In all my five decades of watching football I’ve never seen anything like it. I’m not just talking about the accident itself, but the reaction to it.
It was Monday evening Jan 2, 2023. I called out to my wife while coming down stairs, “Kel, turn on the game. Cincinnati is playing Buffalo. It’s going to be a great game.” It was two of the NFL’s best young quarterbacks competing against each other: Joe Burrow vs Josh Allen. The game would have playoff ramifications. But it wasn’t to be.
Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins collided with Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin not long into the first quarter. It looked like a normal hit. Both men went down and got right back up, however Damar went right back down again. It looked like he just collapsed for no apparent reason. We would later find out that he suffered from a rare condition called commotio cordis. The Bill’s training staff immediately ran to Damar and started working on him. Then the Bengals training staff. His heart stopped and he wasn’t breathing. He was given CPR, and they used an Ambu bag, which covered his nose and mouth and allowed oxygen to be pumped into his lungs. The crowd grew eerily silent as they brought an ambulance into the field. Right then it was like nothing else mattered. No one was thinking about the football game anymore. For a brief few moments we were not divided. It didn’t matter if you were a Bengals or Bills fan. It didn’t matter if you were black or white. It didn’t matter what your politics were. What mattered is if this young athlete was going to be okay. For a few moments in time we were all united.
Although no one said it, it was obvious that this was a life and death situation. At one point I remember thinking, “did we just witness this young athlete die tonight on live TV?” The entire stadium was completely silent for almost 20 minutes. 65,000 fans and you could hear a pin drop. The entire Bills team gathered around Damar and the ambulance. The entire Bengals team was down on one knee. You could see members of both teams knelling and praying. The TV kept going back and forth between the scene on the field to the analysts that were there to cover the game. They didn’t know what to say. This was uncharted territory. Finally one of them prayed out loud. Back on the field grown men were crying and hugging one another. The coaches met with each other. The officials met together. The team captains of the Bengals went to the Bills locker room in a show of support.
About 20 minutes later we were told that the game had been called off. Instead of the fans showing discontent, they applauded. It was like everyone knew it was the right thing to do. Later hundreds of both Bills fans and Bangles fans gathered outside the University of Cincinnati Medical Center where they had brought Damar. The outpouring of support was unparalleled. Damar’s charity raised an unsolicited amount of $6 million dollars. People were calling on The God of Heaven and Earth to intervein. Suddenly everyone was talking about God and prayer. Suddenly God became relevant. Even after we found out the Damar’s condition was stable and that he’d been making progress in his recovery, prayer was still being offered up corporately and individually. Both games played on Saturday Jan 7th had a time of prayer and silent support for Damar Hamlin. Teams and fans alike wore the number 3 in a show of solidarity. The internet was on fire with google searches about Damar Hamlin. Who is he? What is his family life like? Did he have a congenital heart problem? Has this every happened before? Does he believe in God?
Damar was born on March 24, 1998. He played college football at the university of Pittsburgh and was selected by the Bills in the sixth round of the 2021 NFL draft. Prior, he attended Central Catholic High school in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Yes Damar is a young man of faith, and is quite outspoken about it. “I feel like that’s God talking to me,” he told a reporter in 2021 referring to his charitable work. Later during his recovery, he said, and I’m paraphrasing, “that what happened to me was no accident. God had allowed it to draw attention to Himself”. It was like God saying, FYI- “I’m not dead!” When man realizes that there are things totally outside and beyond his control, he turns his gaze upward. And like what the sweet Psalmist of Israel wrote in Psalm 121:1-2, “I lift up my eyes to the hills- From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven an earth.”
As I pondered on this a bit, I realized something rather profound. It wasn’t just the concern for this young man that caused this brief interruption, although most were honestly concerned. It was something more. It was the realization of our own mortality. Despite all our activity, our jobs, our recreation, our trivial pursuits, our quest for power, pleasure, and money, we are all going to die. No matter who you are, no matter how much money you have. No matter what great achievements you’ve made. No matter how smart or how educated you are. No matter how young or old you are. No matter if you’re Tom Brady, Tom Cruise, or Tom Cotton, one day you’re going to breath your last breath. One day your heart is going to take it’s last beat. One day you’re going the way of all flesh. Death is the great equalizer. And like the Bible says, “And it’s appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement;” Heb 9:27 And it was this now this conscious reality that became of utmost importance.
Fast forward. Thank God Damar is doing remarkably well. There seems to be no sign of any permanent damage. The playoff games are underway and life has returned back to it’s clamorous, busy…normal. But make no mistake. God interrupted that game. For a brief few moments God got all of our attention. The things we thought important, for a few moments anyway, became unimportant. The wise man will change his ways. The fool goes back to his folly. Life goes on…temporarily at least. For me, the words of my grandmother ring in my ears, “remember son, we have one life to live and it will soon be past. Only what we do for Christ will last.”