Today is the final day of the Calgary Stampede. I love the Calgary Stampede Rodeo, I’ve only been once but I almost always watch the coverage on CBC. Someday I’ll probably make my way out there again. The other thing about me and rodeos is the cowboys. Put a pair of Wranglers and a cowboy hat on almost any guy and they’ll start looking good to me. However I’m not really the buckle bunny type. I tried that once it didn’t stick.
My favorite event is the calf roping, sorry tie-down roping because it’s the most useful in a real ranching/farming situation. This year they’ve dropped the 6 second rule at the Stampede. That means that after the calf is tied the calf doesn’t have stay down 6 seconds for the time to hold. That means that all of the times this year should be faster than any other year. The defending champion in the tie down just missed his calf so he’s now out of this evenings final. Now Josh Peek who had the fastest time this week also went out. As I’m watching this I’m realizing that most of these ropers are are from Texas. Monty Lewis also missed his calf. This is turning out to be pretty sad. Oh a 9.8 time for Stran Smith that’s brutal. Just a little slip of the rope and he lost a bunch of time.
On a little non-rodeo related side note: I just saw a commercial for the local 6 o’clock CBC news where they’ve poached both the anchor and the weatherman from the local CTV affiliate. Kind of sad.
Alright back to the rodeo. I hate the riding events. I think they’re ridiculous. You can never actually tell who’s going to win because it’s all based on points. The first bareback rider is Cimmaron Gerke, cute but who names their kid that? The second horse just didn’t want to get out of the gate. I can only imagine how that’ll ruin your ride. I guess we’ll see when he gets his 8 seconds and the ride is scored. 84 points, not real great. You wanna know how stupid cowboys are? The third rider, Ryan Gray hyper extended an ACL and an MCL and is riding today. Some people will say it’s brave I say it’s retarded. But I guess you only get one shot at this a year. It’s kind of like the Superbowl of rodeo, well except the World Championships. At least no one has been bucked off yet. Holy crap now there’s a 21 year old from Oklahoma, Justin McDaniel riding. That’s crazy for the Stampede because it’s a big deal, this guy must be good. Almost a buck off for Russ Halabee right about 6 seconds he’s hanging off the right side of the horse and he scored an 86. You see now why I hate the riding events? Dusty Lavalley got a re-ride and he made it into the final. Again riding events are crap. Don’t worry I’ll repeat this at least once for both the saddle broncs and the bull riding. The 86 was the top score.
Oh yay another semi-real event. Steer Wrestling. One of my big rodeo issues is the livestock. These are not good looking animals. But I guess they don’t have to. A 4.1 time is not bad for Curtis Cassidy from Alberta. I’m always cheering for the Canucks. The next rider has a 4.9 not good enough to get into the final. Wow a 3.8 for Wade Sumpter that’s nice. 3.9 for Sean Mulligan. You know the steer wrestling is possibly the most painful event, well as long as you stay on the bull/horse. But you have to basically throw yourself on the ground in the steer wrestling. I also like the time events more because it’s all about how good you are not about how someone judges you. Odd given that I used to figure skate and that’s 100 percent about how you’re judged.
This whole post got a little away from me so for the other events check out part 2, below.
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