MSU holds Cow Pie Bingo event as part of Spring Rodeo

by Dan Boyce

Riders and ropers wrapped up the MSU Spring Rodeo Sunday. Outside of the standard events like steer wrestling and breakaway, organizers left room for a brand new tradition. It may be lesser known, but it's just as action packed-Cow Pie Bingo.

What's that, you say you've never heard of Cow Pie Bingo?

"I don't know what to expect!" said Belgrade resident Shelly Koenig.

"This is the first one I ever heard of!" said another Belgrade resident, Luke Hutchison.

The rules are simple.

"From what I heard they're gonna turn a bull out on a grid that the engineering students designed," Hutchison said before the start of the event. It was an imaginary grid layed over the top of the arena. This numbered grid was set up on a computer.

"Whatever number he (the bull) goes to the bathroom on is the number that wins," said Hutchison's mother-in-law Jill Askin.

"The way they set it, he's gonna go to the bathroom on number 27, because that's the one that I bought," Hutchison joked.

"A little pre-rodeo entertainment for ya," said announcer Vance Ruff over the arena's loudspeakers. "It's time to spill the bulls for the cow-pie raffle."

In an attempt to shorten the time of the event, organizers let three bulls into the arena instead of one. The first cow pie dropped would be the one counted. It happened fast.

"He pooped pretty quick!" Askin said.

The rodeo team marked the pie with a Mountain Dew can. Civil Engineering junior Leighton Hotchkiss ran out with some survey gear.

"We'll find a bearing and a distance," he said. He gathered figures and did his calculations.

A drumroll sounded through the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse as Ruff announced to into the microphone

"Leighton Hotchkiss has brought me the grid...Couldn't have landed any more square right in the middle of square 48."

The number was just a couple of squares off for Hutchison and Askin. The number 27 is Hutchison's daughter's birthday, the 27th of November.

"Try it again next year huh," Askin laughed.

That's right, in cow pie bingo you never quit.

And whatever anyone else says; that's rodeo.