rodeo back in the day

last night the mrs. and i decided to watch a old movie on tcm. it was called bus stop, with marylin monroe and don murry. it was a off beat love story set in the rodeo world. now it wasnt a bad show, but to me the best part was the fottage of the pheonix rodeo of rodeos taken in the mid fifties.  this guy that don murry portaies is a 5 event hand, not uncommon for those days.  so there was clear fottage of this cat competing in each of the 5 events. also some great shots of the old rodeo grounds in front of the old grandstands at the fair grounds. that arena in those days was just short of a quarter mile long. at times you could see the alfalfa feilds that grew right up to the east side of the fairgrounds!!  thos grand stands were FULL with bleachers accross the arena full also. those were the days when everyone turned out for the week of rodeo.  women wore ruffled blouses, bell bottom pants over a pair of red , pointed toe boots.  men had frontier pants and loud colored shirts. everyone had hats with wide brims and a dog bone crease in the crown.  i got to watch enough of the contests to compare the way things were done then compared to now. the bucking horses were about the same as today  but the timed event boys did things a little different. the calves were brahamas, 400 pounders run over a 30 foot score. when caught the roper pitched his slack straight up in the air to get as much jerk in the calf. with out that that brahmer would meet you half way up the rope!!  the bill doggers ran over that same 30 foot score, only instead of a steer weighing 500 pounds those steers were a good 8 to 900 pounds!!    but the biggest difference i saw was the bull riding..the bulls were big tall, humpy brahmers. they bucked in big long leaps that covered a lot of ground and didnt kick to high behind. the bull riders were men, big stout men. no chaps and  just out  stouted those bulls. i believe the bulls today are ranker, stronger and harder to ride. i believe the modern day rodeo competer is a athlete , but not as versitile. not since Phil LYNN have we seen a rodeo hand work both ends of the arena. and i cant remember a 5 event hand since linderman.  can todays rodeo hands compete in those days bygone? i believe so. one other thing that movie showed that i was pretty impressed with was the fact the hero was a athlete not just a beer gizzling , hard parying knot head. he worked out , went to bed early and was prepared to do battle with a clear head. in a time when rodeo cowboys had the reputation of being a rowdy, hard drinking , fighting ruffian it was a refreshing in sight .  a lot of the shots in the movie were of the grand stands. i wish i could have seen a little 8 year old tow headed kid up there sitten next to his dad!!