Ron Kantowski offers some alternatives to the tradition of Pamplona

Wednesday, July 18, 2007 | 7:03 a.m.

A m I the only one who cheers for the bulls when those frat boys who refuse to grow up and other assorted morons run with them through the streets of Pamplona?

Friday was one of the bloodiest days the normally sleepy village in Spain had seen in awhile, as 13 numbskulls, including a couple of brothers from California who were simultaneously gored by the same bull, were injured.

Ernest Hemingway would have loved it.

Although the numbskulls have been running with the bulls since 1591, it was Hemingway who made the festival famous by writing about it in his 1926 novel "The Sun Also Rises."

Lawrence Lenahan, a 26-year-old Air Force captain and one of those hospitalized - which might explain why the Falcons lost the Commander in Chief's trophy to Navy - was gored in the buttocks. So at least he won't be able to further make an ass of himself until he heals. His brother Michael, 23, suffered a leg wound that required surgery.

"I think my brother and I underestimated the speed and danger of it," Lawrence Lenahan told the Associated Press.

The Lenahans were injured and got exactly what they deserved when one of the six bulls separated from the pack and ran the other way. That turned what usually is a two-minute exhibition of stupidity into a six-minute display of blood and guts, with an emphasis on the former.

Festival organizers did not have a knee-jerk reaction to make the running of the bulls safer for participants, which certainly set them apart from NASCAR and opponents of BB guns.

But here are a few suggestions they may want to consider: