One way to rock the D.C. sports world

Maybe it's because I'm from Louisiana, home of the world famous Angola state prison rodeo, but I think the world bull riding championship being held this week in Las Vegas is more exciting than the World Series. Getting beaned by a pitched ball can make headlines, but it hardly compares to the drama of being stomped to within an inch of your life by a one-ton bovine.

All you have to do is ride the bull for eight seconds, something Kody Lostroh, a wiry 155-pounder from Longmont, Colo., does so well. After three of seven rounds, he was holding on to first place in the competition, which ends Sunday. It hasn't been easy, though, especially after spraining an elbow and breaking his nose during a collision with a bull's head earlier this year.

But, as the rider's medical services slogan says: "Blood, bruises and broken bones. It's all in a day's work."

Get a concussion in football, and the House Judiciary Committee holds hearings. Get hit by a pitch in baseball, and the umpire halts the game and warns the offending pitcher.

Get kicked in the corral, and nobody tells the bull to play nice.

Of course, not everybody appreciates such skill and courage. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, for instance.

But why pick on bull riders? At the World Series, they turn cow into Philly steak and cheese, and nobody protests that.

You would think the Washington area would have plenty of support for bull riding. Situated below the Mason Dixon Line, this is home to lots of Southerners and Westerners. And yet, any sign of cultural distinctiveness inevitably dissolves into bureaucratic conformity.

The closest we get to bull riding is politics: Democrats and Republicans taking turn bucking each other out of office. Yee haw.

There's not even a local venue for NASCAR -- the second-most popular sport in the country, after professional football. Who could look away from the Talladega 500 when Ryan Newman got bump-drafted and his car went airborne in flames?

After climbing from the wreckage unscathed, Newman complained that bad drivers were ruining the race for fans. "It's something you don't want to see," he said of the crash. Actually, I do. And not just on TV. But the closest NASCAR speedway is in Martinsville, Va. That's almost to Kentucky.

We could really use some new sports closer to home.