Missing in action
There's a lull, men. There's a lull. (Stolen from a cliche used by Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer when he coached the Kansas City Chiefs. "There's a gleem ...")
OK, so a few weeks back, I wrote about rodeo being cyclical. But this is as slow as it gets. The Professional Bull Riders is the only thing really going. This weekend, friends like Lee Akin and Corey Navarre and Cody Whitney and Justin McBride will take part in the event at Worcester, Mass. This is the third event of the 2006 season, and ol' Justin's defending his first PBR title.
The PBR comes back to the fair state of Oklahoma just once this season, and it might not be the best stand-alone bull-riding event in the Sooner State this month. You see, up until last year, the PBR was associated with the Lazy E Arena. But the two split, and bitter pills were swallowed on both sides. The Lazy E was owned by E.K. Gaylord II, part of the Oklahoma family known for once owning Opryland, TNN, The Oklahoman newspaper, etc.
I won't go into it in great detail here, but suffice it to say that Bullnanza at the Lazy E Arena was established in 1989, and the PBR was founded in 1994. Bullnanza always took place at the arena northeast of Oklahoma City around the last weekend of January or the first weekend in February. Even though it wasn't associated with Bullnanza any longer, the PBR signed an agreement to have its event at the Ford Center that weekend, and Bullnanza -- which is now in with the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association -- kept that weekend, too.
Needless to say, rodeo and bull-riding fans were left with a dilemma: Go to the PBR's "new" event at the downtown arena, or go back to the Lazy E, where they'd been going for 16 years? It was a giant mess, I'll tell you that.
The PBR returns to the Ford Center the last weekend of January. But as I said, it might not be the best event in Oklahoma this year.
Bullnanza has moved up its dates this year. It will take place Jan. 13-14 at the Lazy E Arena. Its participants will be the top bull riders from the PRCA, not the PBR. But that's where you'll see Matt Austin, the 2005 world champ, and all those other fellas that were at the NFR just a month ago.
I promise you it'll be a good show, so if you're up to it, I'd recommend that venture next weekend. The Lazy E was built for steer roping and other rodeo events, but it has produced bull-riding events longer than anyone going. The company, Lazy E Productions, did five Bullnanzas last year, in addition to regular stuff that happens at the arena.
It has a new ownership -- Gaylord sold the Lazy E just recently -- but I know the people in charge of the production, and they know their task.
Enjoy the PBR on TV this weekend, then watch a better show in person next weekend at the Lazy E. Heck, you might even see me squattin' around there. It's been known to happen.
OK, so a few weeks back, I wrote about rodeo being cyclical. But this is as slow as it gets. The Professional Bull Riders is the only thing really going. This weekend, friends like Lee Akin and Corey Navarre and Cody Whitney and Justin McBride will take part in the event at Worcester, Mass. This is the third event of the 2006 season, and ol' Justin's defending his first PBR title.
The PBR comes back to the fair state of Oklahoma just once this season, and it might not be the best stand-alone bull-riding event in the Sooner State this month. You see, up until last year, the PBR was associated with the Lazy E Arena. But the two split, and bitter pills were swallowed on both sides. The Lazy E was owned by E.K. Gaylord II, part of the Oklahoma family known for once owning Opryland, TNN, The Oklahoman newspaper, etc.
I won't go into it in great detail here, but suffice it to say that Bullnanza at the Lazy E Arena was established in 1989, and the PBR was founded in 1994. Bullnanza always took place at the arena northeast of Oklahoma City around the last weekend of January or the first weekend in February. Even though it wasn't associated with Bullnanza any longer, the PBR signed an agreement to have its event at the Ford Center that weekend, and Bullnanza -- which is now in with the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association -- kept that weekend, too.
Needless to say, rodeo and bull-riding fans were left with a dilemma: Go to the PBR's "new" event at the downtown arena, or go back to the Lazy E, where they'd been going for 16 years? It was a giant mess, I'll tell you that.
The PBR returns to the Ford Center the last weekend of January. But as I said, it might not be the best event in Oklahoma this year.
Bullnanza has moved up its dates this year. It will take place Jan. 13-14 at the Lazy E Arena. Its participants will be the top bull riders from the PRCA, not the PBR. But that's where you'll see Matt Austin, the 2005 world champ, and all those other fellas that were at the NFR just a month ago.
I promise you it'll be a good show, so if you're up to it, I'd recommend that venture next weekend. The Lazy E was built for steer roping and other rodeo events, but it has produced bull-riding events longer than anyone going. The company, Lazy E Productions, did five Bullnanzas last year, in addition to regular stuff that happens at the arena.
It has a new ownership -- Gaylord sold the Lazy E just recently -- but I know the people in charge of the production, and they know their task.
Enjoy the PBR on TV this weekend, then watch a better show in person next weekend at the Lazy E. Heck, you might even see me squattin' around there. It's been known to happen.
posted by Teditor at 7:20 PM
4 Comments:
I will always regret that I never made it to the NFR before Oklahoma City let it go to Vegas.
You should, since you were just up the road fer 20 years while it was in OKC. Had you just talked yer folks into it, you mightta been able to see Chris LeDoux win the world in 1976.
Or Donnie Gay. Or Roy Cooper.
You get the idea.
Sneak on over to the E next weekend, R? You'll get a kick out of it.
So will the bulls. :-)
What year did it go to Vegas? I seem to remember wanting a 1979 Ford Ranger Lariat pickup real bad because it was one of the prizes at the NFR.
It moved to Vegas in 1985, just celebrated its 21st year in Sin City.
The Lazy E was being built in 1984, and a rush job was done so that the National Finals Steer Roping could take place at the Lazy E the same time the National Finals Rodeo was taking place at the Myriad in downtown OKC. Then the next year, the NFR moved, and the steer roping finals stayed at the Lazy E until 2000 or '01.
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