Damar Hamlin put the NFL on notice, telling President Joe Biden at the White House that he believes he will be able to play again one day.
Hamlin, 25, and his family paid the President a visit while in Washington on Thursday, where Biden commended Hamlin for his courage and resilience after suffering cardiac arrest on Jan. 2 following a tackle on wideout Tee Higgins as the Bills faced the Bengals in Week 18.
Biden asked: “You think you’re going to be able to play?”
“Yeah, I think so,” Hamlin replied.
“Good, I hope so,” said Biden.
“God willing,” Hamlin added.
For someone who asked if the Bills won the called-off game as he returned to consciousness days later, it’s no surprise that Hamlin has expressed his desire to return to the field and with the belief he can do so.
“Eventually. That’s always the goal, like I said, as a competitor, you know, I’m trying to do things to keep advancing my situation,” Hamlin said in February, via ESPN. “But I’m allowing that to be in God’s hands. I’m just thankful he gave me a second chance.”
Earlier this month, the Bills’ general manager Brandon Beane spoke of Hamlin’s eagerness and that things were “trending in the right direction.”
“We’ll get him through all [medical consultations] and then we’ll make sure all of our medical people are hearing all those opinions on each visit and make sure that we’re all on the same page of what it would look like,” Beane told reporters, noting that he believed consultations would end next month but that there could always be more.
Stemming from Hamlin’s incident, the NFL announced the Smart Heart Sports Coalition earlier this week, according to ESPN.
The program focuses on advocating for policies in all 50 states aimed to prevent sudden or fatal instances of cardiac arrest among high school athletes.
The coalition has already sent letters suggesting additional policies to governors in 43 states.
Now that the Super Bowl is done and dusted, Americans are tuning into our true national sport: public penance.
Within the pigskin universe, we recently saw one person who had absolutely nothing to atone for give a thoughtful but unnecessary mea culpa — and another who has a lot to learn about the concept of grace call for one.
And the bookend examples say a lot about the current state of apologies. They’re rarely offered from the heart, and instead bitterly demanded or coerced to satisfy a tiny, offended class.
The first instance came courtesy of Buffalo Bills miracle Damar Hamlin, a modern-day Lazarus who was barely five minutes from his resurrection when he was called out for an imaginary offense.
What should have been a triumphant moment that united all football fans was later turned into a nitpicky and cynical questioning of his Christian faith. All because his blue varsity jacket, a collaboration between rapper Travis Scott and artist Takashi Murakami, featured an abstract depiction of Christ.
“After talking with my parents I understand how my coat could have offended some people. It was never my intentions to hurt or disrespect anyone, the coat is abstract art to me. It says Eternal which I am Eternally thankful to my Savior! My beliefs and Relationship with God is not tied to symbolic images. I will learn from this and continue to walk in Love as I ALWAYS have. Matthew 7:1-5.”
Hamlin, who is clearly a self-reflective type, didn’t owe anyone anything — especially Peterson, who forgot the ol’ Christian wisdom: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone.”
Intent should matter and he was obviously making a fashion statement, not a religious one.
Then, on the other side, we have the aggrieved Brittany Mahomes. The wife of supremely talented quarterback Patrick Mahomes wanted Chiefs naysayers to grovel in the aftermath of the team’s Super Bowl win.
“I think a lot of people need to apologize for what they said about this team at the beginning of this season,” she tweeted with the bravado of a wrestling heel. Instead, it conveyed the delusional entitlement of a grown woman in a “wine o’ clock” shirt asking to speak to the manager.
Forget winning with dignity or enjoying the glow from the Lombardi Trophy in your hands. No, she’s looking for subjugation and media consensus by pushing a make-believe storyline that her husband’s team was disrespected.
Mahomes, who has appeared in three Super Bowls, has two championship rings. This victory is fodder for a “30 for 30” on the Chiefs dynasty — not the next big Hollywood underdog flick.
