Rodeo and Utah

This weekend was the start of the Days of 47 celebration in Utah. This includes a number of festivities including the Days of 47 Rodeo (Ed Note: The proper pronunciation is roh-day-oh, not roh-dee-oh. Think how John Wayne pronounced it in "The Man from Utah").

My sainted Italian, straight-off-the-boat wife had expressed her opinion to me before that she wanted to see a rodeo, so I took her, the married daughter and her husband to the Days of 47 Rodeo and in proper Utahese, a good time was had by all. She especially like the bull-riding and bronco riding events, but she really didn't care for the calf roping. I'm kind of sentimentalm but my favorite part is the singing of the US National Anthem. I'm one of those who will sing along with the singer, no matter how bad they mess up the melody. I guess it comes from the fact that the LDS Church hymnal includes the US National Anthem and is sung during church (Oh no! Where's the separation of church and state!). In fact, one of my most enduring images is the Cap'n and I being the only people in the stands singing the US National Anthem at a Quebec Nordiques hockey game in Canada during the 80's (after which we both sang the Canadian National Anthem in French). By I digress, where was I? Oh yeah, rodeo.

I was rather surprised at an article in Pravda Utah which tells how popular rodeo is in the State of Utah. After thinking about it a bit, I can see why. Since Utah is one of the more patriotic states in the Union and where serving in the military is not looked down upon (our Miss Utah serves in the National Guard), I can see why a sport that celebrates the United States, the US military, patriotism and the cowboy lifestyle is so popular.