Saturday, May 22, 2010

One Horrific Goring

Spanish matador Julio Aparicio was gored in the Las Ventas bullring in a horrible fashion.

If you want to see the horrible sight, it's under the cut. You can also find video with a Google Search.



3 comments:

Anonymous said...

OH MY GAWD!!!!!
What was the outcome???

Steve

Borepatch said...

Spain seems to have a shortage of Rodeo Clowns.

Anonymous said...

I went to a bullfight when I was stationed in Spain.

The first thing they do is bring out a couple of guys on big, heavily padded...basically armored...horses. They use short blades on the ends of long spears to open veins in the bull's back, neck and flanks. This causes the bull to bleed and weakens him.

Don't want to have a strong, healthy bull to fight...the matador might lose or something.

After getting the bull bleeding good, then a few guys wearing very effeminate, brightly colored tights come out and, in a very stylized and elegant dance, take turns jamming 2 foot sticks with steel, barbed, harpoon like tips into the bull's back.

This is to get him good and pissed off so he'll fight even though he's been weakened with blood loss and his instincts might encourage him to just stand in the corner and take a defensive posture.

Only after the bull's been bleeding profusely for 15 minutes or so, and he has up to a half dozen of the harpoons hanging off the flesh of his back, does the brave matador enter the ring to "fight".

I realize that this is all a vital part of Spanish culture and all that, but, you know, human sacrifice was a vital part of the Aztec culture; doesn't mean I gotta like it.

After seeing how it goes down a few times in real life, all I can say is:

Score one for the bull. Good Job there Opiparo.

Full disclosure: I was raised on a farm where we butchered our own cattle, sheep and chickens. I'm not squeamish, have a very full understanding of the cycle of life and have no problem with killing animals for a purpose...but my parents didn't generally encourage torturing our animals before putting them down. That's why I have a problem with bull fights, and why I generally root for the bull.