underbull - by b

A long time ago... several summers... I went off alone to a bullfight in a town we were visiting for summer. Arel knew I was going and was incredibly upset. I was curious and oddly compelled to go. I didn't like it that much and I stayed only to see the first bull killed (though lately I have been having the desire to go again... maybe I will).

Anyway... what got me most about the fight I saw was just how unfair a fight it was. It was not strong bull against strong man. It was strong man against once-strong bull subdued, hurt and disoriented by several rounds of men on horses with lances. The bull is always the underdog. And the bull almost always dies.

Very very very occasionally it goes the way you don't expect. And maybe that's why people watch this sport (kind of like watching NASCAR for the crashes that are the exception... but the very dramatic and emotional/adrenaline exception).

I don't follow bullfighting... but I couldn't not see this photo when I was looking at a local newspaper website on Wednesday. This is 30-year old bullfighter Israel Lancho. He was carried to the bullring surgery and is now in critical condition in a Madrid hospital. He is expected to survive... the horn just missed his heart. I don't know what happened to the bull.