There’s a Rodeo in New Jersey?

Huh?

My cousins live in Princeton and I have friends in Westfield, so I’m in New Jersey at least a couple of times a year, and I aint never seen no hide nor hair o’ no rodeo.

But in today’s New York Times, we learn, in "As Development Closes In, a Rodeo Hangs On," by Steve Strunsky, that the nation’s oldest continuously operated rodeo is in The Garden State. Who knew?

There’s a slide show, complete with cheesy western music, which shows highlights of a rainy, three-hour rodeo, and all that the poor animals–no wait, the people--have to go through. There’s not even a hint that the animals might be going through something unsavory. Here are some rodeo facts to be aware of so you can be educated about what really goes on in a rodeo, and just why all those animals are so damn ornery.

One of the slides is of a horse trying to escape, and several cowboys holding it back with all of their weight on the gate that keeps the horse in his stall.

Then there’s a close-up of steer wrestling that is so disturbing I’m surprised it was even in the slide show.  Thank heavens there was no photo of team calf-roping.

Here’s the message I got from the rodeo people: The animals are things to entertain and produce profit for them.

And here’s the message I got from the New York Times: So what?

The message of the article was supposed to be that developers are probably going to win in their bid for the land that houses this last bastion of real manhood, and replace it with big, new houses.

For the first time, I’m on the side of the developers.