12 - TETON COUNTY FAIR Jackson Hole News&Guide Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Peter Can’t Fish teammates Matt Bahn, Ben Pullar, Peter Werth and Kurt Stoeffregen struggle with their swine Thursday during the pig wrestling competition.
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Human grapplers best Greybull pigs, mostly, in watery muck. Text by Johanna Love Photographs by Jaclyn Borowski
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n a pen filled with a slick mixture of bentonite clay and water, Teton County’s pig wrestlers bested the porcine athletes from Greybull in about three-quarters of the matches Thursday. For their appearance at the Teton County Fair, the pigs of Double D Pig Wrestling were about a third of the way through a 27-city tour, said owner Donna Dalin, but they didn’t seem fatigued, and all played by the rules. “We haven’t had any jump over the fence yet and have to stay home,” Dalin said. After every match, a porky grappler got a quick bath with a high-pressure hose and then a meal before its ride to the next competition in Plentywood, Mont. But the pigs would rather be rolling in the ring, Dalin said. “The pigs love mud,” Dalin said. “It’s the only way a pig has to cool off.” In a pig wrestling match, four humans face off with a pig of similar athletic ability. Children wrestle a 15-to25-pound piglet, juniors face a 50-pound pig, and adults grapple with a full-grown hog, 150 to 250 pounds. The humans try to pick up the pig, walk it over to a sawdust-filled barrel and plop it in, rump first, in a minute or less. Peewee competitors, ages 8 and younger, took the ring first. The muck appeared a bit overwatered, more like a pond than a mud pie, but the kids didn’t seem to mind. Announcer Rex Hansen is a pro at filling the gaps between play-by-play with color commentary. “Any other place in the world, this would be child abuse,” he said as members of the Pork Chop Posse put the pig in their sights. “Catch ’em in the corner,” he advised team Bacon in the Sun. “That’s kinda hard to do in a round pen.” Important to the wrestlers’ self-esteem and mettle in
A pig wiggles away from the Texas Rangers, the team made up of Casey Budge, J.T. Statter, Kade Cook and Connor Cook.
battle are elaborate costumes. For the peewee division, those ranged from orange hats on the Hog Hunters to that rare Latin humor — “Carpe Bacon” — on the Bacon Busters’ T-shirts. The Star Hogs wore Star Wars outfits. The peewee Wyoming Pig Pokes wore basic University of Wyoming brown T-shirts and jeans. Star wrestler Gracie Hardeman grabbed the pig solo and stuffed it in the barrel for a time of 13.13 seconds. Solo stuffing got harder as the night went on and the pigs got big, but industrious wrestlers in the junior division (ages 9 to 14) still did it. Rodeo family member Kylie Wilson of the Swine Superheroes put the pig in the barrel in 19.62 seconds, mostly alone. Tanner Colson of the Baconators said he had a simple strategy: “Grab the pig!” The junior Wyoming Pig Pokes team tried cajoling. “C’mere pig!” wheedled Hailey Hardeman, three times picking it up before finally making it to the barrel. Raslin for Justice drew an easy pig, team member Annaliese Fleck said. “He looked pretty calm,” she said.
“I don’t think he’d been in the ring before.” The Pink Pigsters, first-generation swine wrestlers, got skunked, barely laying a hand on their opponent. Second-place team The Baddest of Them All celebrated its 11.16-second time with a slip and dip in the mud pond before exiting the ring. The men’s teams looked confident when facing a 250-pound-plus hog, but the very first team in the ring, Peter Can’t Fish, was bested. In a sleeveless button-down shirt, one of the Peter team tried to move the barrel closer to the action, the others leapfrogging each other to get a hand on the pig. Moving the barrel is against the rules, Hansen said. “Your mama’s gonna be mad atcha,” he said. “It’s evidently your first time, right?” It wasn’t the first time for the Jackson Hole High School Bronc Bacon Busters, but they fared no better. “Sydney, I’ve seen you hug cowboys tighter than that,” Hansen chided team member Sydney Judge. “That’s halfhearted.” The Swine Society, which earned the costume trophy, See WRESTLERS WIN on 13