Yeeeeehaaaaa!

This past Saturday I went to one of my most unfavorite locales in the United States of America. Long Island.

It wasn't as bad as it usually is though, because I went to see the rodeo -- bull riding to be exact. The bull riding was goin' down at stop No. 21 on the Professional Bull Riders' 2005 Built Ford Tough Series. The venue was the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, NY. It was my first rodeo experience and I'll have to admit, it was pretty fun. Long Islanders with cowboy hats on. Men trying to sit on the back of 1,000 pounds worth of pissed off animal and stay on for eight seconds. The whole thing was pretty ridiculous.

Here are some photos to feast your peepers on (click for larger view)

No NHL = dirt instead of ice


Intermission. The dirt Zamboni smoothes out the scene


Cowboy about to get dumped


Meg sizin' up her dream of riding in the big time

Some comments/highlights:

• A girl who sat in front of us had a tattoo on her lower back that I initially thought was the Ford logo (there's no way this chick is dating a Chevy driver). As it turns out, it wasn't a Ford logo. It looked like a Ford logo, but instead of "Ford" it said "Tina" I'm not sure which is worse.


• I was expecting a whole lot of country music, but there was very little. As a matter of fact, during the rider introductions there were very un-country selections such as "Enter Sandman" by Metallica, "Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson and "Du Hast" by Rammstein.


• If you are ever out in the Hempstead, NY area, you might want to contact Jack at Taxi Town Cars, Inc. He has a pretty nice ride, bullshits like a champ (apparently he used to date Gwen Stefani) and gets your destination in one piece.


• I got ID'd when trying to purchase an overpriced beer. I showed the guy my ID and looked at me, looked at the ID, looked at me again and said, "What's your birth date?" I haven't gone through that routine since I was in college. Oh, by the way, in case you don't know, I'm 32-years-old.


• Meg (see photo above) thinks she'd be able to outride me if we could get in on the competition. She thinks her low center of gravity would defeat met, where I think my leg length would give me a bull torso grip advantage. I can't wait for a showdown. (I may cheat by attending some rodeo school)


• We had a brief stop at the rodeo after party at the Marriott across the parking lot. That was a scene. The riders, the crew, cowboy groupies, along with random hotel guests all in one bar makes for some sort of trouble. Unfortunately the LIRR schedule was calling the shots, so we didn't get a full dose of the fun. Next time though I'm in it for the long haul.