The Buffalo Bills' Damar Hamlin was injured in scary fashion in Monday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals, requiring CPR, an ambulance and hospitalization. All of it came on live TV in front of a national audience.
The fallout for him, medically, is yet to be seen. I believe we're just at the beginning point of how this story, however it ends, affects football at all levels (or if it does at all).
Before my thoughts, let me tell you a story:
I was a new, fresh, high school sports writer on Sept. 9, 2018, covering football full-time for the first time in my career for the Ahwatukee Foothills News and East Valley Tribune and having recently finished my master's degree at ASU. It was just my third game on the beat, and Desert Vista -- then a perennial power -- was pummeling Valley Vista.
The Thunder were loaded under coach Dan Hinds, with star prospects on both sides of the ball such as defensive lineman Brett Johnson, running back Tyson Grubbs, quarterback Parker Navarro, and several more, who would all go on to play high-level college football. Heck, even their punter, Kyle Ostendorp, went on to play Division 1.
Desert Vista won 48-20 at home over the Monsoon in that early-season game. Not much unexpected happened, as the championship-contending Thunder beat the solid-but-not-great Monsoon on the east side of town by a big margin. Grubbs rushed for 154 yards and four touchdowns, and added a receiving score on a 54-yard catch. Johnson and Armando Delgado both had a pair of tackles for loss. Even then-freshman Devon Grubbs, who would go on to commit to NAU, scored a late rushing touchdown. It was his first-ever varsity score.
A part I duefully added to the article, but didn't get into much, was maybe the major news in the story for Valley Vista, though.
A player, whose name I didn't get because I was simply scared to go on the field and figure it out, thinking I might get in the way (and we didn't have 15 TV cameras pointed at the scene like there were Monday night) took a hit and was down on the ground in Ahwatukee for several minutes.
It was late in the fourth quarter, and the Thunder had already all-but sealed the victory. The contest ended a few minutes early, as the Valley Vista player was taken off the field in an ambulance, I'm assuming to a local hospital for treatment.
Like I said, I mentioned it in the game story that night. But I didn't even bother getting the kid's name -- admittedly a mistake on my part -- and I certainly didn't follow up later. My job was to report on the game, specifically how Desert Vista played, as that was my beat. Plus, the Thunder had been great, and were 3-0 to start a season for the first time in several years. It was a cool story.
I felt bad for the Valley Vista kid, obviously. I don't know how the situation ended up, but I certainly wanted him to be OK. However, after the story was done, I didn't think about it again. It's part of football, injuries happen. Hinds and the Thunder handled it well, too, circling up and praying for the kid, and the hit that hurt him definitely wasn't dirty. What more could they have done?
They actually happen a lot. Here's another story:
Those who have been around the Arizona high school football and overall athletics scene for several years might remember a Moon Valley kid named Carlos Sanchez.
Sanchez, at age 16, died from blunt force trauma following a game against Cactus. The Cobras' collision with Sanchez was not dirty, either. A kid got hit in the wrong spot at the wrong time, collapsed on the sideline, and died later at a hospital.
The Rockets spent the rest of the season commemorating Sanchez, and held a ceremony for him at their next game.
Again, what could they have done? There's an inherent risk in football. This stuff is rare. But, as sad as it is, it happens. It's scary, but it's not a lone incident.
How do we move forward?
Valley Vista didn't shut down the season after that 2018 game. Moon Valley played the rest of its season in 2017. That wasn't a consideration, and I'm not going to say it should have been, by any means.
The Steelers didn't quit playing after Ryan Shazier was paralyzed for a time due to a hit in a game. They also celebrated a win in the AFC Championship game in the late 2000's after Ravens running back Willis McGahee was knocked out of a game, and carted off the field. The Steelers felt bad in the moment, but had reached the Super Bowl!
I played sports all my life. Basically every single one a kid could play, I played at some point as a child. Except my parents never let me play football, despite its popularity in the early 1990s in Texas (think Dallas Cowboys, Texas Longhorns, high school football, etc.) It wasn't a slight on the sport, but they simply didn't want me getting injured, especially as I was a clumsy kid who fell a lot without somebody in pads hitting me. Plus, when I was a kid in Galveston, TX, they started playing tackle in kindergarten.
There are serious injuries in other sports, too. In 2021, Christain Eriksen (one of the best soccer players in the world, who was a star for Denmark) collapsed and struggled to breathe during a match at the Euros. Chris Bosh had to quit basketball because of blood clots that could have killed him if he continued to play. Numerous others have had their seasons, careers, and otherwise cut short due to sickness, injuries and other physical ailments.
A few months ago, in my non-competitive Flagstaff adult recreational soccer league, a woman on my team collided with another player going up for a header and fell, concussed, on the turf. It took her more than a minute to regain consciousness, though I believe she is doing OK now. I've seen people get hit in the head playing racquetball, too.
So, what are you saying?
The thing is this: There is inherent risk of injury, in every sport, every time you step on the field, court, etc.
Yes, Hamlin's injury and the coverage was absolutely an exception. We've never, in all the time that football has been broadcasted at this level, seen an individual go under that type of care on national TV. We have seen plenty of awful stuff, though. Remember Tua's walk mere months ago for the Dolphins after sustaining a concussion? That was pretty freaking scary, too.
Many decades ago, Detroit Lions receiver Chuck Hughes died from a hit at age 28. That's the one known NFL death, but the level of injuries we've seen that are objectively gruesome are pretty large.
I'm not trying to compare or contrast Hamlin's injury to others. It was scary, full-stop. I'm hoping for the best for him.
But, every time an athlete straps up their cleats, shoes, or any other equipment, they are putting themselves at a risk (even if it's the slightest probability) that something like this could happen to them. Every time I put on goalkeeper gloves in my dumb adult soccer league, I know in the back of my mind (even if it's not prevalent) that there's a small-but-existent chance I could be next.
I'm not advocating to stop playing sports. It's my livelihood to write about them, talk about them, discuss the local athletes in writing and broadcast. What I do is actually, if you see the risk of sports as a problem, probably part of it, because I play a small role in increasing what local athletics mean to a community.
I truly don't know what's next for the NFL, or football in general. Maybe nothing, maybe a lot.
I just want to note that, as viewers, players, coaches, fans, referees, or anything else related to sports, there is that risk. Keep it in the back of your mind. Respect people, don't look at the athletes as objects. Under that helmet is a person with a family, friends, etc. Pray for Damar Hamlin, pray for others who suffer injury, and you probably have to pray that you or your loved one isn't next.
