From the Inquisitions to the food and nightlife to their sporting events, the Spanish enjoy their lives somewhat excessively. In keeping with these standards, the X Games have found a comfortable home in Barcelona, for the premier European Qualifier.

The threat of impending danger is a strong pull at the X Games. We feel the numbness in our testicles, or perhaps ovaries, when one of the competitors hits the lip of the vert ramp too hard or somehow misses a transfer. Sometimes we may even find ourselves hoping for some kind of an accident-a simple slip-up that brings a clearly audible thump or skin screech from the ramp.

This desire for visual pain is similarly present in other Spanish pastimes, such as, football (soccer silly!) and bullfighting. One example of this brutish interest, coupled with the Spanish love of excess, is El Corriendo de Pamplona, or "the running of the bulls." It is a week-long festival dedicated to the prospect of bull horn impalement (oh, yeah, they serve booze there, too).

This year's corriendo ended on July 14. However, I was able to partake in one of the nights. Most of the night in Pamplona was spent simply drinking, whether I was roaming from bar to bar or hitting directly from the backpack. Bulls were rarely thought of, as thirst was the dominating matter at hand. However, at about six in the morning we were reminded of the horny bastards, as workmen came through the streets assembling the wooden fences to be jumped by runners needing to escape a nearby horn.

As I sat on the fence, guarding my viewing point, I began to choose the prospective runners who I'd want to see go down from a hoof to the back. There were two Americans I was particularly interested in seeing fall, as they had been stretching their legs and running in place for nearly two hours before the bulls were let loose. I asked them what time the parade started, but they had no clue.

At 8 a.m., a rocket was set off to announce the freeing of the bulls. They ran out, literally tearing through the crowd in front of them. Quite a few people fell right from the start. That excitement of impending danger was definitely there. Screams of delight and horror leapt from the crowd, as runners went down or were spiked with horns. The sounds were actually quite similar to those of the X Games crowds here in Barcelona.

Now when we watch these events we don't actually want the athletes to hurt themselves, but we want them to come damn close. The effect is even better if they one up us and completely defy the danger. In Pamplona, one exhibits his machismo by hitting a bull on the head with a rolled newspaper. This isn't exactly simple, as one must get directly into that danger vortex and hope to escape the close horns. Similarly, an X Games contestant displays his machismo by going bigger and landing harder tricks than the previous contestant, throwing themselves into that danger vortex.

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