NFL
By: Zachary Draves
Already four days into the new year and we are shook up.
(Courtesy: Adrian Kraus/Associated Press)
The horror of seeing Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapse to the ground and going into what was later confirmed as cardiac arrest during the Bills/Bengals Monday Night Football game is seared into our public consciousness. At first it seemed to be a typical tackle by Hamlin against Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins, but after he fell to the ground the players, coaches, referees, announcers, and the thousands of spectators in attendance were rendered into a state of shock and despair.
(Courtesy: Jeff Dean/Associated Press)
After CPR was performed to revive him, he was taken off the field in an ambulance en route to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. The game was postponed and will remain so for the rest of the week. The suspension occurred with 5:58 remaining in the first quarter and Cincinnati leading 7-3.
According to his uncle, Hamlin remains in critical condition and sedated on ventilator, but showing signs of improvement.
The outpouring of support for Hamlin has been extraordinarily palpable from teammates, fans, opponents, coaches, and commentators alike. Players on both teams were seen hugging each other, Bills/Bengals fans held a vigil outside the hospital, and commentators such as ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt and Ryan Clark who gave a masterclass performance in basic humanity in their assessment of the matter.
(Courtesy: Youtube)
(Courtesy: Jeff Dean/Associated Press)
In a matter of hours, Hamlin’s Chasing M’s foundation that he started to provide toys to children during the COVID pandemic received over $4 million in donations for their annual toy drive.
That support has gone beyond the NFL brethren and even reached the hallowed halls of the US Congress. In his opening prayer of the new Senate session on Tuesday, Senate Chaplain Rear Adm. Barry Black mentioned Hamlin saying “Lord we pray for [Buffalo Bills Safety] Damar Hamlin. We pray in your sovereign name, amen.”
On Tuesday, New York’s iconic Niagara Falls was in illuminated blue in support of Hamlin.
(Courtesy: Niagra Falls Illumination Board)
By and large the response to this situation has shown the humanity of most people that genuinely want to see the best outcome possible for Hamlin and his family. Therefore, demonstrating the best in most.
Unfortunately, this situation has also brought out the worst in some, particularly longtime sports commentator Skip Bayless and the anti-COVID vaccine movement.
Skip Bayless
Starting with Bayless, whose known for his provocative and bombastic analysis, stepped in it when he put out the following tweet:
No doubt the NFL is considering postponing the rest of this game – but how? This late in the season, a game of this magnitude is crucial to the regular-season outcome … which suddenly seems so irrelevant.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) January 3, 2023
It demonstrated a clear lack of compassion and perspective. He deservingly received a tremendous amount of backlash on social media with some even calling for him to be fired from Skip and Shannon: Undisputed that he co-hosts with former player Shannon Sharpe on FS1. On Monday night, he put out another tweet that seemed like an apology.
Nothing is more important than that young man's health. That was the point of my last tweet. I'm sorry if that was misunderstood but his health is all that matters. Again, everything else is irrelevant. I prayed for him & will continue to.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) January 3, 2023
But for many the damage had been and it was not seen as sincere enough. First off, if the point of the first tweet was the health of a young man, then why mention to supposed importance of the game?
Then on Wednesday’s show, Bayless explicitly proved their point of him not being sincere.
After being absent on Tuesday, Sharpe returned and asked that Bayless take the tweet down with Bayless interrupting him and saying “Timeout. I am not going to take it down because I stand by what I tweeted.”
Beyond the pure callousness of the response and the disrespect shown to Sharpe, who knows the game inside and out and spoke about witnessing fellow players experience a wide range of injury, it showed that Bayless appears to not possess a moral compass.
Whatever happens to him going forward in terms of his position at FS1 remains to be seen, but he needs a serious wake up call and may need to go through some type sensitivity training in order to restore whatever credibility he has. It also says plenty about a grown man who needs to be taught about what it means to be a good person.
The Anti-Vaxxers
As if that wasn’t bad enough, there was this barrage of bizarre tweets coming from far right-wing conspiracy theorists who claimed that the COVID vaccine contributed to Hamlin experiencing cardiac arrest.
If Bayless was insensitive, these people were downright cruel.
Far-right politicians, activists, and commentators such as Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk, Newsmax Commentator Grant Stinchfield, Nevada GOP gubernatorial candidate Joey Gilbert, and Delaware GOP Senate candidate Lauren Witzke were some of the notable examples spewing vile misinformation on social media.
A common theme in their response was the hashtag #diedsuddenly in reference to alleged cases of athletes collapsing on the field due to supposed side effects of the vaccine that affects the heart. While it remains uncertain of what exactly caused Hamlin to go into cardiac arrest, the culpability of the vaccine is rooted in unmitigated conspiratorial nonsense.
For example, Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle that can cause short paints, irregular heart beat, and shortness of breath. Someone infected with COVID that has not been vaccinated or boosted are at greater risk of developing Myocarditis than those who are vaccinated and boosted.
There have been rare instances where people who are vaccinated develop Myocarditis but the operative word here is rare. In other words, more people are likely to experience serious health complications from COVID itself than the vaccine.
Plus this idea that athletes are dropping like flies and that this has “never happened” prior to COVID is beyond absurd. These people have most likely never heard of Hank Gathers, Chris Pronger, Chuck Hughes, Christian Eriksen, Jay Bouwmeester, and Marc-Vivien Foé, who went into cardiac arrest during a game. In the case of Gathers, Hughes, and Foe, they lost their lives.
This all happened before there was such a thing as COVID and a subsequent vaccine, so these pseudoscientists who posture as political leaders should be ashamed of themselves.
The Good
If there is any silver lining that can come out of this along with the survival of Damar Hamlin, it is that everyone of sound mind and compassion whose pulling for him does outweigh the some that engage in unnecessary banter and dangerous conspiracy theories.
(Courtesy: Buffalo Bills)
As we continue to wait on pins and needles for what happens next, let us remember that the good ultimately triumphs over the bad and ugly.
