An NFL First Shows Why People Have Given Up On The Sport

The Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals have left the field, 5:58 to go in the first quarter, Cincinnati leading 7 to 3.

The critical AFC matchup was halted when Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field after making a hit.  It's a hit you see 100 times a week in the NFL, runner goes in, shoulder first into the chest.  Hamlin whiplashes hard, but it's a clear shoulder-to-chest hit.  

Hamlin got up, began to stagger around, and completely collapsed.

Hamlin's heart apparently completely stopped and paramedics had to bring him back with CPR.

(And we already have the Died Suddenly crowd showing up -- you didn't see the type of hit he took was right to the chest, etc.  If he was all clotted up like you idiots claim...)

Hamlin was on the field at least ten minutes before being taken off, with, as I said, CPR administered.

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Whether it ends up permanently this way or not, you got what you wanted, Football Nation America.

With the full understanding that Hamlin may have been brought back, someone got killed on the field tonight.  We've had several close calls, but CPR indicates that it finally went over the side.

Damar Hamlin died on an NFL field on national television tonight -- he may well have been brought back and may recover for an off-the-field life.

But make no mistake of it:  Damar Hamlin was killed tonight in an NFL game.  Whether that death is permanent, or the medical staff was able to reverse it through CPR, I cannot say as of about 6:30 PM PST.

As of about 6:20 PST, his heart was restarted but he is on a ventilator -- he cannot breathe on his own.

UrinatingTree notes the condition of "Commotio Cordis".  It's rare, but if you are hit in the chest at the precise moment of a pulse-beat to the left ventricle, you can be killed by it.

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And once again, the NFL completely fails to read the room -- an NFL gambling-advocacy ad on the broadcast less than 40 minutes after a player was killed on the field of play.

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A number of players have demanded the NFL cancel the game.  This game, small as it appears now, is vital to the AFC playoff seeding, but there's no way you can continue this...

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The NFL lost Uche Nwaneri last Friday as well.  He was 38.  Heart attack.

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Hamlin started a GoFundMe for toys for kids in his local area.  The GoFundMe has literally been receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations since the injury tonight.

EDIT 11:30 PM PACIFIC:  Fuck hundreds of thousands.  THREE MILLION DOLLARS!!!!!!!

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6:55 PST, equipment staff is removing the equipment from the field.  This game is off.

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At 7:00 PM PST, the NFL has suspended play for the night -- the teams will be in contact to determine what is next, but with how Week 18 works and the playoffs, I can't see how this continues in any respect and I'm not even sure you can get the teams on the field for their games Sunday!

As much as it might fuck a few teams, you may have to call THE SEASON right here.

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Continuing liveblog:

• It is apparent that the coaches and teams were the ones to get the game called off tonight.  It appeared that, at some point after Hamlin was taken from the field in an ambulance, an order to warm up and resume play was given by the league, through the officials.

Per Joe Buck, once officials gave each team 5 minutes to warm up before resuming play, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor walked across the field and consulted Bills HC Sean McDermott. Both coaches then sent their teams to their respective locker rooms. Such a classy move by Taylor.

— Paxton Boyd (@paxton) January 3, 2023

• At about 8:25 Pacific, the University of Cincinnati Trauma Center revoked any press conferences scheduled on updates on Hamlin's condition tonight.
• The Bills confirmed at least what we all knew that it was a cardiac arrest.

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Cannot go to bed tonight without giving credit to Scott van Pelt and his people at SportsCenter for their even-handedness about this.

But everybody trending him on Twitter forgets...  he was the anchor on March 11, 2020, when all Hell broke loose.

He and his show did "Senior Night", the weeks afterward, for all the senior athletes who would not have one and chose to send in clips or pictures in the face of shuttered schools, etc.

He was the one who made the commitment to be that voice for the likes of them "as long as we can remain on the air" -- recognizing the real danger it was to the future of the corporate entity in the face of COVID...

So, all plaudits to him, but I am not nearly as surprised at Scott's wonderful coverage some might be tonight.