Ride with the bull, mess with the horns. A fearless rodeo rider in Florida had a close brush with death when the bull he was riding gored him in the neck while being bucked off the beast’s back.

A spur-of-the-moment decision to wear a helmet may have saved bull rider Willy Ives' life last August. He borrowed a friend's helmet on a whim. While riding in the competition, Ives was bucked off.

It’s the longest eight seconds in sports, a cowboy in bullet-proof vest, precariously perched atop nearly a ton of angry, bucking bovine, holding on with one hand, trying to win style points along the ...