Trying to find the words to describe how many of us have felt and continue to feel following the horrific scene during last night’s Bills game involving safety, Damar Hamlin, is next to impossible.
What was supposed to be one of the highlights of the NFL season, pegging two of the best teams in the AFC, going head-to-head on Monday Night Football, turned into a 24-year old young man fighting for his life.
Often times in sports we use cliches like, ‘life or death,’ because of how much sports means to so many of us, but in this instance you are forced to discover the true meaning of that phrase and where our priorities should lie.
In an unprecedented move, both teams left the field and NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell postponed the game until further notice. Having watched the faces of many Bills players on the broadcast including Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs, this was the only choice the league had.
By forcing this game to go forward you would have been endangering the men the league claims to care so much about not only physically, but mentally as well.
While some chose to take to social media with the attention getting goal of trolling during such a horrific moment, many banded together and showed unparalleled support for Hamlin.
NFL teams across the league changed their profiles to reflect praying for Hamlin. Fans have raised over $4 million in support of Hamlin’s charity and various other professional athletes and celebrities have taken to social networks to offer their support.
The Bengals players, coaches, fans & the entire city of Cincinnati have also done nothing but display tremendous class and respect during an extremely difficult situation.
Unexpected light can sometimes be found in moments of darkness. Seeing the humanity displayed surrounding this event could be considered just that.
While we know the Bills & Bengals game will not be continued this week, we wait to see what, if anything, will happen going forward. While the game has massive implications on the AFC standings, that isn’t what most are focused on right now. Nor should they be.
Instead, we wait for news on a young man who has suffered greatly in front of the nation in what is easily one of the worst moments we’ve seen in an NFL game.
Hamlin was doing what he loved and living the dream he had worked his whole life for. Now we sit here and hope at the very least the life component of that continues on.
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