Monday, November 21, 2005
Teditor roars out of the chute!
Friend and bloggy buddy Teditor has his own blog now. So far, it's a regular dadgum Livestock Crossing.
Teditor knows rodeo, and with the National Finals comin' up, he surely will provide lots of insight into the whosits and whatsits surroundin' it all.
Note to B: I've been dwellin' on how to respond to yer declaration that NASCAR is "boring." Mebbe so. But it, and pro rodeo, are the tippy top expressions of ways of life.
Football? Basketball? Sports. Rodeo and racin' are American subcultures.
Anyhow, ol' Teditor, too, thinks racin' is just watchin' a bunch of cars goin' around and around. But he can watch an ol' boy get up on a bull's back and do the same thing and call it a good time.
He knows the backstories on lots of pro cowboys, too -- and, like NASCAR, that's what makes it all interesting: not just what takes place in the arena, but every bit of clawin' and scratchin' it takes to get there in the first place.
Not that rodeoin' is all Teditor is capable of writin' about. But that's what's on his mind right now, so that's what's comin' out of his keyboard.
Welcome to the blogiverse, Teditor.
--ER
Teditor knows rodeo, and with the National Finals comin' up, he surely will provide lots of insight into the whosits and whatsits surroundin' it all.
Note to B: I've been dwellin' on how to respond to yer declaration that NASCAR is "boring." Mebbe so. But it, and pro rodeo, are the tippy top expressions of ways of life.
Football? Basketball? Sports. Rodeo and racin' are American subcultures.
Anyhow, ol' Teditor, too, thinks racin' is just watchin' a bunch of cars goin' around and around. But he can watch an ol' boy get up on a bull's back and do the same thing and call it a good time.
He knows the backstories on lots of pro cowboys, too -- and, like NASCAR, that's what makes it all interesting: not just what takes place in the arena, but every bit of clawin' and scratchin' it takes to get there in the first place.
Not that rodeoin' is all Teditor is capable of writin' about. But that's what's on his mind right now, so that's what's comin' out of his keyboard.
Welcome to the blogiverse, Teditor.
--ER
Comments:
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Thanks, ER. No sure how many folks would enjoy my buckin' prose, but, alas, I'm hoping it'll provide me with an outlet.
To those who step over, I hope the stories I tell about other people, be they bareback riders or calf ropers orpeople walkin' down the street, bring some emotion.
To those who step over, I hope the stories I tell about other people, be they bareback riders or calf ropers orpeople walkin' down the street, bring some emotion.
See, I like rodeo. I worry about the whole treatment-of-animals issue, about which I hear vastly different things depending on who I'm asking, but as a spectator sport, it's great fun.
So there.
So there.
B, I lean to the rodeo side of that issue, mainly because I've seen up close how well the animals are treated. The stock owners pay too much for their bucking horses and bulls to mistreat 'em. Those animals are simply great athletes.
I do understand the issue toward roping livestock, but truth be told, if the calves and steers weren't in the rodeo arena, they'd be in the feedlot getting fattened up for the beef-packing plant. Most, though, aren't injured at all.
I do understand the issue toward roping livestock, but truth be told, if the calves and steers weren't in the rodeo arena, they'd be in the feedlot getting fattened up for the beef-packing plant. Most, though, aren't injured at all.
Most country carnivores love their meat animals right up to the time they get on the truck or trailer to market. Then, we love 'em grilled, or gravied or otherwise prepared for consumption.
:-)
:-)
I'm with teditor on the NASCAR thing. I was raised with the dirt track oval. My Baptist Preacher brother-in-law raced until he was 50 in Southern Oklahoma, and one of my cousins had a car on the local circuit until he racked himself up on a ATV. But I can't see the NASCAR side of it.
Rodeo, well I was raise on the Great Santa Rosa Round-up in Vernon, Texas. We went every year, and sat as close to the front as we could aford or I could sneak into. Half of the fun was wandering out back to the tents and campers and corrals and soaking up cowboy.
Tried riding once, a yearling steer at my local town rodeo, I was a Junior in High school. Damn near broke my back and got steped on to boot. I went back to the spectator side of things, with more respect for the ones who did it right. Attend the NFR several times when it was in OKC, and I've been know to pull over and watch a local rodeo when I've been traveling. I still kind of prefer the rodeos with the calf doggin by the youngster and the greased pig chasing by the local Kawanas.
Rodeo, well I was raise on the Great Santa Rosa Round-up in Vernon, Texas. We went every year, and sat as close to the front as we could aford or I could sneak into. Half of the fun was wandering out back to the tents and campers and corrals and soaking up cowboy.
Tried riding once, a yearling steer at my local town rodeo, I was a Junior in High school. Damn near broke my back and got steped on to boot. I went back to the spectator side of things, with more respect for the ones who did it right. Attend the NFR several times when it was in OKC, and I've been know to pull over and watch a local rodeo when I've been traveling. I still kind of prefer the rodeos with the calf doggin by the youngster and the greased pig chasing by the local Kawanas.
