Hugh Neeld: The Curmudgeon Report

There was no shortage of bull in the news last week, what with the big rodeo in Jacksonville and the Running of the Bulls in Spain. About the only thing not bullish was the stock market, but that’s another story.

The Jacksonville Rodeo, as it has been for 46 years, was a big success. Neal McCoy headlined the musical entertainment and the roping and riding events were top drawer.

The bull riding competition, I’ve always felt, is the big draw for any rodeo, and rightfully so. When a 150-pound cowboy with no protection to speak of can stay on a raging animal as big as a Volkswagen until the buzzer sounds, that’s something!

Then, as though the rodeo wasn’t enough bull-related activity, came the annual Running of the Bulls, in Pamplona, Spain. Tens of thousands of people crowded into Pamplona’s square on the first of nine days of celebration.

In case you’re not familiar with the event, the running of the bulls is to honor Pamplona’s patron saint. The tradition dates back to the 16th century, when the best way to get the bulls from outside the city to the bull ring was to herd them though the streets. The mood and tradition was made famous in 1926 by Ernest Hemingway in his novel, The Sun Also Rises. Over the years, the event, which I’ve always viewed as a festival of idiots, evolved into what today is a spectacle in which thousands of people participate.

Most revelers sported traditional white trousers and shirts with a red neckerchief tied at the throat. After a night of drinking, all were stained head to toe with wine, sangria and other drinks. Residents poured buckets of water over the crowd from their balconies to help cool them down.

During the celebration, police found the body of a young man who apparently fell from an ancient wall that circles the old quarter of Pamplona. At last year’s festival, an American man and his Spanish girlfriend died at the same spot when they fell from the wall. Since 1924, when record-keeping began, 13 people have been killed by running with the bulls, the last one a 22-year-old American who was gored by a bull in 1995.

Travel agencies, always looking for new opportunities, have for several years packaged trips to Pamplona for the testosterone crowd. The all-inclusive packages offer round-trip air fare, car rentals, lodging at luxury hotels, breakfast daily and all hotel taxes and service charges for around $2,000. Strangely enough, none of the packages included insurance or emergency treatment.

Having missed both of these exciting bull-related events through lack of planning, I’m making a mental note right now to give one or both of them serious consideration sometime next year—provided I think of it in time.

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A question to ponder:

If quitters never win and winners never quit, why quit when you’re ahead?

putterhugh@suddenlink.net

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Hugh Neeld is a freelance columnist for TylerPaper.com.

Hugh Neeld is a freelance columnist for TylerPaper.com.
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