Just an hour and a half south of where I live, the top players in Major League Baseball are playing in the All-Star Game at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.

I have some very dear friends in attendance, and it brings me, a lifelong Royals fan, great pride in knowing the team is hosting such a prestigious event.

But my mind also is focused on the goings-on 1,500 miles northwest, the Calgary Stampede. I watched Alberta cowboy Jake Vold win the first round of Pool B with an 86-point ride. I witnessed Wrangler National Finals Rodeo average champion Jesse Wright post an 85.5 to lead saddle bronc riding, and a caught a flash of another Albertan, Rowdy Hays, winning bulldogging with a 4.4-second run.

Technology allows me the opportunity to get a glimpse of 100 years of history in Calgary. That’s pretty awesome.

So is that mid-summer classic.