Rant #3,048: What's Going On

 

Early on in 2023, the story of the year appears to be that of Damar Hamlin, the Buffalo Bills football player who suffered cardiac arrest on the field during a game and could have died right then and there without the speedy aid that he received fron the Bills’ medical staff.

The player had never had any heart episodes at all in his young life, but during the play where this happened, he got hit right in the chest area where his heart is, and it pretty much turned off the processes allowing his heart to beat.

The country has been captivated with this incident since it happened and since so many people saw it as it played out, as the game was on national TV.

Every TV news show has been covering this story since than, and it appears that while the player is far from being out of the woods with this, he is making something of a remarkable recovery.

Every day we hear updates on his health, and they are all good.

First, he was taking oxygen from a ventilator at a decreasing rate, meaning that he was breathing more on his own.

Next, he was pretty much breathing totally on his own, and next he not only didn’t need the oxygen tube, but he was well enough to be tweeting his teammates.

Next, he was talking, and his doctors said that his neurological progress was excellent.

The NFL has honored him and his number 3 jersey in every way possible, even highlighting the number three on the field.

Fans—and all fans, not just those of the Bills—have taken up his cause, with placards at every game and with donations to his GoFundMe page for his charity, which has gone through the roof to honor the player.

Even non-NFL fans like me have been captivated by this story—

But wait a minute.

Somehow lost in all the tributes and the daily news of his recovery has been one very important item:

How to prevent this so that it never happens to any player ever again.

Look, I realize that this was a freak accident.

Players get hit all the time, and it never, ever leads to anything like this—maybe a couple of bumps and bruises, but not a heart attack.

But with all the bravado thrown behind this story, I have never heard of the NFL even looking into the possibility that there is a chance—even a scant one—that this could happen again, and come up with a plan to prevent that from happening.

Football players already wear a virtual ton of equipment when they go on the field to play, from their helmet to shoulder guards all the way down to their knees and feet.

But this accident happened in the chest area, right where the heart is, and perhaps, if there was some type of equipment underneath the jersey to protect that area, this would never have happened.

Perhaps NFL players need to wear some type of flack jacket underneath their jerseys, or at least something to protect the heart area from experiencing such a pounding.

But whatever the case, has the NFL ever said anything about this?

And aren’t they even the least bit concerned that the next time it happens—and there will be a next time—that the player won’t come out of it as well as Hamlin has?

Why has the NFL not said or done anything about the prevention of this injury?

They have spent enough time in honoring the player, which is all fine and good, but if they had a plan in place prior to this incident, we would not be talking about it like we are, and if because of the incident, they did something about it, no player would ever again have to go through what Hamlin went through.

And Hamlin is NOT the only player to have a heart attack on the field while playing an NFL game.

Back more than 50 years ago, in 1971, when I was fully engaged by football, I believe I was watching a nationally televised game with the Detroit Lions,

Chuck Hughes played in that game. I have no idea who won the game or who the opponent was, but as the game ended, there was some chaos on the field.

Right as the game ended, Hughes clutched his chest, had a massive heart attack, and died.

I so vaguely remember this, and honestly, I had to look up the player’s name just to make sure I knew what I was tailing about.

These things happen, and more than a half-century later, it nearly happened again.

That being said, the ball is now in the NFL’s court; just look at this as an aberration and move on from it, or actually do something viable and tangible about it.

I hope that the NFL chooses the latter path.