THE BALLOON MAN

2012 WRANGLER NATIONAL FINALS RODEO:
 Being a rodeo clown not all funny business
 Clowns key players in keeping cowboys safe

 

Rodeo clown Keith Isley.
By Dave Toplikar
 from: lasvagassun.com
Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012
They dress in clown clothes. They wear clown faces. And part of their job is to clown around and tickle your funnybone.

But behind the costume and makeup are serious, professional athletes who put their safety on the line to protect the cowboys competing in the rodeo arena.
After a rider falls or jumps from a bucking bull, the rodeo clowns — bullfighters and barrelmen — give the bull something else to go after so the rider can make it to safety. The bullfighters are in the arena on foot. The barrelman is inside a barrel and provides a barrier for the rider to duck behind.

Here are five nationally known rodeo clowns. The first, J.J. Harrison, will be working the 2012 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, which starts this week and runs through Dec. 15 in Las Vegas.
read more:
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/dec/06/being-rodeo-clown-not-all-funny-business/