The Other McCain

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‘Monday Night Football’ Postponed; Buffalo Player Critically Injured

Posted on | January 2, 2023 | Comments Off on ‘Monday Night Football’ Postponed; Buffalo Player Critically Injured

Damar Hamlin, a second-year safety for the Buffalo Bills, was rushed to a hospital where he is reported in critical condition after paramedics spent 10 minutes on the field administering CPR.

UPDATE: I was texting with Instapundit right after this happened and he asked, “What kind of hit was it?” And I said, just a bang-bang play, and he got up right after it, but then . . . Boom. He fell over. It reminds me, in a way, of Dale Earnhardt’s fatal crash. When you saw it happen, it didn’t look any worse than a lot of other NASCAR crashes, but it just happened to kill him. And if, as now seems likely, Damar Hamlin doesn’t make it, people will be watching video of this play over and over wondering how or why this particular hit proved to be fatal.

UPDATE II: The report is that Hamlin had a heartbeat, but wasn’t breathing on his on, and has been “intubated,” as they say. Trying to figure out why this happened is going to be a long process, and some people on Twitter are asking, “Vaccine?” But no, there’s no reason to suspect it’s one of those cases. Something about the hit itself — cerebral hemorrhage? I don’t know. It’s a mystery at this point.

Selfishly, all I can think about is how it’s ruined my usual Monday night routine of falling asleep during the game, not to mention how it might impact the Patriots, who are scheduled to play Buffalo next Sunday with their playoff hopes on the line. On the one hand, Buffalo’s loss of their starting safety would improve the chances of a New England win, but on the other hand, you don’t want it to happen this way, and it’s in poor taste even to mention it. Injuries are just part of the NFL and, of the eight games the Patriots have won this season, seven of them were against teams forced to play backup quarterbacks because of injuries to the starter. Sunday, for example, Miami started the game with Teddy Bridgewater at quarterback because the Dolphins starter, Tua Tagovailoa, was in concussion protocols. Then, in the third quarter, Bridgewater suffered a broken finger, and the Dolphins had to use third-stringer Skylar Thompson, a rookie picked in the seventh round. New England managed to win that game 23-21 and, so what? Injuries happen.

But to have a player killed in a game? As far as I know, it’s never happened in the NFL, and why did it have to happen on Monday night in a key AFC matchup with playoff consequences? My purely selfish attitude toward this situation may be a defense mechanism, a way to cope by avoiding emotional pain. Or maybe I’m just an asshole.

Anyway, let’s pray Damar Hamlin survives and makes a full recovery.

UPDATE III: Good news?

So he’s still alive, and by the way, Damar Hamlin had a GoFundMe to raise money to buy toys for children. It’s raised over $700,000 since he got injured. I donated. You should, too.



 

Category: Football

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