There are jobs that require real guts. Obviously being a combat rifleman, but I mean other things.

I think the most praiseworthy of them are the men who risk everything to save others. Combat medic, of course, but firemen. Crew of a Coast Guard rescue helicopter is a good example: their motto is "That others may live". Unspoken is the first part: "We risk death so that others may live." And once in a while they actually do die.

What inspired this thought was that I was just reading about Rodeo Clowns.

I really love Rodeo, and out here in Oregon this is prime rodeo territory. When I was in Massachusetts we went to a rodeo once, supposedly the North East Regional final. And they were terrible.

Most of the calf ropers missed the calves, for instance. It wasn't really much of a surprise, though; Massachusetts isn't exactly prime ranching territory.

I went to a rodeo at the Oregon State Fair and it was surreal, because it alternated events between traditional rodeo and something called "Kentucky Trotters". There were two announcers who took turns; the rodeo announcer had a western accent and was just what you'd expect. The other one, for the Kentucky Trotters, was British and I imagined him with a cup of tea.

The competitors in the rodeo events wore jeans and cowboy hats, but the Kentucky Trotter competitors wore the kind of stuff you see them wear in dressage events. The Rodeo announcer could scarcely contain his contempt, and that was how I felt, too.

There's a hole-in-the-wall town in the Willamette Valley called "St. Paul" which is otherwise pretty forgettable, but every year on July 4 they have a rodeo and it's awesome. I've been to it a couple of times, and you wouldn't believe such a small town could put on such a great event. It is loads of fun.

But in this area, the king of rodeos is the Pendleton Roundup (which is world-famous). Pendleton is another relatively small town, but the population triples for the Roundup. (You've never seen to many Airstream house trailers in your life.) It's fairly near the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, and the Indians are big-time participants, doing events in traditional clothing, but also competing.

I've been to it once. My roommate and I decided on a whim to go out there, and we waited at the hospitality desk for people with spare tickets to show up with them. As a result, he and I didn't sit together, but it was still fun.

There are a lot of events in a proper rodeo, including one (barrel racing) for women. In rodeo the men are men and the women are women and everyone thinks that's a mighty fine thing. Anyway, women don't compete in the other events because they're too dangerous or require too much muscle.

Calf roping is a big event. One of the neat things about it is that the horse the cowboy rides is a full partner in the event, and it knows what it's supposed to do.

Team roping always blows me away. The first cowboy lassos the calf's head, which is hard enough, but the second guy has to throw his lasso under the rear legs of the calf and then tighten it up to catch the legs. It ain't easy, but at a decent rodeo like St. Paul or Pendleton they almost never miss. At the Massachusetts rodeo, on the other hand, they nearly always missed. I got a bit disgusted.

I've never been too impressed with "Bronc riding". I'm sure a bucking horse could toss me off, but for an experience cowbow the horse's rhythmic bucking isn't too hard to synch with, and it's very rare for one of them to take a dive.

Anyway, the last event is always bull riding. (That's when the animals get their revenge.) It's dangerous. Those bulls are big and strong and mean, and unlike Broncs the bulls have a number of different patterns to try to get the cowboy off their back, and can switch from one to another without any warning. Every rider gets thrown, the only question is whether it's before or after the time period.

And in some cases once the rider is down, the bull comes back after him, to try to kill him. Some bulls are really mean. And that's where the Rodeo Clown comes in.

The clowns are out there to protect the riders and distract the bull. It isn't always necessary; a lot of the bulls just head for the exit once the rider is off. But sometimes things get nasty.

I saw a clown get his jaw broken one time. The rider used a "suicide wrap", which doesn't always release when you want it to. (It's banned now in most rodeos.) He got tossed off, but his hand was stuck, and the bull went into a spin. In that case all the clowns can do is to wade in and try to pull on the rope to get the rider's hand free. And this clown got hit in the face with the bull's horn, and it broke his jaw.

It takes real guts to do that. Obviously no one wants clowns to get hurt, but it does happen, and once in a while they get killed. Bulls can be really dangerous.

I don't watch rodeo hoping to see someone get hurt. The ideal rodeo has good competition, and everyone goes home safe afterwards, including the animals. But that element of danger is part of the experience; it's certainly inherent in Bull Riding.

So here's to the men in the funny costumes: brave and dedicated, taking risks so the riders can be safe.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Weird World at 06:05 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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