Which NFL athlete is more deserving of the title of 2023 Comeback Player of the Year? Quarterback Joe Flacco, finding new success at 38 after being called off the couch by the Cleveland Browns; or defensive back Damar Hamlin, who was dead on the field on Jan. 2, 2023, and has returned to play for the Buffalo Bills?
The Death … and Life … of Damar Hamlin
I’m happy for Flacco, and it’s a great story, but really, is that even a question? I guess if you only care about wins and losses on the field, you have to go for Flacco.
But, when Hamlin finally woke up in the hospital after a blow to the chest during a game short-circuited his heart’s electrical system and caused it to stop, the first thing he wrote (as he was still intubated) was, “Did we win?” The doctors reportedly said, “Yes, Damar, you won. You won the game of life.”
As I wrote about here and here, the, essentially, death of Hamlin on national primetime television, during Monday Night Football, galvanized athletes, fans and more to raise up prayer for his survival.
(This video omits Hamlin’s collapse but shows the live coverage of what happened on the field in the wake of it, including many prayers.)
It was one of the most remarkable things I’ve ever seen, flying in the face of the received wisdom that people just don’t believe in God or the power of prayer anymore.
That would be news to the hundreds of NFL players and coaches, and uncounted thousands of fans and other well-wishers who stormed Heaven in person, in private, on social media, and on TV, for the sake of the 24-year-old Hamlin and his family.
As Hamlin’s life hung in the balance on the field and later in the hospital, they didn’t just pray, they gave. Ultimately, contributors poured more than $9M into Hamlin’s little, $2,500 Community Toy Drive GoFundMe. That led to the creation of his youth-oriented charity.
At the charity’s website, he says:
I’m honored to lead this new charity, Chasing M’s Foundation, which is dedicated to the development, health & safety of youth through sports, engagement activities, training & programming. Because of what happened to me, I’m working to make sure that kids across the country have the same access to life-saving care that I did if they need it.
It’s been a tough year for Hamlin. He’s back on the field, but only in a limited capacity. And, he’s been rocketed from relative obscurity to worldwide notoriety … all while recovering from cardiac arrest.
As Hamlin, a Christian, posted recently on his Instagram account:
View this post on Instagram
The Power of Challenges to Lift Human Spirits
Unless all you care about is winning at gambling or fantasy football, the game — indeed, any sport you might watch — is more than just records and statistics.
Sports tells stories of human courage, endurance and effort, along with about every negative aspect of behavior you can imagine.
With its short playing schedule, immense physical and mental rigors, and ever-present danger of possibly serious injury — there’s a joke that NFL means “not for long” — pro football offers a particularly intense slice of human endeavor.
In a broadcast from last Friday that I listened to today, Hillsdale College president Dr. Larry Arnn said (I paraphrase from memory), “I like baseball, because it’s the sport that’s the least like war. I like football, because it’s the sport that’s the most like war.”
Though no football player would compare playing a game to what actual soldiers do, the sport does touch upon similar, ancient impulses.
In a 2018 post, I quoted author Willa Cather:
The moment that, as a nation, we lose brute force, or an admiration for brute force, from that moment poetry and art are forever dead among us, and we will have nothing but grammar and mathematics left.
The only way poetry can ever reach one is through one’s brute instincts. “Charge of the Light Brigade,” or “How they brought good news to Aix,” move us in exactly the same way that one of Mr. Shue’s runs or Mr. Yont’s touchdowns do, only not half so intensely. A good football game is an epic, it rouses the oldest part of us. Poetry is great only in that it suggests action and rouses great emotions. The world gets all its great enthusiasms and emotions from pure strains of sinew.
Along with sporting contests, this is also the appeal of a great war, superhero or action films, like Hacksaw Ridge, the best of the Marvel movies or, more recently, Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick.
Striving despite huge risks, imminent threat of death, overcoming seemingly impossible odds — all of these get our blood pumping and our spirits lifted.
Also, it’s at moments of greatest danger, confronting the most stark reminders of humanity’s fragility and mortality, that the reality of the divine can become most present.
Many Kinds of Danger Can Crush the Spirit
But it bears remembering that physical peril isn’t the only kind. As he sat at home, not knowing whether he’d ever throw a ball in another NFL game, Flacco’s reputation and career hung in the balance.
I don’t for a moment think that Flacco — a Catholic husband and father of five who seems to have a sensible view of life and sports — was in any serious emotional danger from this.
But for many, especially men, the loss of reputation and/or career can drive them to violence, against others or themselves — or both. We’ve seen this tragically played out in homes, workplaces, public spaces, and even on the world stage.
Flacco and other NFL quarterbacks, past and present, joined together last Sept. 10, on World Suicide Prevention Day, to speak to an aspect of the issue — as shared on Flacco’s Instagram:
View this post on Instagram
Saying Yes to the Power of Prayer
The world has always been a violent place, but with the 24-hour news cycle and social media, it’s more present to us than ever. This is happening at a time when the mainstream media delights in trumpeting the demise of traditional faith.
The prayer tsunami for Hamlin, and the prayers of millions in the wakes of tragedies large and small — even if the media sneers at them — stand in defiance of this sad, dark worldview.
Some might ask why we should care one way or another about the fate of one football player, in a world where millions suffer and die.
The answer is, you don’t have to care at all about Hamlin, as long as you care about someone.
The great Christmastime film, It’s a Wonderful Life, is about a man contemplating suicide, because he thinks he’s lost everything.
But the heavenly messenger Clarence reminds him:
Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?
We’re all not here for long, but long enough to make a difference.
Hamlin’s appearance at the NFL Honors awards show, right before the last Super Bowl, starting by thanking God:
More of the same from the people whose skill and fast action — and as the man accepting says, “by the grace of God and divine intervention” — saved Hamlin’s life …
Image: Buffalo, USA- February 12, 2023: Buffalo Bills AFC Champion Silks Hanging on Buffalo City Hall. PHOTO: Shutterstock
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