TERRY: Getting the hang of rodeo

This isn’t my first rodeo. But, it’s not far removed.

It’s been five years since I had to cover the sport for the first time.

They don’t have rodeos in Detroit, at least not the part I grew up in. So when I was tasked with covering the rodeo in the first few weeks I moved to Montana, the entire sport was all a bit new.

I had never seen a rodeo. I hadn’t even watched one on television. I got the general gist of the idea, and new the little tidbit about eight seconds, but outside of horses and hats and only being allowed to use one hand, I was a blank slate.

I didn’t know the lingo, I didn’t know the events, I didn’t even know what to call the animals. I couldn’t spot a steer from a cow. To me, they were all cows.

To put it simply, I had light years more experience covering field hockey than rodeo. That at least had a ball and a net and referees and things I could identify with.

Instead, they tasked me, city boy, to cover the rodeo and write about it like I was a seasoned vet.

But, that’s what I was being paid for.

So, before I even had a chance to meet the football coaches I was finding out about the Future Farmers of America.

It dawned on me quickly, I was going to look like a fool. Content with that, I leaned into it.

It helped that rodeo isn’t a hard sport to learn. After a few riders went, I got the hang of it. After asking a few questions to a few people that looked like they had done this before, I figured out what I was supposed to be looking for. Once I got the concept of a re-ride and how judging happened I was pretty much set.

As the night went on, I figured it out.

I wasn’t going to sound like an expert. I couldn’t. What I could do was have fun.

And that, turned out to be the point of the whole thing.

It was fun. Guys were unwillingly flying on the backs of unruly horses and bulls and other guys were willingly flying off of much rulier horses to tackle and tie up much smaller bulls. It was as simple and entertaining as a track meet, except with faster participants.

That was it. Sure i had to learn to call things by their correct names. I made sure to ask everybody to read and re-read my story to ensure I didn’t sound completely out of place.

Five years later, while I still wouldn’t consider myself an expert, I can legitimately say I’m excited for this year’s rodeo.

There’s 65 riders entered that are in the top 50 spots in the world over the three days. There are world-ranked competitors in every event, a few that happen to be from Northwest Montana.

It doesn’t take an expert to figure out that’s going to be good.

So, I’ll be more ready this time. In addition to years of coverage under my belt, I’ve come prepared with extra knowledge.

There was one good part about attending my first rodeo a half decade ago. When you just sit back and watch, you can learn a lot.

You may even stumble onto something you’ve never imagined.