cowboy hats everywhere

so, my friend erin wound up going out of town this weekend, and she decided to give her ticket to the PBR to me.

what is the PBR, you may (should) be asking? well, its the professional bull riders, of course! (i was going to link to it, but their website keeps freezing my computer, so screw that). so, i decided to go sit with a group of erin's friends, whom i have never met, for three hours to watch the professional bull riders.

here's how it started: the letters "PBR" going off in flames in the dirt. then fireworky things shooting up into the air, and then sparks falling from the ceiling. ooooooooh. and then the announcer guy asks us to stand. i didnt see a flag anywhere, but thought it must be the pledge of allegiance. the guy keeps talking, and im not really listening, just kinda looking around for the flag, and all of a sudden i realize: he's praying. ooookay....i guess the bull riders pull in a religious crowd? but in new york? whatever. i let it go. and THEN came the pledge of allegiance....wow.
so, the world's hugest american flag begins to be lowered into the arena. it started out rolled up, and as it unrolled, glitter fell out of it. the crowd cheered. ooookay... and when it finally unrolled, the light people went CRAZY putting spotlights all over it, and these weird green lights flashing on it. people cheered some more. and then a chick came out to sing the anthem. first of all, no one knew who she was, so like 4 people cheered when she was introduced, which was sad. she had a decent singing voice, but no one was really singing along. until the end, when a few people began singing along...passionately singing along. one of the passionate singers was a few rows behind me, and i turned around to see if he was just being a jackass, or if he was actually in to it....yeah, he was actually in to it. passionately in to it. and then at that pause at the end (land of the free....) he went WILD. wild "yeehawing." seriously. but whatever, par for the course.

so, there are four guys whose job it is to distract the bull once the rider is off, and there is one actual rodeo "clown." he really wasnt that entertaining, except for a few things. the first wasnt even him being entertaining. he went into the crowd and had an audience member dance to win a pair of wrangler jeans (yeehaw). the man he chose was probable about 250 lbs from trinidad and tobego who was NOT wearing anything cowboy-ish. however, oh my god, he ROCKED OUT. i was dyyyyying laughing. for such a big guy, he was able to MOVE. so that was fun. and he won the certificate for a free pair of wranglers--i wish i could go with him to buy a pair. hilarious.
so, the other funny thing that is coming to mind about the rodeo clown was that at one point red flags were thrown (i learned that red flags mean that the bull did not perform well, so it drags down the rider's score, and the rider can choose to go again to get a higher score), and he gave them to a girl in teh audience. then, later, he took the flags back (im not sure why), and he asked her to throw them to him, and she had the worst "girly" throw ive ever seen. seriously, she was sitting in the FRONT ROW and couldnt make it over the bar two feet in front of her. so, when the clown finally got the flags, he started making fun of her, and he started acting like a cheerleader. he was actually a really good cheerleader. spirit fingers and all.

before it started, the riders were introduced. most of them came out of a curtain into "smoke" waving their little hats. but there were four riders that were special for one reason or another (ill be honest, i really wasnt listening to the announcer). and they were each up on their own podium, and they werent in any lights until their names were called, when a big spot light shown straight down on them, which, because of their hats, kept their faces shrouded in darkness. oooooooh. mysterious....

the bull riding was basically entertaining. i spent $7.25 on a bud light. well, $14.50 on two. my spending for the weekend. i was hoping for impalement or something, but no such luck. one guy slammed his face into the bull's head and probably broke his nose, so that was fun.

while we were leaving, i looked up and saw someone who looked familiar...i stared a little and realized--it was carson from queer eye for the straight guy!!! at a bull riding competition!!! bizarre...
he was frightenely orange, and had too much product in his hair, and was wearing uggs with his tight pants tucked in. but he was cute. i didnt talk to him, but i stared for a while--MUCH less intrusive, im sure.

so, that was my sunday!