Rallying for Damar Hamlin

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If you're not already aware, yesterday's Monday Night Football game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals took a horrific turn with five minutes left in the first quarter.

After a tackle on 1st and 10, second-year safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field. 20 minutes of CPR later, he was lifted into an ambulance and transported to the University of Cincinnati's hospital, where he is currently fighting for his life. It was later confirmed that Hamlin went into cardiac arrest.

As of Tuesday, January 3rd, at 10:30 am PST, Hamlin is in the ICU still in critical condition:

Let me be extremely clear; this article is not an attempt to get clicks. My heart dropped watching MNF last night, and my heart continues to ache for Hamlin, his family, his teammates, and everybody involved. I'm writing this article to bring attention to what's important.

Following Hamlin's injury last night, the world took to Twitter and other social platforms to pledge their support to Hamlin, his family, and the Bills organization. What unfolded in the following hours till now has been nothing short of breathtaking.

• Millions of individuals worldwide have rallied in prayer, sending their love and support to Hamlin and the medical professionals working to save his life.

• Players and organizations across sports took to podiums and social platforms to offer their support for Hamlin.

• In less than 12 hours, Damar Hamlin's toy drive – which had an initial donation goal of $2,500 – raised over $4M.

• After the NFL canceled the game, Bills players ubered to the hospital – after being told the team was scheduled to fly back to Buffalo that night – to be with their brother.

• Fans from both teams gathered outside the UC hospital to pray and unite for Hamlin.

Which brings me to today, where we are all trying to make sense of what happened.

As everyone proceeds forward from this tragedy, here are a few things to remember.

It's more than a game

Football is a sport played by athletes. Athletes are people. Being a college athlete who witnessed a severe injury to a teammate freshman year, I know firsthand how terrifying it is for all parties involved.

The only appropriate reaction to last night's events is recognizing that football is more than a game. It's a community of people – just like you and me – giving their all every week to the sport they love. When the unthinkable occurs, everyone must put aside their agendas, support the affected parties, and rally around what's important; life.

This is not a time to push vaccine agendas, political nonsense, or drum up conspiracy theories about what happened. Football is more than a game; human life matters more than your fantasy league.

The NFL has an opportunity

Much of the controversy that occurred last night and today is about what the NFL should do. Should they reschedule the game? Push back the playoffs a week? Proceed as normal?

Whatever the NFL decides to do will have enormous implications for both the players and all NFL organizations. However, the NFL is made up of athletes. Without athletes, there is no NFL, which is why the NFL must do what is in the players' best interest. That means surveying the players and working with the NFL Players Association to determine the best course of action. And they must be transparent, responsible, and thoughtful in delivering the message.

There is an opportunity to do good, be a leader, and help heal a broken community of athletes. I hope the NFL stops nothing short of that.

Community is powerful

As I mentioned earlier, in less than 12 hours, Hamlin's toy drive eclipsed $4M in donations.

The power of community, social support, and human goodness has been on display since yesterday. Scrolling through Twitter last night – constantly refreshing the trending page – I was astonished by the sheer volume of people standing by Hamlin's side. It made my heart full amidst a horrifying scene.

The NFL, other sports leagues, and society at large should recognize just how powerful community is. Humans united together are a force for goodness in this world.

In an era where cancel culture is the norm, it's refreshing to see the goodness of humanity prosper. The sad part is that it took a life-threatening injury to a player on national television at the highest level in sports for it to resonate.

This is not a time for hostility

Skip Bayless sent out a controversial tweet immediately following Hamlin's injury. Since then, it has 100M+ views.

While I don't believe Skip worded his tweet very well, his message was misunderstood. He steelmanned the argument for playing the rest of the game amidst a growing consensus that the game is not what's important, which is a fair interpretation.

What is not fair is the hostility that unfolded toward Skip last night and into today. People were outraged, saying that Fox should fire Skip and he should be canceled.

Hamlin's injury is not an opportunity to cancel people, it's not what Hamlin would have wanted, and it's not fair to Skip. There is no doubt in my mind that Skip wants to see Hamlin back on the field playing the game he loves. He's a sports news anchor, for goodness sake. My point is this: let's avoid drawing attention to a poorly worded tweet. Let's continue to rally for Hamlin.

A few questions to ask

The attention needs to be on Hamlin. But we can start asking questions to facilitate a safer NFL. Here are a few that came to mind last night:

• How can the NFL prevent accidents like this from happening?

• Is there a safer way to protect the chest cavity?

• Should there be a league-wide protocol for adverse cardiac events in-game to protect the players and teams?

• How can the NFL act quicker the next time this happens?

• Can protective equipment be personalized to the player/position?

In recent news, medical media is debating whether the COVID-19 vaccine may have impacted Damar's heart, putting him at an increased risk for cardiac arrest. Before jumping to conclusions, the NFL needs to investigate this concern and fully flesh it out before it gets out of hand. We owe it to Hamlin, the rest of the NFL, other sports leagues, and the general public to rigorously test these questions and get answers. It's in the best interest of everyone.

In closing, my heart continues to ache for Hamlin, his family, and the Buffalo Bills. It is the last thing you want to see.

As we move forward, remember this is a time to rally behind Hamlin, avoid hostility, lean into the power of community, and use this opportunity to do good. Nothing else.

Keep praying for Hamlin.

Cheers,

Noah Cracknell