Tyler Daniels' Facebook message these days is "he corriendo con los torros." The 16-year-old Glen Ridge resident, who will be a junior at MKA this fall, is fresh back from Pamplona, Spain, where he and his mother Donna ran with the bulls on Monday morning - the ritual that Ernest Hemingway made famous in the 1926 novel "The Sun Also Rises."
There were 13 injuries in Monday's run, and 14 people have died running with the bulls since 1924.
"It's a once-a-lifetime-thing," Tyler said. "I don't think I'll do it again." His mother, Donna, was more loquacious in an email sent around to friends.
Although the mother-son team arrived at 6 am, ready to run, officials chased them from their spot at 7 am and tried to position them behind a paramedic station. Tyler and Donna wended their way through several alleys, meeting barricade after barricade, finally climbing through one to gain entry to the race once again.
At precisely 8:00 am we heard the cannon and start running. And then another canon and more running and yelling and chaos. Tyler was in front of me suddenly we heard Toro Toro Toro and the first group of bulls was running by us- having wisely decided to run on the side. We pushed to a side of a building and let them pass- we then continued running even faster amidst chaos. The bulls were very fast except one who Tyler saw stop and look around a little. Tyler called him the Strauss of bulls. [Strauss is a family dog.] Tyler stumbled once over someone whose white clothing was now purple with red wine stains- he probably had started his fiesta the day before at noon. Tyler got up and the frenzy was building. Someone else fell and I grabbed Tyler's arm. At this point we decided to run holding on to each other. As we got to the opening before the bull ring again we heard Toro Toro Toro as more bulls were coming. This time we climbed through the barricades to safety as we were at the end of the run. As we caught our breath- the third and last group of bulls came through and finally we could pull out our cameras and get good footage.All in it was a total rush- a crazy experience and something to have done- once!
And here's how it looked.
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Comments (53)
He's got the bony shoulders of a distance runner. I expect he'll have a banner fall in x-country.
Anytime he needs a little boost of energy, he can recall his adventure and get an adrenaline boost.
I think they're both nuts.
This from Wilkipedia about the running of the bulls:
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Injuries are common, both to the participants who may be gored or trampled, and to the bulls, whose hooves grip poorly on the paved or cobbled street surfaces
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If people are stupid enough to participate, it's their problem if they get hurt, but the animals don't have a choice. This type of event is pure BULL____.
Being sixteen excuses this kid from wanting to participate in this highly adrenalin charged event. But I am speechless about the degree of irresponsibility demonstrated by the parent(s).
Same. I'm all for moms doing adventurous things with their kids and showing them the world, but this is such a cruel tradition. Beats me how it would be fun for anyone.
I often see women climbing with their kids at our rock climbing gym. Now, *that* is cool.
This "event" has always seemed mislabled to me, as it appears that the people are running from, and not with, the bulls.
Tanked up with Spanish red and high levels of testosterone, one could easily see how young men might see this as a test of manhood. They're generally oblivious at this age to the risk and to the overarching cruelty of the whole affair. But for a mother to accompany her teenaged son on this "adventure" boggles the mind. No doubt she was there to "supervise", and of course no harm could come to young Tyler as long as mom was on hand. Would have made for interesting cocktail conversation at a MKA parent soiree when the questions began arriving:
"How is Tyler's fractured skull? Are his lacerations healed yet? Will you two be co-racing a Ferrari in this year's Formula One?"
I'm glad both are unscathed. God sometimes does protect fools.
Comment deleted by Baristanet.
Can you post that retarded comment 5 or six more times for those of us that missed it dlowen16?
The concept of a slow news day hits new lows with this celebration of parent-child foolishness. Is this meant in lieu of an item about how Montclair's new council members comported themselves last night in their first public appearance as a governing body?
Oddly enough, I got a notice yesterday from Despair.com which ties in very nicely with this. They're offering some free merchandise with any purchase which in fact "celebrates" the Pamplona silliness far more aptly than Hemingway ever did, and it's under the heading of "tradition."
dlowen16, your expressed wish for the deaths of two human beings, added to your inability to master the posting process, puts you in the early lead for idiot of the day.
I'm not sure which is more rude: dlowen16's post or his need to post it so many times.
Bullfighting is a barbaric practice and should be outlawed. I have no compassion for the idiot humans who participate in this "tradition" and all the compassion in the world for the innocent animals who are destined to lose their lives in the travesty that is bullfighting.
Talk about a clueless mother...wtf was she thinking ? I don't know what is worse, the inhumane treatment to the bulls, or the moronic state of mind of this mother taking her child to run from these dangerous bulls. Good grief!
Good Grief, what was this mother thinking? I don't know what is worse, the cruel practice of running these bulls, or the moronic state of mind of the clueless mother bringing her child to run with them.
