The Rodeo Grounds Report: CFB

One word sums up our return trip to the SA Stock Show & Rodeo grounds Sunday: Chicken Fried Bacon.

Okay, that is probably three words, but still, it was the single most important thing you need to know. My wife had seen a story on Bob Phillips Hill Country Reporter about people eating CFB, and as unhealthy as it sounds, we just had to try some.Apparently, so did everyone else. The line was long and people were eager to pay $6.00 for an order of the heart attack in a serving boat.I'm not gonna lie; dipped in a little honey mustard, it was seriously good. This should be a regular breakfast item, everyday. With three or four eggs. And some biscuits. I can feel my arteries blocking themselves, just thinking about it all.

Anyway, that was the highlight. We were in and out of of the grounds in less than two hours. I've told you about the standing in line for free samples and giveaways before and all the shopping and such. Of course, if you weren't around to read about it last year, you can always go here. Or you can read about the actual rodeo and concert here. Or you can read about the Cowboy Breakfast, here. And don't forget the Rodeo BBQ Cook-off, here.

And don't forget the pictures on the Flickr page.

Rodeo Report: And Alan Jackson...

Several things you should know up front:

1. I had never set foot inside the AT&T Center prior to this event
2. We go to the rodeo grounds every year, but (see #1 above) have never gone to the actual rodeo or concert event
3. My wife and I are battling what is at minimum a severe cold and quite possibly the flu

So with my wife's purse full of Kleenex and cough drops and me sporting my spiffy new camera case complete with a back-up set of batteries for both my camera and video camera and a spare 8gb SD card, we were set to hit the AT&T Center for our first Rodeo and the Alan Jackson concert that would follow. The first thing that happened was upon entering the AT&T Center, the lady checking our bags let the Kleenex and cough drops through but told me I would have to check my video camera at the Guest Services booth. Turns out, they don't want people video taping the concerts. Not a problem really. I suspected this would be the case, and was just glad I didn't have to walk back to the truck only to give thieves a reason to break into it. My real intention with the video camera was to film some of the rodeo grounds (and the people walking around) but if we got a few seconds of bull riding or Alan Jackson, I'm sure my wife would have been happy with it. Anyway, I won't give you a blow by blow description of things, but I do need to make a few comments about the AT&T Center. For the love of God, is it necessary to build such a steep incline directly to the top of the building. As luck would have it, I purchased the "Best Available" from Ticket Master, and that ended up being $15.00 seats within puking distance of the outer wall, and if one was tall enough, the ceiling of the place.Of course, later, my wife would point down (really, really far down) to the people who paid $200 per seat to sit around the edge of the stage and call me a cheap skate for not shelling out more than $15 bucks. I blame Ticket Master and maybe a little of the fact that I waited until there were like, two seats left.

When we first got to our seats, things seemed a little tight. First, in an effort to spread out, there was a guy sitting in one of our seats so he and his date would not have to sit cheek to cheek (if you catch my drift). We settled in and actually, the seats were not so totally uncomfortable that I was in pain. In fact, unless you are simply jumbo sized, they weren't that bad. I felt really bad for a lady seated near us who was pushing Oprah density, and her ass actually made a suction cup sound when she attempted to stand up for the presentation of the colors. I am happy to report that I made no such noise. I did realize after a while though that my legs are simply too long to be be forced into the leg room provided. But again, I did not expect to be sitting there from 1PM until close to 5PM.If you have never been to the SA Rodeo, the opening ceremony was one of those must see things that I was happy to witness. Lots of horses, flags, some prayin' and amen'n and some guy sang an awesome National Anthem. Oh, laser shows and fireworks too.After that, they jumped right into the rodeo. Even from the top of the nosebleed section, the action is pretty exciting. I had no idea what to expect aside from the standard bucking of broncos, flying cowboys and the occasional clown being chased by a bull. They have a fully loaded computer at the ready with sound effects, applicable musical cuts and of course, the famous rodeo announcers who have a running commentary throughout the show. Honestly, the whole thing is like listening to a morning radio show with occasional comments from the clown and, oh by the way, a bunch of cows and steer and horses and such. And I'm not complaining at all. It was all very entertaining.So my wife and I got up to go out into the lobby and purchase some t-shirts, some vittles and a $6.75 beer. The the accommodations at the AT&T center seem pretty nice to me. Lots to purchase, places to sit and of course, video screens everywhere so you can keep track of what is going on inside the arena.We made it back inside in time to what the real competition - the Mutton Busters. Sorry, it all happened too fast to get any worthwhile pictures, but it was certainly a fun event. In case you didn't know, they have little 4 and 5 year olds wearing near football uniforms and they strap them to a real live sheep. Then they let the sheep go. Most of the time, the kid falls off within a split second or two, but the little girl who won the event simply hung on and was not about to let go. They had to pry her off the poor little animal. She won a big ass belt buckle for her trouble. The little girl, not the sheep.When everything was said and done, the rodeo was over and immediately, they pulled a stage into the arena. In less than half an hour, they had things ready to go and out came Alan Jackson.My wife screamed, sang, hooted, and occasionally danced, though somewhat restrained considering the long tumble that might occur if one was not careful. I thought the show was fine; this was no rock concert with drum sets spinning upside down or perhaps the fiddle player jumping into a mosh pit. Mr. Jackson simply came out, stood on a stage that spun like a turntable for 45 minutes and sang his songs. It sounded good and the important thing is, my wife loved it.His last song of the performance was "Where I come from" with somewhat of a San Antonio twist. Up on the Jumbo-tron, they had footage from all around San Antonio and a lot of familiar video taken at the BBQ Cook-off we attended last weekend. I just assume they do this for every concert venue they play, but never the less, it was a good finale.After the concert, it was our plan to hit the rodeo grounds and do some shopping and find some greasy, fried food to eat for dinner. But one thing I had not planned on was really feeling like crap combined with an unbearable amount of people. When we normally go to the rodeo grounds, we do it on a weekday afternoon. This was a Saturday and the place was so packed that I was getting claustrophobic and feverish. I quickly suggested that we simply exit and come back later during the week to see the grounds. You don't have to wait for that though, you can see my report from last year, here.

