The Other McCain

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Football: Good News and Bad News

Posted on | January 7, 2023 | Comments Off on Football: Good News and Bad News

The good news is, Damar Hamlin is alive and improving:

Bills safety Damar Hamlin continues to make progress in his recovery as he remains breathing on his own and his “neurological function is excellent,” according to physicians at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center via a statement from the team Saturday.
Hamlin remains in critical condition, the statement said, but is progressing after having his breathing tube removed overnight Thursday to Friday.
The 24-year-old still has a long road to recovery, with doctors from the UC Medical Center saying Thursday that there were many steps ahead for Hamlin, although he accomplished the first by having the breathing tube taken out. . . .
Hamlin was able to speak with teammates on a Zoom call Friday during the Bills’ team meeting. He told his teammates, “Love ya boys,” made a heart with his hands, gave them a thumbs-up and even flexed on them. Bills players reacted to seeing Hamlin by standing up, clapping and yelling in excitement.
“We got our boy, man, you know what I’m saying,” left tackle Dion Dawkins said. “It’s all that matters. We got our boy. The excitement was beautiful. It was amazing. It has given us so much energy, so much bright, high spirits, whatever you want to call it. It is giving it to us. To see that boy’s face, to see him smile, see him [flex his muscles] in the camera, it was everything. And then to hear him talk to us. It was literally everything. And that’s what we needed. Literally, that’s all we needed.”
CPR was administered to Hamlin on the field at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati on Monday night for multiple minutes after he suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed following his tackle of Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins.

So that’s the good news. Honestly, I thought he was dead after he collapsed on the field Monday. It’s certainly encouraging to hear that he’s getting better, even though that means the Bills are likely to be fired up for Sunday’s game against my New England Patriots who, depending on the outcome of other games, are likely to be facing a must-win situation, if they want to make it into the playoffs on the final wild-card spot. So we’ll be hoping that (a) the Jacksonsville Jaguars win tonight, eliminating the Tennessee Titans, (b) the New York Jets win Sunday, eliminating the Miami Dolphins, and (c) the Cleveland Browns win Sunday, eliminating the Pittsburgh Steelers. Only if all three of those things happen can the Patriots make the playoffs without beating Buffalo and, to be honest, the odds are at least 5-to-1 against them beating the Bills. Meanwhile . . .

The author of that article, Tracie Canada, “is an assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Duke University. Her research uses sport to theorize race, kinship, care, gender and the performing body, and she is currently working on a book project about the experiences of Black college football players. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia.” And after publishing the Dumbest Article Ever Written About Football, she has locked her Twitter account. Far be it from me to “participate in targeted abuse” on Twitter, but that doesn’t mean you can’t participate by saying rude things to Professor Canada.



 

Category: Football

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