Samantha Laurey/Argus Leader/USA TODAY Network/imago
Waiting for the Beasts: Rodeo riders before the show (Denny Sanford Premier Center, Sioux Falls, April 7, 2024)
In 1874 it crawled and flew horribly through Sioux Falls. An incredible swarm of mountain locusts mowed the town and its surrounding fields. The vermin obscured the scorching sun for up to six hours a day. The desperate population tried everything: fire, shot and birch tar – nothing helped. Billions of insect entrails soon smeared the railroad tracks, making it impossible for people and goods to escape this circle of hell. Where did the good settlers end up here?
Today people in Potsdam’s sister city are happy that the extreme weather is keeping the rabble away. The rock mass insect is considered extinct, and relatively few uninvited guests have come from California so far. In Sioux Falls, the “best little city in the USA,” 7,400 kilometers from Prussia, it is safe and quiet. Taxes are low, crime rates are low, unemployment is low. While the west of the state of South Dakota, which is separated by the Missouri River, is dominated solely by herds of cows (five cattle per capita), here in the east there is corn and soy for variety. It is humid and hot in summer and freezing cold in winter. Spring and autumn only exist on paper. But even here, in this climatically inhospitable part of the USA, real estate prices have risen by more than 25 percent in the past five years.
There are two large multifunctional arenas in the city of 214,000 residents. The event of flirtatious cowboys and their massive tests of courage took place in the largest one this week. The Denny Sanford Premier Center is named after a non-profit private hospital group that also invests in Germany (Isarklinikum Munich). On the other hand, there was a private bank that also issued non-profit credit cards to low-income earners with an interest rate of up to 80 percent. Bernie Sanders once mentioned it as a negative example of rip-offs for the poor in the USA.
By the way, the tickets for such an evening of bull riding are reasonably affordable. The Professional Bull Riders (PBR) are asking for between $25 and $125 for their spectacle next week in Montana. And if you go with two people, it only costs half. For the money there are no hologram bulls, no digital horse manure, no physical playback – but a truly synesthetic experience.
19-year-old Marco Rizzo was able to experience with all his senses what bull riding can mean. In the second round of the competition, the black spotted Badger threw him off his back. As if that wasn’t enough, Rizzo tragically got his hand caught in the bucking rope. Badger asked the poor boy to dance and quite unproverbially took him by the horns. By the end of the confrontation, both species were running on all fours. One faster, the other slower.
Cassio Dias showed his best side again this week. Naturally, he also won the event in South Dakota and is now at the top of the world field with an incredible 580.5 points.
There is the following to report for German fans of this sport: The most attractive bull riders did not perform or failed. Only Thiago Salgado could be seen sweating in his white leather pants and finished ninth. Megabulle Man Hater stayed home. A fat young farmer with braces eagerly reported on her intimate relationship with the cattle Blown Away. A rodeo clown snaked his way through the ring on the floor, grinning. The Sioux Falls crowd generally seemed to be enjoying themselves – the worst of times are over and yet to come. Also in Potsdam. And there’s not even a rodeo.
