If you’re a regular reader of The Ewellogy, you know that I have been known to watch sports from time to time. Some big games (like when Clemson plays for the National Championship) and not-so-big games. Sport is entertainment. Sport is a source of life lessons like this one on self-control. But above all,
Sport is just a game.
If you don’t think so, all you need is Monday Night Football, January 2, 2023: Buffalo Bills playing at Cincinnati Bengals, next-to-last week of the season, with playoff seeding on the line. It was one of the most hyped games this season. The week prior, you couldn’t watch a college bowl game without being reminded at least 10 times that it was the Bills versus the Bengals Monday night. The game was only about halfway through the first quarter when Bengals pass receiver Tee Higgins was tackled by Bills safety Damar Hamlin. Most reports described it as a routine play that didn’t appear unusually violent. However,…
On the play…Higgins led with his right shoulder, which hit [Hamilin] in the chest. Hamlin then wrapped his arms around Higgins’ shoulders and helmet to drag him down. Hamlin quickly got to his feet, appeared to adjust his face mask with his right hand and then fell backward about three seconds later and lay motionless. – Mitch Stacy, Associated Press
A former NFL physician later said that if you’re going to collapse, there’s no better place to do it than an NFL field. There is a plethora of highly trained medical trauma people and all the equipment you need. Hamlin was administered CPR on the field for what was later reported as a cardiac arrest before being loaded into an ambulance on the field (one writer said he had NEVER seen an ambulance on the field). The Bills players circled up in prayer (on live television!). The picture shows both:
And then this week’s game of the century resumed…except it didn’t. Players were in tears. Coaches led them to their respective locker rooms, and about an hour after the collapse, the game was officially postponed. Later, it was canceled completely.
One report included this paragraph:
Fans were reliant on the game’s broadcaster, ESPN, for news about a terrifying injury rather than scores and highlights. “It was a nightmare,” said Joe Buck, the game’s play-by-play announcer. “It certainly was nothing that anyone is ever prepared for. You have all that hype and buildup, and everyone can’t wait to watch this matchup, and in the snap of a finger it’s completely different. Football just goes out the window.”
“Football just goes out the window.” Really? I’ve written before about the importance of perspective and priorities when it comes to watching football. “That game will go on whether I watch it or not.” But this story reminds us that the game itself might not go on if real life barges in. The game is of supreme importance…until it’s not. NFL players across the league are suddenly thinking about perspective. Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson articulated it this way:
We know that injuries are going to happen and this game is a physical game, but, you know, people always say they’d die for this game and everything else, but when it’s really life on the line like we saw the other night and somebody’s heart stops, it changes your perspective even that much more. It’s just, life is so much bigger than this game. This game is important, it’s significant, it’s something that we all care about. It brings us joy. But it’s also not the everlasting thing. – reported by Parker Gabriel, Denver Post, January 4, 2023
The other takeaway is how quickly nearly everyone went to prayer. As I said, all or most of the Bills circled up for prayer. There were calls for prayer inside and outside the stadium. As Erik Reed of World Magazine wrote:
“Pray for Damar Hamlin” became a national exhortation. It was everywhere.
By the way, Damar Hamlin is better. CNN reported on Thursday morning, January 5:
Damar Hamlin’s agent Ron Butler told CNN the injured Buffalo Bills player is awake and has been holding hands with family in the hospital. The Buffalo Bills reported that Hamlin has “shown remarkable improvement over the past 24 hours” and “has demonstrated that he appears to be neurologically intact.”
Good news and a better lesson: Perspective and Prayer – let’s remember both as we sail into 2023.
Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. (Colossians 3.2, MSG)
Pray diligently. Stay alert, with your eyes wide open in gratitude. (Colossians 4.2, MSG)
P.S. We learned Thursday that Damar woke up for the first time Wednesday night. Using a pad and paper, he asked, “Did we win the game?” Someone wisely responded, “Yes, Damar. You won the game of life.”
P.P.S. I just learned something about Damar Hamlin that’s worth another blog. Stay tuned.