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M O N D AY, J A N U A RY 0 8 , 2 0 0 7I Love Bull Riding!I spent the weekend at Madison Square Garden watching the firstmajor tour stop by a rodeo or bull riding circuit in more than 50 years.(The last time they came through town, Gene Autry and Roy Rogerswere among the attractions.) Local TV had fun with it, but except for afew minor pieces, the local newspapers just shrugged their shoulders.You have to look to the Washington Post for a serious, lengthy, very funlook at the cowboys in Manhattan, which also shows bull riding to bethe next breakout sport a la NASCAR. Sure, a little of it was kitschy fun-- cowboys and all that -- and it was a bit of a culture shock when theybegan the event with an invocation. I don't think that's happened at aMSG sporting event in a while. But it has the same appeal as ExtremeSports -- exceptional talent mixed with a major dash of craziness. Bullriding is dangerous, no two ways about it. I'm not waiting for a wreck,the way some people go to NASCAR for the crashes or hockey gamesfor the fights. I'm hoping the riders don't get hurt, though at almostevery event someone gets pummelled and the injury report (brokennecks, broken ankles, broken vertebrae, damaged spleen) is a constantpart of the game. And it's unique -- other sports like equestrian eventsfeature animals, but this is the only one where the animal and the riderare pitted against each other (I'm ignoring other rodeo events,obviously). The bulls have fans, just like the riders and unlike the circusor rodeo events like calf roping, you NEVER worry about the bull. Theyare clearly in charge. It was great fun to see the show up close insteadof on TV. (You can catch it every Sat and Sun night on Versus.) But themost fun I had was seeing all the good ole boys strolling around theGarden and in the streets outside. I was at a pizza place on 32nd St,sitting near two teenage girls. First one cowboy than another strolledby. Finally, when a middle-aged man with a huge gut and a cowboy hatmoseyed on by looking like he'd just got off his tractor, one of the girlsturned to the other and said, 'What the FUCK is going on?" Cultureshock is rarely that fun.POSTED BY MICHAEL IN NEW YORK AT 4:13 PM

3 C O M M E N T S :Ed Sikov said...Next Blog»sal1mineo@hotmail.comSEARCH BLOG FLAG BLOGFOLLOW BLOGP O P S U R F I N G . C O MS U R F I N G T H E WAV E S O F P O P U L A R C U LT U R EB Y M I C H A E L G I LT Z & F R I E N D SPOPSURFING.COM: I Love Bull Riding!http://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2007/01/i-love-bull-riding.html
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POPSURFING.COM: I Love Bull Riding!http://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2007/01/i-love-bull-riding.html
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