On July 4, I visited the Oldest Rodeo in the World. First held in 1888, it claims the distinction of being the first professional and longest continuously staged rodeo in the world. It was fun.
(Just before the start of the rodeo. The opening event is the release of a bunch of broncs and cowboys have to throw saddles on them and ride them around the arena.)
(It's mayhem.)
Rodeo is a mix of circus and sport with some Western Pageantry thrown in. There's a nice opening ceremony with the Rodeo Queen riding the American flag around the arena. 
(What's more American than Coke?)
They had some beautiful draft horses pulling a stage coach. There's an obnoxious and creepy rodeo clown telling bad “You know you’re a Redneck if…”, and a guy that parades a couple of well-trained “Wild Buffalo” around.
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(The closing music is Money For Nothing by Dire Straits. A great song, but he couldn’t come up with something more fitting?)
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Now, I won't lie, the rodeo gets kind of boring. There's nothing extremely athletic about some of the events, which is why you have a few Homer Simpsons throwing ropes. After the second or third contestant, you get the point. Hence the term, "This isn't my first rodeo".
-->A lot of people decry rodeos as despicable displays of animal cruelty, but I say if you're dumb enough to be born as livestock in the US, then shame on you (I know, that doesn't make any sense).
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(OK, they might have a point…)
In terms of Pro Rodeos, where there is a governing body, the animal cruelty objection holds little validity. Pro Rodeo livestock is a HUGE business, similar to race horses. No one wants anything to happen to these animals. A hurt or pained animal is useless because animals won't cooperate, or they'll just stand still, resulting in poor scores for the cowboys. The flank strap (not testicle strap) around bulls and broncs makes them uncomfortable, and the release of the strap gives them an incentive to buck, which is what they've been trained to do. Roping calfs and steers are used only once during a competition and they're trained for their event. All the animals are well kept and well fed. The PBR has a section of their website dedicated to the bulls. As a sport, it's better than bull fighting, in which the object is to slay the bull, or Kangaroo boxing. I think there's more cruelty in professional human sports, especially given what we know with the NFL head trauma stuff.
What I love about the rodeo is its utter lack of pretension. There are no egotistical athletes who are trying maintain their endorsement deals with a look-at-me spectacle. The venues are not places celebrities go "to be seen" (maybe the PRCA and PBR Finals in Las Vegas). The competitors are regular men and women who follow their passion. One of the team-ropers that competed lives on his family's ranch around the corner from me. The crowd just wants to have a good old time drinking reasonably priced beer and crappy food.
-->And where else do you hear a grown man in a glittery pink cowboy hat, standing in a barrel during the bullriding say "I think that bull is Mexican! He's got guacamole under his tail!"?
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Rodeos transport us to a bygone era. Cowboys are American heroes that enabled the US to settle the West (for now, we'll leave out the Native American genocide). Informal rodeos have been held since the 1830s with cowboys and Mexican vaqueros showcasing their cowhand skills. Rodeo cowboys perform old range cowboy practices that date back to Spanish ranch practices.
For instance, The Bronc riding events are from when cowboys had to break wild Mustangs for use on the range.
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The roping events, calf and team steer roping, were shows of a cowboy's proficiency with their most important tool.
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Bull riding and steer wrestling were simply shows of bravado and male stupidity.
Then Barrel Racing is there for some reason. Title IX, I think.
