Struck me as the finest possible sportswriting gig were one independently wealthy.
     
  11. SixToe

    SixToe Well-Known Member

    It's interesting how many of the PBR riders list hot yoga, exercise and stretching as part of their favorite activities. Staying in shape and limber seems pretty smart.
     
  12. Chef2

    Chef2 Well-Known Member

Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page