When I was a kid.....growing up in Bama....I would sit and watch the evening news....usually with CBS. One evening, they had an international piece on, with the Pamplona bull run. I was probably eight years old and fairly fascinated with the episode.
Course, as the years went by....I also ran with the steers. Once a year on the farm, you'd have vaccination day, and I'd have the task as the 'runner' to chase the steers down the chute area. Ninety percent of the time....things went well. Usually out of forty steers....you'd always have three that did something you didn't expect.....turn, and chase you down. It was the Pamplona-effect. The thrill of the unexpected. Kinda like going to a NASCAR race, or some WWE-wrestling event.
Over the years, I've continued to watch the reports of Pamplona bull runs, and been kinda interested. Even up until the late 1990s....I had this curious idea of going down to Spain and at least watching. Participation? Well....yeah, I probably had some interest in being stupid like the rest of them. These days, I'd probably just like to have a rooftop position and watch from a distance.
This week....reports came out via the news that there's going to be some bull runs in the US, starting out in Richmond, VA. Atlanta will have one a few weeks after that. Several other runs will follow after that. To note with interest.....none are schedule in Bama yet.
Legal? Well.....presently, there's no laws against it. I'm guessing dozens of animal-rights folks are working hard to stop each one of these. The courts will be reviewing paperwork and trying to determine if there is some piece of the Constitution or state laws affected.
I imagine it will catch on....although some states will make anti-bull run laws. In fact, I'd say that California and New York will quickly move on this and have such a law in effect by the end of November.
It'll continue on.....maybe even become a reality TV series. I could see some washed-up TV stars coming out.....doing a bull-run with some sluggish bulls. It might be worth watching if this were some former WWE-wrestlers doing the bullrun.
The Pamplona folks will claim this is all fake and that only real bull running occurs in Spain.....this American stuff is just fake wussy stuff.
It's hard to say where this goes....except a bunch of guys will be looking around the south for some really tough mean steers, and some cattle guys have got the perfect steer to sell them.
