MONDO EXTRAS

The second episode was actually slightly better, it may have been just that it was a more interesting subject matter (bull-riding!), but I think it also had a lot to do with the way it was edited. Whenever the guys would be getting ready to leave the gate, there was a heart-beating noise, adding to the intensity, and there were lots of awesome and gory replays. Guess I'm just a little bit bloodthirsty, but this one actually made this workplace look life-threatening.

And the men that they found to follow, leading up to a big Bull-riding event, were interesting characters. I'd actually tune into another episode just about these guys, but you get the impression that this isn't a lasting career. There is a medical team on staff, and they are busy. They treat something like 1 in 10 of the riders for an injury at a given event and there are about 40-odd riders at each one. Those aren't great odds. And we're not talking a scratch. One guy had a couple of cracked ribs, they didn't even bother getting him x-rays. They just taped him up and sent him on his way. Another guy got his leg stepped on by a bucking bull. He considered himself lucky because the bull didn't shatter his leg. Instead, in the most disgusting footage I've seen in ages, part of his muscle was sticking out of his leg. They shoved it back in and stitched him up. And injured dude's first question wasn't if he'd walk again. Instead he wanted to know how long it would be before he could get back into the arena and onto one of these beasts. I'm thinking there might be some unreported brain damage going on here.