I love going to an Arizona Diamondback baseball game, and although I haven't lived in the New York Metro area for 30 years, I still root for the New York Giants. However, my favorite sport is bull riding. You know the George Strait song, "Amarillo by Morning," where he sings, "I'll be looking for eight when they pull that gate, and I hope that judge ain't blind," the "eight" he is talking about is eight seconds. That is how long the cowboy has to stay on the bull. Eight very long seconds. I became a fan when I lived in Texas in the 1980s, and so on Sunday, all of my family went to the Professional Bull Riding competition in Glendale, Arizona, and it was absolutely terrific. For a couple of hours, you can pretend that the West is still wild and the cowboys are still at home on the range. I know that this has absolutely nothing to do with Jane Austen, but I thought I'd share anyway. By the way, there were cowboys from all over the U.S., Canada, Australia, and a big contingent from Brazil. At one time, there was a Frenchman, but he retired, but Europeans are welcome.
The picture above is of last night's winner, L. J. Jenkins, on Voodoo Child. Here is what Jenkins had to say in an interview after the ride: "Why would L.J. Jenkins pick Voodoo Child – a bull who had only been ridden once in 34 outs on the Built Ford Tough Series – when there were 10 other bulls to choose from? Why would he choose a bull who had bucked him off two weeks earlier in just 4.5 seconds? 'Everybody’s been wondering why I keep picking him,'” Jenkins said after riding Voodoo Child for 94 points to win the Glendale Invitational, 'but I knew something that everybody else didn’t. I knew I could ride the bull.'"
Great picture Mary.
ReplyDeleteI've never been to anything like this. It looks exciting.
We don't have that sort of thing here.
I'm sure Jane Austen would have loved to see rodio riding. She was a country lass after all.Two miles down the road from Chawton, at Farringdon, on the way to Fareham and Portsmouth, there is a farm that reers bulls and sells them for breeding. I'm not sure whether the same farm pursued that activity in Janes time. The farm would have been there though.
The Professional Bull Riding Assn. only uses bulls from select breeders, and these animals have to to go through a process before they can make it to the top. Yesterday, one of the bulls had never been ridden in 25 rides; four other bulls had only been ridden once in 25 tries. There are actually contingents from the different countries, and one guy was cut from the Brazilian squad. So he decided to go out on his own. He rode the meanest, toughest bull, and the crowd went crazy (me included). I'd like to think that Jane would enjoy something like this. Thanks for commenting.
ReplyDeleteAunt Mary I had no idea you liked bull riding. I loved going to the rodeo, but sometimes I felt kind of bad for the animals...
ReplyDeleteI LOVE bull riding. When we lived in TX, Uncle Paul and I would go to the Mesquite Rodeo a couple of times a year. Chris and Kim used to try to pull the ribbon off the calf's tail.
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