And at the half, it's Chicago 1, Pamplona 0

[CountDeMoney]

Sweet.  Taking the assist from Pippen, and dunking on the fucker. 

1 dead at Pamplona; first goring death since '95
9 others injured in unusually dangerous chapter of the running of the bulls

PAMPLONA, Spain - A charging bull gored a man to death Friday at Pamplona's San Fermin festival, the first such fatality in nearly 15 years. Nine others were injured in a particularly dangerous and chaotic chapter of the running of the bulls.

The San Fermin festival Web site said the unidentified man was gored in the neck and lung during a run in which a rogue bull separated from the pack, which is among the worst things that can happen at Spain's most popular fiesta.

Photographs showed the young man lying on a stretcher moments after the goring, his face and neck stained with blood and his eyes only half-open. An emergency medical worker is leaning over him, applying what appears to be gauze to his neck wound.

Three other people were also gored, and six suffered bumps, bruises and other lesser injuries, said Fernando Boneta, director of Virgen del Camino Hospital.

The last fatal goring at the running of the bulls claimed the life of 22-year-old American Matthew Tassio in 1995. In 2003, a 63-year-old Spanish man, Fermin Etxeberri, was trampled in the head by a bull and died after spending months in a coma.

Friday's death raises to 15 the toll since record-keeping began in 1924.

This run, the fourth of eight held at San Fermin, was by far the most perilous of this year's festival. The last three runs were comparatively placid affairs, with no serious injuries.

Spooked and aggressive
The bulls covering the half-mile course with six accompanying steers tend to mind their own business and keep running as long as they stay in a pack. A bull that gets separated is more likely to get spooked and aggressive and that is just what happened Friday.

A brown, 1,130-pound bull named Cappuccino fell early in the run and ended up on its own.

When it reached a stretch right outside the bullring that marks the end of the course, it started charging right and left, and even ran back the wrong way several times. Runners scurried for safety to wooden barriers along the route as the bull attacked. Herders waving sticks tried in vain to guide it into the ring, even yanking on the animal's tail to turn it around.

This went on for a minute and a half, which is a long time at San Fermin.

At one point the bull picked one man up with its horns and flipped him into the air, then kept going after him as he lay curled up on the ground, covering his face. But that man got up and ran away, and was apparently not seriously hurt.

It was not clear if Cappuccino was the same bull that gored the young man who died. The festival Web site said the victim was killed at an earlier stretch in the route.

The bulls used in Friday's run, from a ranch called Jandilla, have a reputation for being fierce at San Fermin. They hold the record for the most gorings in a single run — eight, one day in 2004.

[Tamas]

If you partake in this stupid shit, you deserve to die.

[Grey Fox]

About time they killed someone, lazy Bulls.

[Caliga]

Question: what is the appeal in participating in this?

[Iormlund]

The adrenaline rush.

[Caliga]

The adrenaline rush.

*shrug* So ride a damn roller coaster or something.

[ulmont]

The adrenaline rush.

*shrug* So ride a damn roller coaster or something.

It's not the same if you know that there are safety inspectors making it very likely you won't die.

[Eddie Teach]

Question: what is the appeal in participating in this?

Taking the piss out on CDM.

[Alatriste]

The adrenaline rush.

*shrug* So ride a damn roller coaster or something.

You certainly won't see me running in front of a swift 500 kg horned beast, but to those that just love danger, suggesting  a roller coaster is like telling Siegy he should join the Chairborne Forces and play Counterstrike in his free time...

[Razgovory]

Question: what is the appeal in participating in this?

It's a man thing.  I don't know if you'd understand.

[Darth Wagtaros]

The adrenaline rush.

*shrug* So ride a damn roller coaster or something.

It's not the same if you know that there are safety inspectors making it very likely you won't die.

Six Flags enver had that problem.

[Caliga]

It's a man thing.  I don't know if you'd understand.

[Valmy]

Question: what is the appeal in participating in this?

Your contempt for the glorious Basque culture has been noted by ETA.

[CountDeMoney]

Dammit.  Shut out.

PAMPLONA, Spain (AP) — A packed running of the bulls swollen by weekend crowds at Spain's San Fermin festival left five people with minor injuries Saturday, but there were no gorings the day after the first fatality for 14 years.

One man had a lucky escape when he confronted a lone bull that had broken away from the pack after a fall but he was only rolled on the ground and not caught by its horns.

He was taken to Navarra Hospital and identified by city authorities in a statement only as a 26-year-old Irishman, Adam C.H.

The fifth bull run in the eight-day San Fermin feast took place the day after a 27-year-old man was gored to death, the first since 1995.

Virgen del Camino Hospital spokesman Dr. Fernando Boneta said five people suffered head injuries Saturday and were admitted for medical treatment but none was seriously hurt.

One man was hit hard on the chin and knocked unconscious by a calf inside the bullring after the running of the bulls had finished.

Among the injured was a 48 year-old American identified only by the initials C.R.D., who was waiting to be released from Virgen del Camino hospital after being treated for a head wound, and a 22-year-old Spaniard, the statement said.

The bulls Saturday belonged to breeder Dolores Aguirre, famed for producing hefty, strong animals. The largest of the six animals weighed in at 1,378 pounds (625 kilograms).

The runs start at an overnight enclosure half a mile (850 meters) away from the city's bullring where the animals face matadors and almost certain death each afternoon of this ancient fiesta.

The pack races along the often damp cobblestone course accompanied by six steers, each with a large clanking bell around its neck, whose function is to try to keep the group trotting together.

The greatest danger happens when the pack splits up, leaving bulls disoriented and irritated by crowds composed of thousands of adrenaline-charged — and often alcohol-fueled — thrill seekers.

Despite the large number of runners and the separation of one bull from the pack, all of Aguirre's animals entered the ring in 2 minutes 52 seconds, a reasonably fast time.

"I noticed the streets were swollen by a lot of runners," said Jaime de Vargas, who had dedicated his run to fellow bull aficionado and friend Daniel Jimeno Romero who died Friday.

Hundreds of revelers paid homage to Jimeno Romero by leaving traditional red neckerchiefs tied to wooden barriers at the spot where a bull gored him fatally in the upper chest and neck.

Boneta said all of those injured in Friday's event, including a 61-year-old American who was struck in the chest and had internal bleeding in his lungs, were doing well in hospital.

Friday's death raises to 15 the toll since record-keeping began in 1924.

[Alatriste]

A photogallery (the bloodiest ones hidden by defect)

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/07/the_festival_of_san_fermin_200.html

Your contempt for the glorious Basque culture has been noted by ETA.

Basque? Not at all... Bullfighting was once all over the Mediterranean and today is still alive in Southern France, Portugal, Spain and some American countries (it's very popular in Mexico and Colombia, unknown in Argentina, for example; don't ask me why, actually the popularity of bullfighting and 'encierros' varies widely between Spanish regions too)

Secesionists don't have a unanimous position on bullfighting. Catalan secesionists see it as Spanish and in consequence are against it, Basque secesionists generally ignore the matter (probably because bulls are far more popular in the Basque Country and Navarre than in Catalonia)

Jus for the record, I have never liked bullfighting and would vote for prohibition (or at least for bullfighting without killing the bull, as is usually performed in Portugal) but still it will be a sad day when bullfighting disappears. Traditions have a weight after all. But regarding 'encierros' like Pamplona's, the runners do it very much of their own free will; if they like danger, so be it!