If you think Denver is over its cowtown ways, just mosey into the Denver Coliseum over the next two weeks.
Rodeo fans fill the 8,100 seats for 29 rodeo events, for the bulls, the broncos, the ropers, the racers, the riders, the tricksters and the clowns.
The rodeo schedule breaks down this way:
• Mexican Rodeo Extravaganza, Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Ticket prices are $24 to $55.
• Professional Bull Riders Denver Chute-Out, at 7:30 p.m. Monday through Wednesday. Ticket prices are $35 to $100.
• Multiple performances of the Pro Rodeo Cowboy Association’s Pro Rodeo events. Ticket prices are $11 to $55.
• The Martin Luther King Jr. African-American Heritage Rodeo at 6 p.m. on Jan. 18. Ticket prices are $12 to $35.
Championship seasons are routinely born on the dirt in Denver.
Take the stock show’s defending bull-riding champion, 23-year-old Kanin Asay from Powell, Wyo., known as “Mighty Mouse” by his fellow riders.
Last month, he became the first Wyoming cowboy to be crowned bull-riding champion at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas.
The $61,000 purse made Asay the No. 2 rider in the world.
Rivalries are reborn in Denver. Bareback rider Clint Cannon of Waller, Texas, was riding what ESPN called “one of the greatest seasons in the history of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.”
Then late in the season, Bobby Mote of Culver, Ore., raced pass him to seize the world championship. They meet next week in Denver for the first time since the finals.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
