The 1997 National Finals Rodeo. Nobody went to the bathroom durin' the calf roping! It was a rodeo where the timed events stole the show.

It often seems the bucking events stir the most excitement. And at this Finals we did see some spectacular rides, some breathtaking "saves" by the rodeo clowns, and one performance where not a single cowboy rode a bull to the whistle.

But the calf ropin' at the Friday night performance brought the house down. The NFR arena record was 7.3 seconds. Out of the clear blue, like lightning from the sky, from the middle of the pack, one Ronnie Hyde of Bloomington, Indiana, reached out and tied one down in 7.1 seconds.

It took everyone — including the announcers — a few seconds to realize what had happened. When the loudspeakers boomed out that the record had been broken we broke into a rousing standing ovation. Suddenly the crowd was galvanized. It was contagious: Marty Becker roped one in 7.5, Jeff Chapman in 7.4. The air was electric. Fred Whitfield, 1996 World Champion, tied his in 7.2! He, too, had broken the record, but finished second in the go-round!

Even though 20 minutes later Keith Adams scored a 94 on a bull that spun so fast the helicopter-eye view looked like he was bein' sucked into a whirlpool, the buzz the next day in the Las Vegas rodeo crowd was, 'did ya see the calf ropin'.

The next night durin' the steer wrestling it became apparent that 52 year-old Butch Meyers was leading the NFR average. The same Butch Meyers who had appeared in his first NFR before several of his present competitors were even born. He put his steer down in 3.6 seconds and won the round.

Every man in there who was losing his hair, wearing loose fit jeans or worrying about his prostate felt vindicated. Women his age suddenly felt more attractive.

When the calf roping began, the crowd was tickin' like a two-dollar watch. Several ropers made respectable showings. None of us in the grandstands really expected a show like the night before. We'd been blessed with somethin' to tell the grandkids. But we watched this collection of men with new respect. Then Blair Burke, a 24 year-old from Durant, Oklahoma, came outta the box swingin' and when he threw his hands in the air, the scoreboard showed seven seconds flat!

Pandemonium! He had broken the record set the night before!

What happened next would be as likely to predict as man walking on Jupiter by New Year's Day.

Fred Whitfield followed with an unbelievable 6.9. He held the arena record for less time than it takes to clean your fingernails. Then Jeff Chapman, another young warrior from Texas, set the house on fire with a 6.8-second run.

It was more than most of us could absorb. It was like we'd walked to the edge of a tall building and looked down. It took several breaths just to come back to earth.

Sunday's final performance named Cody Ohl the World Champion Calf Roper. Fred Whitfield set a new NFR 10-calf record, five men within two days had owned the single calf NFR record, and Jeff Chapman got a new lucky number.

Oh, and Butch Meyers finished first in the steer wrestling NFR average and broke the old record which had stood for 12 years. He had set it himself back when he was 40 years old.