I’m having trouble here. Certain images are hard for me to process. “Are those bike helmets?”My brother tries correcting me, “They’re more like lacrosse helmets.”
He may be partially correct. Some have grills across the front. Still, it doesn’t seem right, the whole image slightly off center, like a twisted Tour de France where half the cyclists wear cowboy hats.
I keep thinking about a prison rodeo I saw on cable television. Four convicts sitting around a card table playing bluff poker. Statuesque, their cards cemented to their hands, while an angry bull paces and snorts nearby. Three of them scramble for safety; the other stays seated for what seems like eternity—even after the bull tosses the card table into the air.
For some reason, I thought we were going to a rodeo. We’re at the Palace of Auburn Hills, home of the Detroit Pistons. My brother asks, “Do you know what PBR stands for?”
I haven’t a clue. “Pabst Blue Ribbon,” I answer.
My power of suggestion is too much for him. He’s parched. He offers to buy me one of those $8 beers. I decline.
When the event gets underway, they introduce approximately three dozen cowboys. “We’ll be here all night,” I complain.
My brother laughs. “They only have to ride the bull for 8 seconds.”
I look at the program and decide to cheer for only those wearing cowboy hats.
16 comments:
Oh Man! Someone shaved the bulls pointed horns. I'll take the courage of a matador over somebody playing with the bull (bicycle helmet to boot) any day. Nice picture. :-} MW
oh what a picture!!!! I love it!
Love the Tigers shirt! I don't think I knew you yet when I was writing about them in the fall. There's a post back in Sept or Oct about '68. They're off to a pretty good start. I hope to come over there and take in a few games this summer.
I tried riding a mechanical bull when I was in college, I actually got off the stupid thing because the guy was doing it stupidly slow and well...you know it was just creepy for me.
did you hear about the little boy who got his lung ripped out at matador school?
Why didn't you take the $8 beer???
Rodeos scare the crap out of me...I can't stand to think of someone getting gored!
Come to Oklahoma and you can rodeo during the summers -- usually in July and August.
my boyfriend and I got new Tigers T-shirts to wear to the Yankees game that we are going to next week while on the trip to NYC. Hah... grabbing the bull by the horns reminds me of The Breakfast Club. "Don't mess with the bull or you'll get the horns!"
I knew some pretty horny teachers in HS...
Love the photograph. I wouldn't ride one of those things. I would be afraid I'm going to lose a body part.
Josie
This is something I want to try one day...
My brother went to a bullfight in Mexico. He couldn't believe his eyes.
Sounds like a lot of bull. I remember going to a rodeo once. I sat next to an ex bull-rider who showed me how his right side was caved in where he had to have three ribs removed ater a bull stomped him. Sounded like fun but I managed to talk myself out of trying it myself.
Hope you enjoyed your experience! I think if- if- anyone ever got me on a bull, I would be wearing not only a bike/lacrosse helmet, but a full suit of kevlar armor. I'm not really one for the large animals.
Prison rodeos are totally cool -- I saw the Huntsville one years ago. (the place they called the death house in Texas because of all the executions). They stopped having it because it was deemed "inhumane." Compared to what? Electocuting them to death?
Hi, JR. We have the prison rodeo in McAlester annually (Big Mac). Hubby and I have gone as guests and received special seats. Oh, my. Anyway, have you ever heard of "money the hard way"? It's where they tape $100 bill to the bull's horns. The participating inmates run around trying to get the money. In the end, one inmate invariably gets the money and is the winner. A little 10 year old, one year, turned to us and beaming, said, "That's my daddy!" My hubby said, "Your daddy is very brave." Such irony.
Donnetta
Jim, Nice photos! Well, you could have had a nice cold beer, although, it was Bud - not my favorite. That was interesting watching the bull riders. Remember that PBR stands for Professional Bull Riders NOT Pabst Blue Ribbon!!! :) --Bro, Ron
p.s. We'll have to go to a rodeo or a bullfight which I've seen in Espana.
Talk about the horns of a dilemma. I'd go for the beer.
Post a Comment