Cruelty small price to pay for animals’ rodeo fame

  Adam Karon If you want to learn more
about bareback riding and just how long eight seconds can be,
e-mail Karon at [email protected].

I don’t gamble, I don’t love bright lights, and
bells and whistles make me nervous. So why did I find myself four
hours down I-10 en route to Las Vegas after closing my last blue
book and finishing my final paper a few hours earlier? Well, I was
searching for mustangs. Not the car “¦ and certainly not the
Ranch, but the beasts themselves and the men who ride them. I was
heading for the National Rodeo Finals.

Like most UCLA students, my experience with rodeo has been
limited to an expensive shopping district and perhaps the
mechanical bull at the Saddle Ranch. But I figured if Luke Perry
could star in a movie about bull riding (“8 Seconds”),
then I might as well see what the fuss was all about.

As an animal rights activist ““ I do stand up for the
cow’s right to be prepared medium rare or well-done ““ I
was intrigued. As a sports fan I was in for the most entertaining
evening since the Bruins won the national championship in 1995.

I knew something was different in the City of Sin when instead
of limousines and Lincolns, I saw Chevy pickups, trailers and RVs.
Thousands of Rodeo fans from across the country made the journey to
Nevada. It appeared that each had driven rather than flown, and
some seemed to have brought their entire house with them. I
guess Nascar had the weekend off.

After arriving at the Thomas and Mack Arena, fans were greeted
by protesters waving signs that said, “You’d buck too
if your balls were tied.” So true. Oddly enough,
however, the man waving the banner was wearing leather shoes and a
leather belt, undoubtedly cut from a cow that was treated far worse
than those made into heroes on Rodeo Sundays.

Like any great sporting event, the 2001 NFR featured a display
of competitive will that will never be forgotten.

Cody Ohl, the all-around national champion and 2001 calf-roping
champion, turned in a Kirk Gibson-esque performance on Sunday
evening. In round nine, the 28-year-old cowboy from
Stephensville, Texas found himself on the arena floor, his anterior
cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in shreds, clinging to a
hoof with one hand. Had he let go and called it quits, he still
would have finished the week as the NFR’s most decorated
champion. But apparently cowboys don’t quit.

Because Ohl was the biggest draw for the competition, he knew he
couldn’t let a little piece of veal show him up. After
tearing his knee, he did what any star athlete would do.

He whipped out his pocket knife, cut the rope connecting the
calf and his horse, flipped the 300-pound bovine on its side, tied
three of its limbs together like you would your little brother and
collapsed in pain on the dirt and manure floor. All this took less
than 45 seconds, but the ovation from more than 18,000 spectators
seemed to last forever. 

While Ohl’s performance was truly spectacular, his
demonstration of guts was just slightly above the level displayed
daily at rodeos. These men are so tough, they make sandpaper look
soft.

One man had his neck stomped by an irritated bull. Two minutes
later, the announcer delivered the news that he suffered a
concussion, strained neck muscles and a chin laceration and a
sprained back. He was expected to compete the next day.

During NFR Week, cowboys suffered five concussions, four broken
bones, three blown out knees, two separated shoulders and enough
bruises to make an eggplant jealous. The injury report for NFR
reads like a masochistic man’s Christmas list. And they say
rodeo is cruel to the animals”¦

At the risk of starting a brown rice and tofu fight, I’d
like to point out a few ways in which rodeo may not be as cruel as
you think to our bovine and equine cousins, especially within the
context of other sports.

First and most importantly, the animals do not die. In
fact, those that are most successful win awards, are considered
heroes and spend their retirements in lush green fields mating with
the most attractive horses and cows available.

Sure they must spend a few years with their testicles tied and
their rear-ends shocked, but that seems a small price to pay for
stardom. Remember, more horses die making baseballs than belt
buckles.

Second, a brahma bull with a 165-pound man on his back is in a
far better position than his cousins who are forced to sprint
through the streets of Spain chasing drunk Education Abroad
Students. No one in the rodeo will ever plunge a spear into an
animal, especially not while wearing a ridiculous red cape.

Third, the animals usually win. Eight seconds never seems
longer than when the gate is pulled and a 2,000-pound animal starts
jumping like Vince Carter on Ritalin. Whether it is saddle-bronc,
bareback, or bull-riding, nine times out of 10, the men finish with
a face full of dirt and a fat goose-egg on the scoreboard.

You too can watch these men and the burgers they ride when the
Professional Bull Riders tour comes to Anaheim Feb. 15 and
16.  See you there, partner.

If you want to learn more about bareback riding and just how
long eight seconds can be, e-mail Karon at
[email protected].