World Poker tour avoids stupidity

I was not surprised to read a message of chastisement from a close relative soon after I'd posted yesterday's entry. Sure enough, it came within the hour. The email note read as follows:

One thing about your Slight Detour post today. Although I was disappointed
not see Rowdy's ride last night, no college basketball game is stupid.
Football can be stupid. Ice skating can be stupid. Even pro basketball can
be stupid. But college basketball can never be stupid.

That being said, I hope that no other sporting events, including college
basketball, interfere with the rodeo the rest of the week, because I am
assuming that bronc riding will be the first event each night of the rodeo.
Hopefully, I can see the guy from Sandpoint ride one of these nights.

Apology granted to my son William E. Love III, college cage lover from Day One. I knew I had erred. Somehow, I had a feeling while typing my update about Rowdy Buechner's rodeo success that I might hear from Willie. Let me explain.

All day Friday, I remained upbeat because at 9 p.m. our boy Rowdy would be making his debut in the National Finals Rodeo---at least, television-wise. I knew the show would be a taped version of the day's events, and I was so excited that I could hardly stand it.

After following the career and writing about this polite young man who tapped me on the shoulder on that street in Old Tucson two years ago, I could hardly wait to watch him realize the dream he's had since about age 4. I also knew his parents had to be on top of the world since they were there in Las Vegas on their very first vacation in 26 years of marriage.

The Rowdy Buechner story has all the right stuff---close knit, hard-working family who sacrifice for years to support their son's dream, son who idolizes his dad, both boys in family (Rowdy has a brother Claude, Jr.) make their mom Jenny proud because of the way they treat people and believe in God, phenomenal athlete who earns his fame the "old-fashioned way" through hard work and dedication.

This story also means a lot to our Tibbs family. First, there's my mother who's thrilled that Rowdy took the time to talk to us in Old Tucson. My sister Laurie taught Rowdy in sixth grade and remembers his dream of making it as a rodeo cowboy some day. Throw in our whole family who listened for years to our dad talk about the legendary rodeo star, Casey Tibbs, a distant cousin who just happens to be another of Rowdy's role models. Top that off with the fact that Rowdy, less than two weeks ago, married into another Tibbs family in Moses Lake.

Yup, we were excited. So, when 9 p.m. Friday night came, all television sets here in Sandpoint and Colburn turned to ESPN2, only to discover a "stupid" football game between Louisiana Tech and Fresno State with 12 minutes to go in the fourth quarter. In this house, derogatory language about football games flew through the living room air. Bill (the Louisianan) left the living room and headed to the back room, surely to flip on ESPN2.

After seething for a few minutes, I figured maybe the rodeo had reached an ESPN2 station at the Colburn Ranch ten miles away. No deal. The same football game was playing for them. Laurie piped up in the background that the rodeo would air after the game. Well, the game lasted another hour. I dozed off a time or two and opened my eyes in time to see the final score.

When the rodeo finally started, who was the first athlete in the 2005 National Finals Rodeo? Our Rowdy Buechner. He rode his bronc to a seventh-place finish. None of us cared how he placed. We were just glad he was there and that the announcers gave him his due. After all, he'd finished 13th for the year, and that was after a two-month layoff from a hip injury. Our thrill came from knowing he was realizing his dream.

On Saturday, the second go-round for the rodeo was set to begin at 6 p.m. So, I plopped in my spot on the couch, with remote in hand, and switched the channel at 5:59 p.m, all set to watch Rowdy again. At 6 p.m., the Arizona State--Houston basketball game continued. At 6:01 p.m., it was still going. By 6:05 p.m., Bill sensed from the unkind vocal sounds near the couch that it was time to head to the back room once more.

At least Houston had the sense to get that game over a little sooner than the stupid football players did the night before. At approximately, 6:20, it ended with Houston shocking the pants off from Arizona. Lute, their coach, wasn't so happy. I was happy though, cuz now I could watch Rowdy. The National Finals began; only this time BAREBACK RIDING HAD ALREADY ENDED! Damn!

Bill stayed in the back room as the air began to turn blue in the living room. But when the announcer and the graphics showed that our Rowdy had taken second place in Saturday's round, I calmed down.

"It would have been nice to see it," I announced to the cats and Kiwi. They didn't seem to care. I watched and enjoyed the rest of the rodeo, knowing that our boy was really living his dream. Yesterday morning, I read that he'd won more than $12,000 and left my update on the blog, to which Willie quickly responded. I guess it's all in the perspective. One person's junk is another's treasure. In this case, Willie's treasure had eaten into my junk the night before.

Anyway, third night's gotta be a charm, so we went to the Elmira store for an early dinner. I had one of those three-cheese, 14,000-calorie omelets, while Bill had a hamburger and the 10,000-calorie magnificent chocolate shake. When the clock said 5:20, we were outa there, headed home to watch the NFR.

This time the World Series of Poker was playing in the 5 p.m. hour. Two guys were down to the wire with their aces and 8's. Just as it was looking like the stupid game might stretch beyond 6 p.m. once more, the younger guy called. The older guy won. Ten-second interviews with loser and winner followed. At 6 p.m., on schedule, the NFR started with its third bareback round.

OUR ROWDY TIED FOR FIRST PLACE. HE'S NOW TIED FOR THIRD OVERALL. HE IS LIVING HIS DREAM, and we are very happy.

Poker is not stupid. Nor is baskeball, Willie! I am hoping, however, that there's no stupid ice skating on tonight when NFR's fourth go-round is scheduled for 9 p.m. on ESPN2

Ride 'em, Rowdy!