The hot days not withstanding, I think the 102nd edition of the Calgary Stampede was a huge success. In the infield, Canadian rodeo stars shone brightly in the finals Sunday afternoon -- winning three out of six events! That may be a record of the number of Canadian cowboys taking home the top prize which now is $100,000! And two of them were Albertans!
I didn't spend as much time down at Stampede Park this year as I usually do during the ten day mayhem. Time for the younger folks to take over! And take over they did! The brand new Agrium Western Event Centre was opened for its very first Stampede. Everyone pulled together to make the displays and exhibits shine in their new digs! Well done everyone!
No, I didn't try Scorpion Pizza or Deep Fried Everything, but I had fun there nevertheless.
Something that really bugs me is that the media do an amazing job of covering the rodeo and chuckwagon events during the Stampede. This year's CBC TV and press coverage was absolutely awesome! Unfortunately, as soon as Stampede is over, finding out anything about those sporting events is almost impossible.
Likewise, the rodeos leading up to the Stampede are rarely mentioned in the newspaper or on TV. The "chucks" are running in High River today (Guy Weadick Days) and over the weekend, yet I've heard not a word! Baseball, Soccer, Tennis, and many other sports are reported in the media -- but not rodeo! It's almost like the media believes that the Rodeo and Chuckwagon season begins and ends at the Calgary Stampede.
I think the rodeo and chuckwagon events pretty reach their saturation point by the end of the Stampede - I don't know if there'd be much appetite for it during the rest of the circuit.
ReplyDeleteRodeo Royal never seemed to get mention in the local media when it was running.
The attendance at the CFR in Edmonton and the NFR in Las Vegas show there are folks out there who want to follow rodeo! I think there is a big enough readership to include the rodeo and chuckwagon results on the sports pages all season long.
ReplyDeleteMaybe, but there's perhaps not the manpower available to cover all of those events; many newspapers have been cut to the bone.
DeleteThe smaller rodeos don't seem to post their results online, so far as I can tell, and many small-town papers (where many of these rodeos are held) don't share their stories or reporters with the big-city papers like the Herald and Sun.