We used to hit the Grand National at the Cow Palace when we could. Best rodeo in my opinion. The Livermore Rodeo is good also. Living in Cowboy country and having "real" cowboys working the different ranches daily, it's kinda cool to see some of them show off their skills against the circuit cowboys.
True story,,,,,a bunch of years ago we were sitting at the local (only) bar and grill. One of the retired Oakland Raiders players that has a place up here comes in with his wanna be gang of hangers on. He starts in about bragging about this game or that. One of the old timers walks up to him and says " There's 5 world champion Cowboys sitting at the bar right now. Nobody gives a shit about your little ball". He got up and left. I can't remember his name, Greg somebody. I can tell you the name of the cowboys that were there!!