Early Morning Royals Links: Love For Lamb, Cricket & Baseball, Accepting Randomness

the batsman probably has a better chance against the bowler than the batter does against the pitcher in baseball.

with most of the people in the middle not giving much of a crap and speaking both languages. Some of the Catalanists are very anti-bullfighting, not because they’re animal lovers but because they see it as something non-Catalan brought by the Spaniards. They’re wrong; records of bullfights in Barcelona go back to the 14th century, and there is a sizable number of local aficionados, enough to bring the big names to the Monumental bullring. I’m just guessing, but I bet Barcelona has the third highest bullfight box office in Spain after Madrid and Sevilla, just because it’s such a large city (3.5-4 million inhabitants, metro area).

The vote in the regional parliament barely passed, with the support of the conservative Catalanists, the leftist Catalanists, the Communist-Greens, and three of the Socialists. The rest of the Socialists (who are frequently Castilian speakers) voted against, as did the conservative Spanish party.

It’s weird that bullfighting caught on in some places in Latin America, like Mexico, Colombia, and Peru, but not in Cuba, the DR, or Argentina. They also hold Spanish-style bullfights in southern France, especially in Nimes, where the bullfighting season traditionally starts.