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Show Winning the West is now a spectator sport by Nan Chalat Lots of people think now that the West has been won, it's not so wild any more; that the last frontier has been crossed and that cowboys these days are all urban. It's not true. There's still some true grit left, and it was on display at the Oakley Rodeo Monday night. As far as those cowboys are concerned, there are still broncs to be, busted and bulls to be rode. And the only time a man might get a little misty-eyed is when the Duke sings America the Beautiful. How much more American can you get? The Oakley Rodeo is an annual tradition. Local families buy tickets in advance, ad-vance, and over the generations they have watched watch-ed their kids and grand-kids grand-kids take crazy chances on some pretty rough rodeo stock. Of course a lot of Yankee transplants go too, just to see if they can figure out what the West is all about. It doesn't matter that the announcer and the rodeo clowns pull the same gags every year, it is part of the tradition. What matters is whether the cowboys measure up to the stock and vice versa. A man may not have to make his living in the saddle these days, but if he's got cowboying in his blood, then he's got to try and prove it. All he has to do is stay on top of a leapin', spinnin', snortin' piece of beef for eight seconds. Heck, that's no big deal. Unless all your cousins, your folks, your wife and kids and half the darn county is watching. The Oakley Rodeo is great entertainment there is no canned laughter, no guarantee guaran-tee that the good guy is going to win, no commercials. Last Monday night there were a lot of close calls and some bruised egos, but the cowboys conquered, and the tradition lives on. |