Commentary: SandHills would benefit by presenting a whole lot more rodeo

The curtain fell Saturday night on the 76th SandHills Stock Show and Rodeo -- with a bit of a thud.

Not because of the talented cowboys and cowgirls that competed in the Ector County Coliseum over the past six performances.

Nor was it because no one came to see the event, because for the past four nights, the building has been filled close to capacity, a nice sight given the current economic climate in the country.

Still, more needs to be done.

First, the SandHills Stock Show and Committee needs to get the event back on the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Wrangler Pro Tour.

All you need is more performances.

The kickoff event the past three seasons, this year's competition was relegated to just another rodeo when the criteria changed to be included in the Tour.

Contestants now need to have their performances in back-to-back performances for the rodeo to be included on the Tour. So now, instead of 26 rodeos as in 2008, there are just 12 tour rodeos in 2009.

There is no reason that SandHills could not have put the competitors up in back-to-back rounds, because a committee can include slack to meet the requirement.

In fact, slack is used for quite a bit of the competition in the Permian Basin, as there are several hundred runs needed between tie down roping, steer wrestling, steer roping, team roping and barrel racing.

It's true that the bigger rodeos - San Antonio, Denver, Cheyenne, Wyo., Fort Worth - have a better chance because they have so many performances. Thus, more opportunities to put rough stock and timed events competitors up in succession.

But there is room for some extra perks in Odessa.

Add Saturday matinees on both weekends and two performances on Sunday and then add the second Sunday, with a short-go on the second Sunday evening.

Another night of competition could be added Monday night and then leave Super Tuesday as it is.

That's seven more chances to showcase the best rodeo talent in the world, 13 overall and not many other rodeos in the county have as many, including the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, which showcases the top athletes 10 nights in a row.

All the steer roping takes place in the outdoor arena, already, so they wouldn't have to be added to the performances inside the Coliseum.

But when world champions like Fred Whitfield, Ryan Jarrett, Joe Beaver, Trevor Brazile and Brittany Pozzi-Pharr compete outside the arena in slack and then go down the road without being seen by the rodeo fans, the sport suffers.

Would it be more work? Of course.

Would it be worth it? Absolutely.