All year long I write about the PBR, its events, its riders, and especially its bulls. Then for ten days in December I become a complete rodeo fan. Some of my PBR readers don't follow me into that realm, but here's why I go so happily into ten days of the NFR.
1. I get to be a fan. After two years of writing about bull riding, I don't love it any less, but I don't watch it strictly as a fan anymore. For the NFR, I don't think, analyze, research, or study. I bliss out.
2. Ten days. How crazy is that! It's early Christmas, late birthday, for ten whole days.
3. I get to like other events more than bull riding. The NFR doesn't have the best bull riders in the world or the best bulls. But it has good riders and some great bulls, and the best of everything else.
4. New faces, new bulls, new announcers. Even different commercials. All of it is a breath of fresh air. I confess that after a full season of the PBR I am tired of Craig Hummer's over-enthusiasm and really tired of Bass Pro Shop commercials. If I could watch rodeo all year, I might get tired of Joe Beaver and Donnie Gay, too, but for ten days, I really like both of them.
6. The way the steer wrestlers and tie-down ropers get off their horses. Really, I watch this over and over in slow motion and still I can't figure out how they do it. I know, these guys have been riding horses since before they were born, but still, amazing horsemanship, amazing teamwork.
7. Roping. For ten days, I live for the roping.
8. I live for the steer wrestling, too.
9. Absence of drama (the bad kind). None of the showboating, victory dancing, mugging for the camera, chest thumping, head banging, fence shaking, or angry helmet throwing that we see all year in the PBR. When I watch the NFR I realize that I'm kind of tired of that stuff.
10. Drama. The good kind. Fast runs, tight races, average lead changes, world titles lost or won right there in ten nights in Vegas.