And of course, we left hungry and that is how we ended up at Bennigan's on a Saturday night.

You can see much more on the Flickr page...

UPDATE: Where I Come From, San Antonio Style...

SA Stock Show & Rodeo BBQ Cook-Off Report...

Some time ago, apparently my wife had joined this on-line radio station club sponsored by KJ-97, one of the local country stations here.The next thing you know, well, technically not really the next thing since it had been at least a year or so; we get a phone call from the station telling us to come pick up our prize! In fact, better than a fra-gee-lay leg lamp, these are tickets to the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo BBQ Cook-off out at Fiesta Texas.

Not even a day later, I get an e-mail from long time reader Rick, who has tried to get us to come taste his good BBQ in the past, and it turns out he and his brother Mark will be among the contestants at the BBQ Cook-off. Do we need any more encouragement? Not even!

We got to the entrance of Fiesta Texas and had no idea how huge this whole event really was. In fact, the Cowboy Breakfast I went to Friday morning was a mere coffee clutch compared to this shin-dig. Just getting in to park could have been an ordeal had most of the drivers not already been a bit lubed, if you know what I mean.You go from about four or five lanes all funneled into a single line without the benefit of a police officer or least a parking attendant to make people behave. Thankfully, Texans on a Saturday afternoon are generally good-natured folk, and we try to help one another by being courteous.Oh, I have to fast forward just a second to the end of our visit just to show you two things in the parking lot. First, there was this home made roll bar on some guys truck. That gave me a chuckle. I know, spend $25K on a truck then skimp on the roll bar by throwing together a few chunks of wood you found on the side of the road. I like it.The second thing was what we came out to after our time in the cook-off. Speaking of being courteous, a real Eagle Scout parked his truck over the line and so close to our little baby truck that I had to pull out just to let my wife get in. I wouldn't have mentioned it, but my wife insisted that I use the power of the Internet to remind people not to be assholes. Appreciate that.

So anyway, if you have never been to a serious BBQ cook-off like this one with hundreds of different teams, you will, like us probably be overwhelmed with the sight of all the different cooking rigs. People come complete with RV's and trailers full of perfect wood, huge grills and in some cases, entire buildings in order to make the event special.

It was evident that most teams have sponsors in order to offset the cost of the event (the meat is not free, the cost of the team space and of course, the incidentals such as spices, beer, sauces, beer, ice, beer, and... well, you get the point). It isn't cheap, but these folks seem to have lots of fun.

We made our way to "Those Two Guys", Rick and Mark, and you could just smell the goodness coming from their grill. We were just in time for the team to pull some ribs from the grill to present to the judges.

I have to tell you, I love me some ribs, and these were pretty special. Rick tells me that this was the first time he had used this particular seasoning mixture in a contest and he was sort of kicking himself over the whole thing. Turns out they normally use a habanero-pineapple concoction he made up several years ago (which they have been very successful with in cook-offs) but he opted to go with this new taste. The texture of the ribs was simply melt in your mouth good, and the taste was great. I was trying to be polite by sharing a rib with my wife and she gave me the look that said, "get you own, chump!"Turns out these two brothers have been cooking out for a long time but got started with the BBQ cook-off circuit about five years ago. They heard of a contest sponsored by 99.5 KISS and on the first outing took first place. Ya gotta like that. Rick said that later contests would not be as easy, but they continue to do well participating in about eight cook-offs a year.As we walked around the grounds, it is obvious that a lot of serious money goes into these events. I'm guessing that a good many of the teams are made up of catering companies or restaurants. In the case of Those Two Guys, Rick and Mark have been able to gather the support of sponsors who have seen them in action over the years. I chatted with folks from Grapevine Graphics, one of their sponsors, and it turns out one of the owners is an original Silver Creek resident. Rick's employer, APPCO is a big sponsor of the team and he tells me that Fiesta Spices and Browning Construction have been big supporters as well.

I suppose this is like NASCAR where you have to be able to have some up front cash to get into the game. But in spite of all the really spiffy looking BBQ rigs and special effects people had, Rick told me about a cook off in Helotes where a guy showed up in a pick-up truck with a 55-gallon grill in the bed. The man put some charcoal in the pit - still in the bed of the truck, cooked his meat and won first place - then simply drove away. So it isn't always about the big show; there has to be some good eats to back it up.And in case you are wondering - no question about it - my wife and I were both in full thumbs up mode on Those Two Guys. Tasty Treats, for sure!

Of course, there are so many more pictures to see. Why not check them out on the Flickr page?