Bull Riding

There are lots of activities that I can’t quite imagine ever doing. One of those is riding a bull. Bulls have got to be one of the scariest animals around. Big. Mean. Pointy horns. And hardly any brains.

I was in Denver recently, and I went to the National Western Stock Show to watch the bull riding competition. The National Western has been in existance since 1906, and is one of the biggest rodeos in the country. It is also a stock show, a fair, and a trade show. It pulls in hundreds of thousands of people each year, and runs for 16 days every January.

Everybody falls. It’s not a question. All the riders wear protective vests, and many wear helmets, though others continue the tradition of wearing cowboy hats. The object is to remain on the bull for as long as possible. It only takes 8 seconds to achieve a “good ride,” one that counts in the competition. Most of the riders are on the ground long before that. One … two … yahhh!

The power of these animals is incredible. They buck and jump and twist violently to get the riders off their backs. The bulls have names like Death Warrant, Fire Ball, White Trash, Joy’s Bang Bang, Whiplash, Megavolt, and Tombstone. They weigh up to 2,500 pounds, and they move like a freight train.

After the fall is the most dangerous time. The bulls could gore the riders or step on them. They have rodeo “clowns” in the arena to try to distract the bulls, but the riders remain in real danger until they can manage to climb the fences to safety.

In my experience, even with all the excitement and danger of each ride, the competition got a little boring. For over forty riders, we saw essentially the same thing: the gate is pulled open, the bull and rider come jumping out, and the rider is unseated. It takes seconds. Then it’s on to the next rider.

The arena announcers try hard to keep the audience engaged. They talk about how the bulls have never been successfully ridden, how the riders have won prior competitions, and they whip up the crowd — “Let’s give him a Colorado welcome! What an amazing ride!” They play loud rock music between riders, and they use colored spotlights and laser beams like it is a rock concert. And after another violent fall, they try to be funny. “Wow. That bull flipped him like a coin.”  Oh, that must’ve hurt. Tossed him like a flapjack.

The riders are celebrities. They have fans like movie stars, and they were interviewed on TV like Pro-bowl football players. I know one thing. They are tough. I rode a mechanical bull once, and my back was sore for a week.

And the Winner Is …

Avenues to Independence! This Park Ridge based charity provides housing, jobs, education, and social activities for adults with intellectual and other disabilities. Several of our readers nominated the group, and Fruitful Detours gave them a donation.

Make sure to nominate your favorite charity beginning in December for the Season of Giving award in 2024.