A Load of Bull

If you ask me, a person would have to be nuts to willingly get on the back of a red-eyed, one-ton boy bovine with smoke coming out of its ears and go for an eight-second joy ride. But that shows how much I know. For one thing, there’s a saddlebag full of prize money — upwards of 50,000 buckaroos, awaiting the toughest (or luckiest?) pro bull riders at the end of that jaunt through the epicenter of a breathing earthquake. And, as for the other thing, well, that’s entertainment, plain and simple. Folks go apeshit over the likes of Evel Knievel, building-scaling human flies, Royal Gorge jet-pack daredevils and loco PBRs like Brazilian hotshot and 2008 PBR World Champion Guilherme Marchi, who just might be among those vying for the big bucks at the National Western Stock Show.

So there’s always a full house at the NWSS’s annual Professional Bull Riding events, which kick off this year with a rip-roarin’ show at 7:30 p.m. tonight in the Denver Coliseum, 4600 Humboldt Street. Man will take on beast again at the same time and place tomorrow and Wednesday; for tickets on any night, $12 to $100, go to www.nationalwestern.com or call 1-888-551-5004. Ride ’em, wacko!
Jan. 10-25, 2009