ProRodeo Sports News - April 3, 2020

DIRECTOR’S CUT SCOTT KANIEWSKI

A different time for rodeo and our cowboys T his space should be all about some of the spring’s biggest rodeos or about cowboys jockeying for position among the Top 15 before the summer months. cowboys are out of work too. So this edition of ProRodeo Sports News is centered around the cowboy as a person, as a friend, as a ranch hand, as a family man. Social media was a big help. Want to know what Tyson

This magazine should be previewing the RAMNational Circuit Finals Rodeo and have coverage of RodeoHouston and Rodeo Austin. It should be about impressive accomplishments in the rodeo world, and we’ve seen plenty so far this season – bareback rider TimO’Connell’s ProRodeo record-tying ride of 94 points aboard Northcott Macza’s Stevie Knicks instantly comes to mind. But the fact of the matter is it isn’t about rodeo. At all. Not in the sense of rodeo as a sport that cowboys do for a living. This time, this space is designated to rodeo as a way of life. And not just this space, but this entire edition of ProRodeo Sports News . When rodeos began cancelling and postponing because of COVID-19, we at PSN immediately turned our thoughts to, “Well, what are we going to put in the magazine and online at ProRodeo.com?” The answer was somewhat easier than we thought. We actually don’t have to focus on rodeos. Instead, we can focus on people – ProRodeo cowboys, yes, but more as people than as cowboys. What are they doing with their time away from the sport? In many ways, like many people around the country,

Durfey is doing? Check out Facebook (@tysondurfey). Want to know what Tuf Cooper is up to? Go find him on Instagram (@tufcooper). How about six-time world champion bull rider Sage Kimzey? Instagram (@sagekimzey). One thing we at PSN did was ask StetsonWright, the reigning all-around world champion, to talk to us and the fans on Facebook. So, he did. He went live on the PRCA’s Facebook page (@prcaprorodeo). You can check it out here: https://bit.ly/2UyAepW Want to hear from the PRCA CEOGeorge Taylor? He did a video interview withThe Cowboy Channel. You can watch it in its entirety here: https://bit.ly/2JvkMF2 We all love rodeo. That’s a given. But rodeo – like much of our daily activities – has taken a backseat to quarantining ourselves and trying to stay safe as the pandemic continues around the globe. Hopefully, sooner rather than later this space will be back to rodeo coverage in its athletic, professional form. Most importantly that would mean rodeo, the U.S. and the world would be back to a sense of normalcy. But for the time being, maybe we – as so many of us are being forced to do – can use this time to take a breath and look at life a little differently.

Scott Kaniewski is the Media Director at the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. He previously served more than two years as the editor of ProRodeo Sports News. He has nearly two decades of experience in sports journalism, with the last few being consumed by ProRodeo.

ProRodeo Sports News 4/3/2020

ProRodeo.com

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