round one of the NFR has begun. this is the greatest rodeo on earth. as a saddle bronc rider, i'm partial to that event. however, all seven events are fun to watch. i dont know how the bareback riders do it. i like my spine to much to try that event. my wish for the next ten days is for every cowboy and cowgirl to have the strongest ride every night. wyoming and montana are both well represented at the NFR. heres hoping they bring home some gold buckles. bareback riding starts off the round. perfect 1st round. all the guys covered their horses. i have to say, bobby mote's score was a little low. he had a rank horse, and handled him well. but i am not a judge, so my opinion only counts to me. coming up next is bull dogging (steer wrestling). tough event. why you would want to jump off  of a perfectly good horse, is beyond me. its hard enough for me to stay on rowdy deliberately. he thinks he is a rough stock horse. unless we are heading back to the barn, then he is a thoroughbred on his way to the preakness. anyway, back to the NFR. bulldoggin is going well. now we are on to team roping. they make it look so fast and easy. try doing that in the corrals. 5.3 turns into 5 minutes - 30 seconds. so much work goes into the timed events, and the great ones make it seem effortless. so i am sitting here dipping truffles, blogging, watching the NFR, drinking COOR'S, (and some CROWN) and trying to prep for saturday. talk about multi-tasking. back to the NFR again. the team ropers are doing well. the thing about the timed events is, a no time is bad. other than that, a bad time is still a time, and therefor, good. any time still keeps you in the average. and that is the key to a successful NFR. okay, here we go. saddle bronc is up next. the key to sb is rhythm. billy etbauer make it look like he is sitting in a rocking chair. jesse bail just rode. he got scraped at the chute, should get a re-ride. nope, the judges still are not listening to me. 71 points. it was a close call. he did get a free role, meaning he did not have to mark the horse out. in the long run, points are points. for the short term, 71 probably wont get him a check tonight. i think cody demoss will take tonights round. tie down/calf roping is next. those calfs look small, but man can they kick. they have a lot of power in those little legs, and it hurts when they connect with your shins. cody ohl, as usual, is kickin some butt. every year cody shows why he is one of the best. on to barrel racing. here you have to complete a clover leaf pattern around three barrels. the difference between first and last place is usually less than 1 or 2 seconds. okay, round 1 just proved my point. the difference between 1st and 2nd place was .01 !! one one hundredth of a second. 14.0 to 14.01. unbelievable. bull riding is coming up. this is the true original extreme sport. jw harris just won round 1, which is great considering this is his first NFR. not a bad way to start things off. well, the first round is in the books. looks like it will be a great NFR this year. round 2 starts in 21 1/2 hours. talk to you then.