Friday, April 17, 2009

A cowboy hat area?

Last night I attended the mixer for this weekend's Red Bluff Round-Up rodeo, cosponsored by the Tehama County cattleman's and cattlewomen's organizations. It was a rockin' party with a couple hundred people, and the steak fajitas that the cattlewomen cooked for the crowd were awesome. I managed to pass around a few business cards, too.

There seems to be a bit of a controversy over media coverage at this year's rodeo. After a bull charged into the stands and injured a bunch of people last year -- a story of which I took part in the initial coverage -- the Round-Up organizers have imposed a bunch of rules and restrictions for reporters covering the rodeo. The new rules haven't gone over too well with some of the local press.

Go to an NFL or Major League Baseball game, and you have to have the proper credentials to get on the field, into the press box or into the dressing room, and it's been my experience (from earlier in my career) that the handling of access to athletes can be very intense. But one of the Round-Up's rules struck me as particularly funny: I've heard that in order to get into the area behind the bucking chutes, one has to wear a cowboy hat.

Now I've heard of hard-hat areas, but cowboy hat areas? Shoot, do many reporters at city papers or TV stations even own a cowboy hat? (I own about five, but that's beside the point.)




2 comments:

Jinglebob said...

There really is no such thing as a "cowboy hat". Or "cowboy boots". There are just hats and boots that ranchers and cowboys wear and then all them other things other people wear. If they are referred to as "cowboy" hats or boots, it's a sure sign you ain't one!

LOL

Unknown said...

It's not unusual for rodeos, particularly PRCA rodeos, to have those rules. As it has been explained to me, PRCA rules require people in the arena to wear things like long-sleeved shirts and hats. The area behind the chutes is considered part of the arena. Maybe someday I should actually read the PRCA rules.

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