While We’re Young (Ideas) on NFL, Damar Hamlin and Tons of Notes
By TERRY LYONS
BOSTON – Staying in the moment. It’s the sports equivalent of being cool. Staying cool and calm. The term is usually uttered by coaches who preach to their players to worry about the next play and not to look back at a missed opportunity, a missed shot, a missed field goal from the third quarter. When the game is on the line, stay in the moment.
The Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals are the two up & coming, rock solid AFC teams, challenging the proud and proven Kansas City Chiefs. Last Monday night, with the Bengals leading the Bills, 7-3, with about six minutes remaining in the first quarter of an incredibly important NFL game, the world stopped for Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin.
A few of the players on the field panicked and screamed for help. The ESPN Monday Night Football crew froze and did their best to keep an commentary to a minimum and, unfortunately – FILL TIME. To their credit, there was zero speculation.
Truly staying in the moment were the combination of:
- The Buffalo Bills’ athletic training team
- The Cincinnati Bengals’ athletic trainers
- The visiting team Emergency Response Unit
As the unimaginable horror played out from television cameras right into our TV or living rooms, the medial team(s) stayed in the moment and responded in a matter of seconds. Then, they did their jobs. They worked as a cohesive unit, well trained and executing immediate, life-saving mechanisms to quickly revive Damar Hamlin.
At the time, it was unbeknownst to Hamlin’s teammates and opponents, to a Paycor Stadium crowd of 65,515+ and a MNF record national television audience of 23.8 million, but the medical teams were performing life-saving CPR and utilizing a cardioversion machine (defibrillator) to spark Hamlin’s heart back to rhythm after his cardiac arrest episode.
Although ESPN opted NOT to show a replay, other news outlets (CBS the next morning, CNN and others) showed the brute force of Bengals wide-receiver Tee Higgins (6-4, 219 lbs) out of Clemson barreling through the line. Hamlin made a move, then a football play to make a tackle of the wide-receiving version of NFL freight train Derrick Henry, a running back for the Tennessee Titans. It was a play performed 1,000 times a season but on Monday Night, the timing and positioning of the impact, combined with the milli-second timing of Hamlin’s heartbeat created the catastrophic series of events.
From the field, the transportation to the nearby University of Cincinnati Medical Center where trauma teams were notified and ready to respond. All in a matter of seconds – on the field – and minutes once the Bills-Bengals-and-EMS services stabilized Hamlin. All of that precious speed obviously saved his life. The medical team stayed in their moment, did their jobs and, much to their credit, not a word was uttered to fuel speculation to the national audience.
Hamlin’s immediate family was at the game, so they were getting confidential first-hand information. Media hustled to UC Medical Center but were asked to report from blocks away from the Emergency Room, thoughtfully as no one could predict another trauma situation in progress from another part of town.
The key elements from the night:
- Everyone, from teammates and opponents to coaches to fans to the NFL kept the life of Damar Hamlin as their first and only priority. Even geeks in Fantasy sports leagues put the player first.
- That fact resonated everywhere. Everyone did the right thing, especially the medical teams.
- Cincinnati Bengals ticket holders filed out of the Stadium, many in small prayer vigils – all in full understanding of the severity and importance of the situation.
- Bills fans filed out as well, in shock and worried. Bengals fans walked with them arm-in-arm, in silence.
- Almost immediately, a charity Toys for Kids fund that Hamlin had started this winter saw donations flowing in so fast, they brought a $3,900 fund balance to $8,327,000 in a matter of four days. Most of the donations are not rounded to zero, but finish with a three – Hamlin’s uniform number. Some donations are $3,333.
While he remains in critical condition, and that is never to be overlooked, Hamlin’s medical team has been encouraged with day-by-day improvement and medical proof of positive neurology and all movement. The news also included a sign that every competitor in the world related to, right away.
Hamlin’s first question, once heart support and breathing tubes were removed and he could speak free of any medical machinery, was the question that proved why the University of Pittsburgh product from McKees Rocks, PA – a town of 5,920 in Western Pennsylvania – is a coach’s dream.
“Did we win?”
HERE NOW, THE NOTES: When the Red Panda unpacked her unicycle at Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, the fans of Boston College basketball knew it was a big game. The Duke Blue Devils were in town and Conte was sold-out, although with the student body home on Christmas break rather than boarding at The Heights, many fans wore Duke blue rather than BC’s maroon and gold.
Saturday, Boston College (8-8, 2-3) had a legitimate chance to beat ACC rival and blue blood Duke (12-4, 3-2), ranked No. 16 in the nation in men’s college basketball. Duke’s Kyle Filipowski made the difference when he drained two free throws for a 65-64 advantage with 0:12 seconds remaining.
BC’s final play ran amok and Makai Ashton-Langford missed a jumper and a scramble and ridiculous and unnecessary Duke inbounds play allowed BC a final desperation heave by BC’s 7-footer Quintin Post which rattled off the backboard.
These are the games a team like Duke wins. Under new coach Jon Scheyer, the Blue Devils shot 89.5% from the free throw line as they shot 17-of-19, indicative of an afternoon of powering it inside to take advantage of mis-matches and height advantages. BC shot a respectable 85.7% from the line but shot only 6-of-7 because of perimeter jump shots rather than any success of working an inside game against their conference opponent.
The color commentator cliches of controlling the boards, limiting turnovers, winning the contest for 50-50 balls and hitting free throws proved correct. In fact, BC forced 15 Duke turnovers while the Eagles kept their TOs to nine.
Duke finds a way to win and winning an ACC game on the road is a major accomplishment. Don’t be surprised if the Blue Devils are in the ACC Tournament finals and play deep into March as they continue to improve throughout January and February.
ALL THE ROWDY FRIENDS ARE HERE FOR MONDAY NIGHT: When Georgia faces upstart TCU on Monday night for the college football national championship, Georgia coach Kirby Smart will be looking at the typical W-L barometers as the difference-makers. What will he he look for in his team in such an important game? “Well, the same thing it does in every football game — who can control the line of scrimmage, who can be explosive, who doesn’t turn the ball over.
“The game never changes. You just have more cameras here. You have more people viewing, bigger stage, a lot further away from home. But football’s football. And our guys prepare for that – really – all year. So we’ve got to go play a really, really good football team and we’ll have to play one of our best games of the year to be able to compete.”
It’s that simple and that difficult to win a national championship.
TO TANK OR NOT TO TANK: While most NFL fans will be scoreboard watching for home field advantages, higher playoff seeds or “win and in” scenarios in the NFL’s final week of play, the fans of the Houston Texans (2-13-1, .156) and the Chicago Bears (3-13-0, .188) will be watching for the position to hold the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft. … While the NBA and the NHL have moved to Lottery events to include multiple clubs to determine the top pick in their respective drafts, the NFL lets it ride. May the worst team win, tank or no tank. … Chicago hosts NFC North rival Minnesota with the Vikings (-7). … Meanwhile Houston is on the road to a (4-11-1) Indianapolis Colts team, nearly as inept as the Bears/Texans crew. Houston is getting (+2.5) points but the chances of them winning and dropping the No. 1 pick is one in a million.