# posted by 
: 11:33 AM
: 11:33 AM
teditor, you gonna block out the proliteriate from commenting on your blog? Bloggers only?
# posted by : 11:40 AM
: 11:40 AM
Lwsy yes, there is lots to be said for three-eighth-mile dirt tracks, and locals folks who live for it. NASCAR is, indeed, as far removed from that as the moon is from Burns Flat, Okla.
BUT, once you been in the stands at a big NASCAR race, felt the wind off 43 cars zipping by and 185-whatever mph, seen the heat and rotation and moisture create a micro-climate over the track, and done all the people-watchin' that comes with it, well -- it's too fun.
BUT, once you been in the stands at a big NASCAR race, felt the wind off 43 cars zipping by and 185-whatever mph, seen the heat and rotation and moisture create a micro-climate over the track, and done all the people-watchin' that comes with it, well -- it's too fun.
ALL car racing is boring. They're machines. What, for god's sake, is the point of watching machines compete? Bleah.
OTOH, "soaking up cowboy" sounds, um, well, n/m.
OTOH, "soaking up cowboy" sounds, um, well, n/m.
Heck, Dr. Lobojo, I didn't intend to set it up any particular way. If'n ER can share with me how to change it, I will.
Kinda silly on the newness of this stuffl
Kinda silly on the newness of this stuffl
B, the difference in the dirt track oval and NASCAR is that we were rooting for friends and family that we knew and loved. We had to consol them when they lost and lift the damn car up on the trailer when they wrecked it. Not to mention loan them money for sheet metal.
Now NASCAR, well when you have to stick orange ear plugs into you head to be within a half mile of a track, and the guys driving are as manufactured as their 29 cars with the same number but designed to run on different tracks, well that is the distance between the moon and Burn's Flats.
Now NASCAR, well when you have to stick orange ear plugs into you head to be within a half mile of a track, and the guys driving are as manufactured as their 29 cars with the same number but designed to run on different tracks, well that is the distance between the moon and Burn's Flats.
# posted by : 12:10 PM
: 12:10 PM
I b'lieve that's never mind, ER.
B, better to soak up cowboy with a nice biscuit.
:-)
As for NASCAR, well, I just don't get it and probably never will. That's OK, a lot of people wonder how a former college football player could like rodeo as much as I do.
My argument concerning rodeo vs. NASCAR as sport is this: Which one takes athleticism? I will admit that some of the pit-crew guys are athletic, but as for being a driver, I don't see so much athleticism.
Stamina, yes. Athleticism, I just can't see it. Sorry, ER.
A lot of my friends ask about athleticism in rodeo. Well, tell me how many people can consistently throw a rope at a moving target ... while riding a moving mount? I liken it to being a 90-percent 3-point shooter, with the basket moving 25 mph and the 3-point line moving 30 mph.
And if you think it just takes grip to ride a bucking horse, I'll say that most unfamiliar with the sport don't recognize that a cowboy's spurring motion must be in perfect timing with the horse's bucking motion.
Now let's compare that with turning a steering wheel to the left. :-)
B, better to soak up cowboy with a nice biscuit.
:-)
As for NASCAR, well, I just don't get it and probably never will. That's OK, a lot of people wonder how a former college football player could like rodeo as much as I do.
My argument concerning rodeo vs. NASCAR as sport is this: Which one takes athleticism? I will admit that some of the pit-crew guys are athletic, but as for being a driver, I don't see so much athleticism.
Stamina, yes. Athleticism, I just can't see it. Sorry, ER.
A lot of my friends ask about athleticism in rodeo. Well, tell me how many people can consistently throw a rope at a moving target ... while riding a moving mount? I liken it to being a 90-percent 3-point shooter, with the basket moving 25 mph and the 3-point line moving 30 mph.
And if you think it just takes grip to ride a bucking horse, I'll say that most unfamiliar with the sport don't recognize that a cowboy's spurring motion must be in perfect timing with the horse's bucking motion.
Now let's compare that with turning a steering wheel to the left. :-)
I don't think it's so much about turning the steering wheel (without saying whether I like NASCAR or not) ... as it is about being like a top gun on the ground, or flying in formation on the ground. A lot of fighter pilots like to drive fast cars, too. These drivers just didn't get military training first!!
:-)
It's spatial (or spesh-ul).
:-)
It's spatial (or spesh-ul).
# posted by : 2:03 PM
: 2:03 PM
Nope. You and I have gone 'round and 'round this point for goin' on SIX years now. Nope. Not gonna get me this time. :-) ...
My, but the NASCAR guys do have those strong left arms and magnificently developed...er.. egos.
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# posted by : 9:42 AM
: 9:42 AM << Home
