ST. LOUIS – All of the Matador Jerky Bullfighters know that their jobs as cowboy protectors involve making quick-second decisions that can possibly be the difference between life and death in the arena.
In some instances, those decisions become instinctive in nature and come at a calculated risk for the bullfighter himself.
That was the case on Saturday night when Cooper Waln saw Brennon Eldred flirting with the perils of danger inside Scottrade Center following his 86.5-point ride on Constant Sorrow.
Waln immediately stepped forward when he witnessed Eldred sliding off Constant Sorrow in a bad position.
Eldred wound up alright, but Waln did not come away unscathed.
The 30-year-old bullfighter filling in for Jesse Byrne, who was home working on obtaining a real estate license, had a massive gash below his right eye after Constant Sorrow swung his head and shattered Waln’s glasses with his horn.
“I saw Brennon coming off the side there and that bull kind of stalled out a little bit and I waited on him,” Waln said. “I saw Brennon was going to fall down in there so I just held my ground and that bull shot my way. He was kind of falling over and his head come around and hit me under the eye. He shined me up a little bit and gave me some stitches.”
Waln fought the final 10 bulls after missing a couple of sections as Dr. Tandy Freeman stitched up the cut underneath his right eye in the PBR Sports Medicine Room.
However, there was a still a problem. At least so it appeared.
Waln didn’t have a second pair of glasses with him so he stepped into the arena with his cut covered and his black-rimmed glasses scattered throughout the dirt.
“I can see,” the South Dakota native said. “I just can’t see far away. Fighting bulls is just like riding a bike to me.”
Eldred was extremely appreciative for Waln’s effort.
“My hat is off to that guy,” Elded said. “He saved my ass.”
Fellow Matador Jerky bullfighter Shorty Gorham said it wasn’t hard for him and Frank Newsom to adjust to protecting with only two bullfighters while Waln was busy earlier in the evening getting stitched up.
Gorham and Newsom both perfected the craft of cowboy protection during a time when it was standard practice to have only two bullfighters, if not one.
“Frank and I are from the same era, so we have done it enough that you go back to what you grew up doing,” Gorham said. “In all reality, it is harder work at times because you have to hustle more, but there is less to keep track of. It kind of balances it out. It is about the same.
“You hear guys in law enforcement, or any first responders, talk about falling back to their training and man I fought bulls with two guys longer than I fought bulls with three guys.”
Gorham added that they were happy to see Waln come back to finish Round 1 with the team. He also wasn’t surprised to see Waln decide to enter the arena without his glasses.
“I always say you don’t have to be tough to do this job, but it sure as hell helps,” Gorham said. “Cooper might look like Harry Potter, but you don’t get to this level without some beatings in your career or something.”
Juan Carlos Contreras began to laugh when asked about Waln’s glasses.
Many have been surprised that Contreras rides with a pair of eyeglasses inside his helmet instead of wearing contacts or goggles.
“I feel real sorry for him because it is never really good when you break your glasses,” Contreras said with the help of Edgar Durazo translating. “I obviously do not want to be in the same position.”
Waln was back in the arena Sunday with a pair of glasses after telling Frank Newsom that things sure feel different at the hotel without his glasses.
Therefore, the two went to a LensCrafters in St. Louis and Waln was able to get a replacement pair of glasses before the start of Championship Sunday.
Waln actually won’t look like Harry Potter for much more either.
He coincidentally had made an eye appointment last week with a surgeon to look into getting Lasik eye surgery next month.
“We are going to get rid of them,” Waln said with a smile.
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko