If you're looking for something to tide you over between the final whistle of the Super Bowl and the start of baseball's spring training, try a little rodeo.
As a former guest ranch barrel racer, I can attest to the great fun to be had in an arena on the back of a fast quarter horse. Rodeo is one of those sports which is almost as fun to watch as it is to play-- one of the common complaints Americans often register against soccer. But for anyone who enjoys fast action and attaching season- long sentiments to a cowboy (or even a bull), consider giving rodeo a try.
Bull riding has made some mainstream inroads in recent years. That came about in the '90s when a group of riders, convinced that the event could stand on its own, formed the Professional Bull Riders, Inc., to create a circuit of about three hundred bull riding only events a year. (Perhaps not coincidentally, the popularity explosion of contemporary country music happened at about the same time.)
The task sounds so simple: Stay aboard a bucking bull for eight seconds. But for anyone who has channel surfed past a competition knows, it's one of the most difficult feats in sports. Bull riding, governed by the PBR, most often seen on Versus (DISH Network 151) You'll be able to see the Built Ford Tough Invitational on January 10 and 11 for four total hours of coverage, and NBC Sports (DISH Network 241) will broadcast the Table Mountain Casino Invitational from California on January 17. Cowboy up!
