Rodeo Geekery

I grew up overseas (that is, not in the US) for the most part, and I never thought I'd get interested in - and certainly not involved with - rodeo. My perception of rodeo was that it was a silly thing, for redneck boys who never wanted to grow up and who felt the need to annoy animals for fun.

Almost twenty years ago, my coblogger Bryan started working for the NHSRA, rewriting the computer program they used to run their national finals. It does things like randomly sort the contestants into events, track scores and so on; it's an important part of the finals. At the time, when he talked about it, I thought that it sounded deathly dull. Who cared about rodeo? I didn't see any reason, except possibly large sums of money, to get involved.

Over the next few years, it was just part of the summer schedule; Bryan would be gone for a couple of weeks in July. When he got back, I'd ask him how the rodeo went, and he would tell me that it went fine. And then he would talk about the events, and I would listen politely in that way that we do when the person speaking to us is blethering on about something dull, but we don't want to hurt their feelings by actually walking away.

Ten years ago, his regular cohort couldn't go, and he invited me. I needed money at the time, so I was happy to go along. We went to Gillete, Wyoming, for the 50th anniversary National High School Finals Rodeo, and it was a very cool trip. We spent a couple of days travelling there, including camping in Rocky Mountain National Park, which was a lot of fun.

And the rodeo went well. I enjoyed it and was quite excited about some of the geeky ideas we had, ideas for making the rodeo tech work even better. I even enjoyed some of the events. I learned about the difference between rough stock and timed events, learned that I enjoyed watching rodeo.

Flash forward a few years; Bryan called to tell me that the NHSRA was adding a junior high finals, and would I like to go? I would, as it turned out. The Wrangler Junior High Finals Rodeo (WJHFR) went very well, and I enjoyed the setting even more.

Now I'm fully a rodeo geek. I've learned a lot about rodeo and about rodeo people, those who compete and those who run the rodeo. I'm proud to be able to help out.