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Examiner Op-Ed: Experiencing Rodeo Worthwhile

Steve Stampley, a former congressional aide and campaign manager, found himself at the Sheridan WYO Rodeo this summer. The experience left a lasting impression as Stampley recently wrote an op-ed piece for the Washington Examiner.

This excerpt from Stampley’s article appeared in the Oct. 24, 2019, edition of the Examiner:

If you’re weary of the culture war’s inexorable creep into national sports, may I recommend a pleasant antidote? Spend a night at the rodeo. You’ll be glad you did.

There are over 600 rodeo competitions each year in towns large and small across America, many streamed live on the internet or broadcast on cable. They feel like Friday Night Lights and remind us how much fun sports can be without some blowhard shoehorning politics into the mix. Rodeos also showcase how thriving local communities build healthy cultures.

It was an unseasonably warm July evening as I walked into the Sheridan County Fairgrounds in northeastern Wyoming, home of the WYO Rodeo. A tractor groomed the ochre dirt as a steady stream of cowboy hats, gold belt buckles, and Cinch jeans filed into the stands. Chancey Williams’s song, “The World Needs More Cowboys,” amped up the crowd while the Jumbotron played highlights from the previous night’s competition.

Once most of the sold-out crowd of roughly 5,000 found their seats, the night began with a prayer and then the national anthem, sung in three-part harmony by the Craft Brothers and interpreted in sign language by 12-year-old Carly Plain Feather, a member of the Crow Nation.

Read the rest of the article here: Washington Examiner Article

Courtesy of PRCA

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