Eagles defensive end Jason Babin plans to take his crouching “wide nine” stance to the narrow cobblestone streets of Pamplona, where the ultimate goal is to keep getting his own blood all over the customary white shirt and white pants worn by those who run with the bulls.
Quarterback Mike Vick doesn’t want Babin to do it. It’s unclear whether Babin will listen to Vick. But Babin told Mike Gill and Todd Ranck of 97.3 FM in Atlantic City that, if one of his bosses tell Babin not to do it, he won’t.
“Obviously, they’re my boss,” Babin said. “If they said to me, ‘Jason, don’t do it,’ I’m the kind of person that’s gonna listen to my boss.”
It’s a smart approach. The standard player contract states that “Player will not play football or engage in activities related to football otherwise than for Club or engage in any activity other than football which may involve a significant risk of personal injury.” The contract also allows the team to go to court to prevent the player from engaging in such activities, like the Titans did five years ago when Pacman Jones wanted to dabble in pro wrestling during his one-year suspension.
If fake wrestling crosses the line, running along streets filled with a lot of other people and also a bunch of large bovine creatures with sharp horns probably falls under that category, too.
Of course, there’s no evidence that the Eagles have told him not to run with the bulls, by any of the various people he would regard as being his “boss” with the Eagles. Maybe they all want to see if he’s smart enough to figure it out without them having to tell him.