What's next?
despair.com is a very funny site. Love their stuff! I could care less about both bullfighting and/or if someone else wants to "run from the bulls" with their kid. More power to them.
Maybe for Spring Break they can swim with the Box jellyfish in Australia.
File under Dangerous Things People See on TV and Think That Makes Them Safe.
I agree with everyone who thinks it was a very bad idea to take a kid to this. And probably an even worse idea to ignore the the local officials who are responsible for the event and thought they shouldn't be running. But I'm glad they made it out alive.
Gee, that's funny, I don't remember Ernest Hemingway running with the bulls with his mother in tow. Imagine what The Sun Also Rises wouldn've been like. "Don't worry about it, honey," said Jake's mother. "In a few decades they'll invent Viagra. In the meantime, you and I can play cribbage."
Oh come on. People take 16-year-old kids white-water rafting in class 4 rapids. Running with the bulls isn't my cup of tea, but I think Tyler's closer to being a man for doing it. After all, the state of New Jersey says he's old enough to get behind the wheel of a car with his mother by his side. And in two years, he'll be eligible to go fight our country's wars.
16 is underage. Period.
As far class 4 rapids are concerned, they do not have the same mortality/injury rate as the infamous bull run of Pamplona. So the comparison is flawed to start with. Same applies to car driving.
Having said that,I never understood while 16 yr olds can legally drive in this country. :-)
PRC, you made me look it up, seems most of the world sets the driving age at 18 (UK is 17 but considering raising it). Being that I couldn't wait to drive (literally, won't mention age when I started, looked older and never got caught), I was surprised.
That was a different world when I was a kid. I think the best innovation has been the provisional license. I would even agree to raising of the initial age.
What's next? Parents buying their kids dime bags and lighting the bong?
It really irks me how negative all your comments are. I personally know Tyler and I think it's really cool that he and his mom did something like this. There are many parents who hardly spend anytime with their kids, so it's nice to see something that's outside the norm. It's a once in a lifetime oppurtunity and as long you're not incredibly stupid about it, it's fine. They were running on the side, not out in front and stayed close together. The running of the bulls is a tradition that is not going anywhere for a long time, no matter how stupid or inhumane it is. Fur coats, meat, circuses are other imhumane practices in this country and they're not going anywhere either.
croiagusanam, do you go to MKA? Are you an MKA parent or are in anyway associated with the school? I resent comments like yours that depict parents and students at that school as stuck up snobs with too much money. There are people like that there, but not everyone is like that. Tyler included.
Good for him. A lot of young guys consider this a rite of passage. But I wouldn't give his mom a chance to make any decisions for me. A little naive for a mom.
"Closer to being a man...?" Really, Debbie, the bastardization of language so prevalent here anyway has gone altogether too far if you actually believe what you posted above.
Jumpathepool, you simply sound dumb. I mean, you used the phrase "outside the norm." Have you considered, for a real challenge, joining the Army Reserves in a year or two? (Or anyway the Sea Scouts?) It's really "really cool," and sometimes it even entails foreign travel. And it'll put more hair on your chest than 4 years at Yale.
cathar, what's wrong with those phrases? It's not like I used "retarded" in the wrong context. There's more out there than simply just physical challenges, although I have physically challenged myself before. I have respect for those that join the Reserves, but it's not for me. Besides, being a female, I'm not big on the idea of having hair on my chest. I guess it must also be opposite day, as you say that I'm "dumb" but that I'm attending Yale. I see you had a bad day. I hope you have a better one tomorrow.
It really irks me how negative all your comments are.
You're new here, aren't you?
"It's a once-a-lifetime-thing," Tyler said. "I don't think I'll do it again."
That's what I said after I rang in the new year in Times Square about a decade ago or so. Granted, no adrenaline rush there, even when the ball dropped. I was too mellowed out by all the second-hand pot smoke that had been wafting over the crowd for several hours by that point.
jumped at, this is a forum wherein people make their views known -- sometimes in strong terms and often to the annoyance of others. The fact that you "resent" my comments does not matter in the least to me. I have no connection to MKA other than knowing quite a few people who've been there over the years. Most were fine people, and there is nothing in my post that suggests otherwise. Had Tylet attended MHS, the post would have read the same but for the replacement of MHS for MKA. Your "resentment", and subsequent lukewarm defense of MKA (there are people like that, but not all of them!) is an attempt to make you, and the school, the issue. It is not.
This tradition goes back many years, and I can fully understand a young person taking part despite the danger and the all-around weirdness (have you been there, by the way?). I cannot understand a mother encouraging and then joining her son in it. You may resent whatever you like.
I have a feeling the mom maybe didn't mean for her email to friends to end up on Baristanet. Or at least she probably didn't expect the bashing that ensued. A cautionary tale all around!
Actually, I had a rather good day yesterday, jumpathepool. And I meant figurative hair on your chest (or don't they cover irony at Yale or wherever?). Still, we could use women in the Reserves, as a sort of leavening influence, so you really shouldn't rule out service to your country. It's definitely a more positive thing to do than emulation of Hemingway on streets slippery with bull feces, blood and drunken locals and tourists alike desperate for an adrenaline rush.
I hope their parents are proud they raised children who encourage animal cruelty. I'm no fan of PETA but this is bull**** and these kids are misinformed. They shoot up the bulls with roids and then impale them to death. But look at me mom and dad, I can outrun them.
Poor Tyler and Donna, to be spared by the bulls but gored b the readers of Baristanet!
(Or shoot the kids up with "roids"... I'd kinds like to see Hulk looking youngsters going after the Bulls.)
It is misguided to support any event that has animal cruelty at its core. The mother needs to teach her child to be compassionate to all creatures, not try to outrun them.
It is misguided to support any event that has animal cruelty at its core. The mother needs to teach her child to be compassionate to all creatures, not try to outrun them. These
It is misguided to support any event that has animal cruelty at its core. The mother needs to teach her child to be compassionate to all creatures, not try to outrun them. These people
My last sentences is "These people sicken me."
(Thanks for the clarification. I thought you were gonna say: "These people are allowed to live their lives as they see fit."
The running of the bulls is so last year. If you really want to show your kid that you're not an old fuddy duddy, I would suggest instead the running of the cheese.
"I have a feeling the mom maybe didn't mean for her email to friends to end up on Baristanet."
Oh come on, of course she did! And I might add, if Tyler and his mom could handle running with massive, horned animals the size of small cars, I think they'll survive a couple of benign posts. Please!
I think the running of the cheese is a perfect cruelty free compromise.
hrhppg,
Cruelty free?
Wrong again!!!
The goats raised to make this cheese are kept in cages for 20 hours a day, fed a diet of corn flakes and mustard and have no internet!!!
This makes them calmer, thus creating a silkier milk that rolls faster.
I have to say I am with Debbie on this one, while I wouldn't choose to enagage in this activity and dont necesarily agree with the practice, it was a story about a Mother and son on a once in a lifetime vacation. The kid is 16 not 6.
Wow "these people sicken me"? Thats really harsh. Lots of people sicken me in the choices they make with thier kids-abuse, neglect, over scheduling, ruining self esteem, etc. These folks in no way sicken me or seem in any way "moronic".
I don't know these folks but I am guessing Mom is a pretty cool lady and son is a stand up kid.
Would i do this or want my kids to? Heck No, but thats my choice. Would I bash my nieghbor for it? No.
Just want to say that I've thoroughly enjoyed this thread. Ole! All we're missing is a screed from Mathilda about how the runners ought to be shot and fed to the bulls.
Would i do this or want my kids to? Heck No, but thats my choice. Would I bash my nieghbor for it? No.
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It is the animal cruelty aspect of this event that sickens me. Supporting this event is cruel, not cool. Pure animal cruelty cannot be masked under the guise of a mother and son who want to prove they are brave or a son who wants to become more of a man.
cruel, not cool.....
Up with HOPE, down with DOPE!!!
Quick! Somebody send Nellie a copy of Death in the Afternoon.
Quick! Somebody send Nellie a copy of Death in the Afternoon.
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Thanks, Walleroo, but I'll pass.
OK, OK, you've convinced me. I retract my comments and, as a matter of fact, I've decided to emulate Tyler et sa mere. I've entered myself and my 16 year old niece in the annual "Swim with the Sharks" festival in Durbin, South Africa. We will dress in colorful Speedos topped off with red scarves tied jauntily around our necks (tradition, you know -- and sharks LOVE red!). We'll smear ourselves with fish entrails and then try to navigate a narrow one mile channel whilst being pursued by 50 famished great whites. Sure its risky, but its a once in a lifetime experience immortalized by that great South African novelist Heimabig Boer, and if we survive well, I'll be more of a man and she'll be more of a woman!
We're training this weekend in Point Pleasant with bluefish! Can't wait!
"I have a feeling the mom maybe didn't mean for her email to friends to end up on Baristanet."
This was to gloat to the readers. Wish you were me. Well guess what, you can celebrate the parade of bull murders. I'll just run away from the cars as I cross Bloomfield and be just a happy. Note to kid: get a bar mitzvah or something else if you want to become a man.
How about a steak dinner?
How about a steak dinner?
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Naah...I might get Montezuma's Revenge (Oh, wait, that's the salmonella thread).
A glass of milk?