The team was not Rocky Balboa fighting Apollo Creed at the Spectrum in 1975; or Hickory taking on the South Bend Central Bears; or even the sad-sack Buffalo Bills of the early ’90s.
As a Catholic, I’m well-practiced in the art of contrition. But the act has become a hollow gesture. So I tend to defer to the problematic 21st century philosopher, Conor McGregor, who once said:
“I just want to say from the bottom of my heart, I’d like to take this chance to apologize … to absolutely nobody.”
During the Steelers’ 28-14 win over the Browns at Acrisure Stadium on Sunday, Pittsburgh linebacker Alex Highsmith received a questionable CPR celebration after sacking Deshaun Watson in the game’s fourth quarter.
The celebration comes less than a week since Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field while playing against the Bengals. The safety received life-saving CPR after he went into cardiac arrest.
Immediately after the celebration, social media users began giving their takes. One football fan mocked Pittsburgh by calling the action “real classy” after Hamlin’s incident.
Radio host Isaac Wenzel questioned what he just saw and asked: “Did a Steelers player just do CPR in a big play celebration?”
“The Gunz Show” host Mike Gunz chimed in as well, saying “Of all weeks… not a great look. Yikes.” He later added Highsmith “obviously didn’t have any ill intention towards Hamlin. Just saying it happened and the timing wasn’t the greatest.”
Despite the celebration, Highsmith has been supportive of Hamlin’s recovery with the linebacker posting that he is “praying” for the 24-year-old safety on Twitter.
Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin might have been a fraction of a second away from moving on to the next play.
Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest Monday night when he collapsed on the field in Cincinnati, was administered CPR under life-or-death circumstances and hospitalized in critical condition after what one independent board-certified cardiologist saw as a collision at the time in the cardiac cycle when the heart is most vulnerable.
“That hit had to occur at a certain point in time that was only five milliseconds long,” said Dr. Marc Cohen, Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Newark-Beth Israel Medical Center. “If that hit occurred one millisecond after or before, this may not have happened.”
What looked like a routine (by NFL standards) tackle by Hamlin on Bengals receiver Tee Higgins resulted in Hamlin getting to his feet, adjusting his facemask and immediately falling onto his back as horrified players from both sides watched trainers, paramedics and doctors assist with his breathing and restore his heartbeat.
One common medical explanation is commotio cordis, though that is considered more an instantaneous reaction that would be a challenge to explain how Hamlin rose to his feet.
Cohen’s expertise suggested several issues at play.
“There is a time in the cycle of the heart where we are at risk. If we were to tap the heart, we can cause the heart to go into ventricular fibrillation,” Cohen told The Post. “More likely than not, what happened is he got up and his rhythm became chaotic. That may have taken a few seconds to occur.”
Cohen also noticed on replay that Higgins stopped Hamlin’s chest when they collided, but Hamlin’s head snapped back and forth.
“When your head goes ping-ponging, it’s very possible that a tremendous amount of adrenaline may be released,” Cohen said, “and that adrenaline triggers the heart to go into a chaotic rhythm, which we call ventricular fibrillation.”
The third possibility that occurred to Cohen from afar is similar to what was commonly seen in car-crash victims who slammed into the steering wheel before the popularization of the seat belt and airbag.
“You would tear your aorta at a certain point in your chest, where the rest of you is going forward, but your aorta is pinned down by some ligaments,” Cohen said. “That would cause a catastrophic tear.”
In all three possibilities, on-field defibrillation could have revived Hamlin’s heartbeat, but the unknown is whether the heart is pumping enough blood to the rest of the body, including the breathing center in the brain.
The vulnerable period within each cardiac cycle is only a few milliseconds long, when the heart is most susceptible to degeneration from a sudden physical impact.
The Bills released a statement that Hamlin spent the night at the intensive care unit at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and remains in critical condition. The Bills-Bengals game was suspended and will not be resumed this week.
Cohen credited the first-responders for quick action on the field and said this should be a “wake-up call” to make sure safety equipment is readily available throughout cities to encourage bystander CPR.
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