A few months ago, while channel surfing late one night, I stumbled onto a new show I hadn’t heard of before: Ty Murray’s Celebrity Bull Riding Challenge. The show featured various TV stars (some more has-been than star) like Vanilla Ice, Johnny Fairplay, Danny Bonaduce, Stephen Baldwin (isn’t he on Celebrity Apprentice right now?) and Leif Garrett. Of course I was hooked immediately - who doesn’t want to see their former idols get injured by huge bulls? But aside from the pure entertainment value, I was hooked for another reason. Ty Murray, the host, instructor, and the hottest cowboy I’ve ever seen…well, he explained EVERYTHING I ever wanted to know about rodeo. How the scoring works, how the timing works, how to avoid being injured, and what it takes to make it past an angry 1,800 pound bull.

I must have watched a good 5 or 6 episodes of the show, back after back, before calling it a night. And I’ve watched it several times since then. I could even go for some regular non-celebrity rodeo now that I know how it all works. And if you’re going to see rodeo, it makes sense to buy yourself National Rodeo Finals tickets - the granddaddy of all Rodeo competitions! The finals are held in Vegas and attract big crowds, and the events range from steer wrestling to bull riding.

Having been to Las Vegas only a few months ago, I can see how perfectly this event fits for the city. The rodeo events are held at the UNLV campus (using special dirt that is saved and stored specifically for the rodeo from year to year) and there’s a cowboy gift show held at the same time at the Las Vegas Convention Center. This event typically sells out, and why not when you’re hosting it in a location like Vegas?