I say no!
I see your no and raise you another no. It’s brutal, disgusting, and…well, brutal. Don’t they weaken the bull before it goes into the ring? (Not sure on this, any of you guys know…?)
Unless’n the human is naked and without any sharpened metal defenses…
Sorry, I’m kinda cranky. That wouldn’t be any fun at all, really.
It is not a sport IMO. If it were one man vs. one bull, that might change my opinion a little, however, the slow and torturous slaying of a maddened beast by a group of men is not a sport by any means.
Did a little research into exactly how the bull is prepared for the fight, but all I could find is that the bulls nowadays are bred to be aggressive, and that they are usually kept in the dark so that when they enter the arena, they are confused, and disoriented.
I may be confusing it with bull riding, but I’d always thought they tied off the bulls testicles to make them especially aggressive.
I heard that when Juan Carlos’s grandmother, Queen Ena, used to watch the bullfights, she had special opera glasses that were false, so she couldn’t see through them. Then, she could avoid watching the bullfight without offending anyone.
Is there a strong possibility that you will die doing it? Yes? Then it’s a sport. Like Hemingway said, in the second time I’ve quoted this, “Bullfighting, mountain climbing, and automobile racing are sports. The rest are just games.”
OTOH, that bull DANCING the Minoans did took cast iron ones! And with the topless women? Hemingway woulda loved it.
By that logic, Russian Roulette, playing chicken with a train and crossing the street are also sports.
Sport is about competitiveness, whether singularly or in a team atmosphere. There is no competition when a group of ten men with sharp objects poke a confused bull to death.
Bullfighting is a prime example of an archaic ritual living on for no other reason than the fact that it is a ritual and thus, must be continued.
That they don’t just shoot the beast and be done with it does not signify bravery or sport, but gross inefficiency.
More than golf, at any rate.
Though, overall, given the numerous advantages the bullfighter has over a bull, I don’t really consider it a sport either. Then again, I always thought hunting would be more interesting if the bears could shoot back…
By that rational…
Shooting heroin, going to war, posting a poll thread in GQ are all sports.