An earlier posted question wanted to know if fly fishing was a sport. I want to know if bull fighting in Spain, Mexico or Portug

[Gary Devine]

An earlier posted question wanted to know if fly fishing was a sport. I want to know if bull fighting in Spain, Mexico or Portugal is a sport or an art. Is “The Running of the Bulls” a game, a tradition or is it a sport? Is the Canadian Calgary Stampede Rodeo a sport or is it games? The animal rights groups say all three are animal cruelty. What’s your comment on all three animal events?

[Carl Huber]

You mentioned four events that are separated by thousands of miles. To give you one answer, rather one word. I would say TRADITION-TRADITION-TRADITION. Now let me get off the roof and back to my Grand Kids

[99explorer]

I think that bullfighting is a sport with a low level of sportsmanship, given that the bull is almost all bled out by the time the matador steps in to finish him off.
The Calgary rodeo is also a sport, but the running of the bulls in Pamplona is a moronic spectacle with great entertainment value where some drunk gets himself trampled or gored to death almost every year.
All are traditions, as Carl noted, but none of them are games.

[Ontario Honker Hunter]

Gad! Will fishing season never open? Any more of this poppycock and I'll probably start poaching. Devine, it's your fault that I'm turning to a life of crime.

[Gary Devine]

Carl, I only asked about three animal events.
1. Bull Fighting
2. The Running of the Bulls
3. Calgary Stampede Rodeo

Guys, check out these photos of bull fighting matadors in Spain that were gored by a bulls. One bull's horn went in under the matador's neck and came through his mouth. These guys are brave or insane.

www.google.com/search?q=spanish+matador+gored+by+bull&rls=com.mic rosoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7ADRA_en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=uni v&sa=X&ei=e3d4UaSRC6yP0QHooYCQBg&ved=0CDkQsAQ&biw= 1365&bih=723

[Gary Devine]

Ontario, please go fishing instead because crime could put you behind bars. We would all hate to see other men abuse you in jail. LOL

[Carl Huber]

Very true Gary but Spain had two events. So it's three countries and four events depending how you count.

[Gary Devine]

99explorer, I agree with you. Rodeo and bull fighting are sports.

[99explorer]

Gary - Thanks for the pictorial. Great photos but a lot of repetition.
The matador's biggest risk is getting his foot stepped on by the bull, and being unable to move away from the sweep of those sharp horns.
I wince at the sight of those body parts being impaled on the horns. Ugh! I feel their pain!

[DEER30]

If curling is a sport, then so are rodeos. It will take a little more convincing for me that bullfighting and the running of the bulls is a sport. Just because someone does something dangerous, crazy, or stupid, doesn't make it a sport.

I have to say, in regards to bullfighting, I have a moral objection to it because the animal's death is not quick. The bull fighter's thrusts are almost never made in an attempt to kill the animal quickly and humanely. As that is not why the crowd is watching.
I do not judge their heritage/traditions. My objection simply prevents me from entering a ring with an angry bull. That and common sense.

[Pray- hunt-work]

OH- Spring turkey starts on the 29th and runs through to June first. Before you become a reckless poacher or start drawing grafilthy all over town out of sheer boredom, you're welcome to come down and hunt a Tom gobbler here in Maine.

[DEER30]

Wow P-H-W! So I could start turkey hunting here in GA on March 23rd and if I work my way north, hunt gobblers til June?! That would be awesome! I have to start my planning.

[tneal1987]

All three are sports, they are spectator sports with huge followings. They all (with the exception of the running of the bulls) require an athelete that knows what they are doing in order to be competative, otherwise they just die. The running of the bulls is a sport that they let anyone partake in, and people that are foolish a lot of the time perish during the event. All by choice.

[99explorer]

I think that of the three, only bullfighting involves animal cruelty.
In the rodeo events, steer wrestling and calf roping require a bit of minor violence that does not begin to approach cruelty. JMO.

[Ontario Honker Hunter]

Thanks, Pray. I had planned to hunt turkeys with Redfish in Mississippi around now but my daughter is expecting to drop her first calf in early June and she is nervous. I'm all she has left for family, either immediate or extended, so I better stay put and give her a hand. If I went hunting and left her alone, my wife would kick my butt when/if I get to heaven. Wouldn't want to spoil that reunion. Well, not any more than I already have.