I began my weekly review of the Miami Dolphins game yesterday evening, but paused it to watch the Monday Night game due to the playoff implications. My plan was to incorporate the outcome into my assessment of the Dolphins and the 2022 season. However; that all changed when Damar Hamlin collapsed. I am not a medical professional, I do not play one on TV, nor have I slept in a Holiday Inn Express in years, but that did not appear football related. Any of us that have played football at any level and watched football at all levels for decades did not see anything unusual or volatile in that hit. My legs didn’t pop up as I let out an “oof” when the play occurred, it was fairly routine. Could that have been a one in a million hit at the precise moment in the most acute place to cause Commotio Cordis? Perhaps. But without any scans or tests all these “professionals” seem quick to offer the exact same diagnoses. I would lean towards something most of us have heard of and seen before; an undiagnosed congenital heart condition. Again, I’m speculating as are all those with PH and MDs behind their names.
I was watching with my wife, and I looked at her immediately, before the ambulance, before Buck said anything, and said “they aren’t finishing this game.” My initial thoughts were stroke or heart attack, my dad texted “aneurysm?” This was much different than Tua, when he played the Bengals in Cincinnati and also laid motionless, hands twisted in the air after a hit to the head. This man made a tackle, stood up, and dropped. He didn’t stumble, he didn’t go to a knee and then lay down. He collapsed. I, like many, pray he is able to recover. That he can live a full life. I pray also, that he knows the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray his teammates, his opponents Monday Night, and all those that witnessed this event understand the brevity of life and their need of salvation. The Word of God says:
“ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” And “today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.”
James 4:14 and Hebrews 4:7
Last night I said if I was the Bills’ coach and the league wouldn’t postpone this game I would forfeit. If life truly does mean more, call it a draw or leave it an un-played game and sort out the playoff implications later. Rescheduling and resuming this game would be a logistical and mental nightmare.
POLITASPORTS 