There were two big winners in the NFL this week — Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin and the power of prayer.
The Sobering Reality and Many Miracles Surrounding Damar Hamlin
Quick and correct medical care — including CPR by trainer Denny Kellington — kept the 24-year-old Hamlin alive on the field after he dropped suddenly from cardiac arrest.
It came without warning, following what looked like a routine tackle during the first quarter of ESPN and ABC’s telecast of the Jan. 2 Monday Night football game between the Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals.
On ESPN’s SportsCenter, anchor Scott Van Pelt and former NFL safety Ryan Clark did yeoman work as the first hour of the event unfolded in real time. Clark, who has suffered an on-field injury, offered a sobering and valuable perspective.
A powerful message given by a man fully qualified to speak on this issue.
He had a similar collision in 2009 with Willis McGahee.
There’s no script on what to say in moments like this but Ryan Clark’s delivered a timely message people needed to hear!
— Patrick Bet-David (@patrickbetdavid) January 3, 2023
After those first moments, more expert care at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center has helped the second-year NFL player (who graduated from a Catholic high school) make a so-far remarkable recovery.
Upon awakening, still with an intubation tube in his mouth, preventing speech, Hamlin, who wears number 3, asked in writing whether the Bills won the game (it was suspended and will not be played).
Love for Damar in Every NFL Stadium
This weekend, the NFL played the final regular-season games, with each team wearing tees that said “Love for Damar 3” and paying tribute to him, his family and the medical team.
Hamlin recovered to the point where he, still in the ICU, watched (and tweeted about) the Bills’ Jan. 8 victory over the New England Patriots, which propelled the team into the playoffs.
GAMETIME!!! @BuffaloBills � pic.twitter.com/PQYClonUHb
— ����� ������ (@HamlinIsland) January 8, 2023
Oh, by the way, Bills running back Nyheim Hines caught the opening kickoff and ran it back 94 yards for a touchdown. Then, he did it again with the second-half kickoff, this time for 101 yards. In case you were wondering, that generally doesn’t happen … ever.
Hamlin noticed:
God Behind All This No Coincidence..3️⃣ https://t.co/J2dCVv4VBN
— ����� ������ (@HamlinIsland) January 8, 2023
Hamlin is right. As the game began, he tweeted:
GameDay.. Nothing I Want More Than To Be Running Out That Tunnel With My Brothers. God Using Me In A Different Way Today. Tell Someone You Love Them Today! ��3️⃣ let’s go @BuffaloBills ❤️� pic.twitter.com/XgA7S3Bpvn
— ����� ������ (@HamlinIsland) January 8, 2023
When Hamlin Fell, Prayers Rose
And those two tweets bring me the other big winner, the power of prayer. From the moment Hamlin dropped to the turf, a stunned TV audience saw the shock, fear and horror on the faces of his teammates, as they clustered around him, the medical personnel and the ambulance on the field.
I was one of them. At 9:11 p.m. ET, I tweeted.
If you see this, pray for a guy named Damar Hamlin. He’s a football player, and trust me, he needs it.
— Kate O’Hare �� (@KateOHareWrites) January 3, 2023
Then, the floodgates opened. A great tsunami of prayer broke over the NFL world and spilled onto social media.
Our thoughts and prayers are with Damar, his family and the Buffalo Bills ❤️� pic.twitter.com/A03jGU4J9S
— NFL (@NFL) January 3, 2023
The Life of One Young Man Inspires Millions
The flow of prayer and appeals to God has been ceaseless ever since, rushing in from every corner of the football world and the world at large. #PrayforDamar spread on Twitter, as details came out about this young man from McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania.
The son of a teen mother, his upbringing was challenging, but Hamlin’s powerful witness and that of his parents — his mother was in the stadium, and his father joined her at the hospital — impressed the medical staff and everyone.
Hamlin had started a foundation called Chasing Ms (for millions). At the time of his cardiac arrest, he was running a modest GoFundMe to buy toys for the kids at his mom’s daycare. He was seeking $2,500 … and it’s currently at over $8.5M.
It’s hard to summarize what happened this week, as millions of people hoped and prayed for one athlete and his family.
Over and Beyond Everything, There Was Prayer
On the flip side, there were the usual suspects: complaining about the NFL leadership, pointing out the staggeringly obvious fact that football is a violent game (Really? We hadn’t noticed.), writing op-eds about how much they love the sport while feeling very guilty about that, and hijacking Hamlin’s situation to make a point about … whatever thing they’re desperate to make a point about.
But over everything, came the prayers …
Here’s ESPN anchor and former NFL player Dan Orlovsky, praying live on TV:
https://youtu.be/J1Vs59RDITc
This ESPN panel talks about joy and the power of prayer, and gets emotional (especially former Bills coach Rex Ryan):
https://youtu.be/91q5yN2YbAk
After the Bills’ victory, team QB Josh Allen recalled declaring to his teammates that “God is real.”
Josh Allen speaks for us all. pic.twitter.com/Guqx5QElVt
— NFL UK (@NFLUK) January 8, 2023
Media Amazed to Find Christians in the NFL
In the midst of all this, many in the legacy media struggled to understand.
From PBS NewsHour:
“It is new in terms of the scale and the scope,” said Paul Putz, assistant director of the Faith & Sports Institute at Baylor University. “It’s not common to see someone on a national television network who opens in prayer or just issues a prayer during the broadcast. That certainly is something that’s new, but it also does reflect this broader Christian subculture in the NFL.”
From the New York Times:
The invocations on behalf of the 24-year-old have gone beyond the pro forma “thoughts and prayers” often offered by public figures after a tragedy. The outpouring reveals the way that Christian faith has long been intertwined with American football culture, tied to the sport through its popularity in the Bible Belt. Strengthening the bond is the closeness of players whose risk of physical danger in the high-impact sport has attracted more publicity in recent years.
All I can say is, where have you been? In 2011, commentators treated quarterback Tim Tebow’s relatively restrained religiosity as it was some kind of strange sociological phenomenon.
I’ve been watching football fairly intensely for many years now, and hearing players talk about God is about as common as hearing politicians talk about themselves.
There’s a reason for that.
“The game will bring you to your knees, so you might as well start there” Matt Birk
In 2015, I did an interview with retired Vikings and Ravens center Matt Birk, a Catholic, and he offered thoughts on faith in the NFL workplace, such as:
“The NFL team,” he said, “it’s probably the most spiritual workplace in America. Every team I was on had a team chaplain who was available almost all the time, had an office there; the door was open.
“We had player Bible studies Monday; had a couple Bible studies during the week; had fellowship service and Catholic Mass Saturday night or Sunday morning. Where else are you encouraged to grow like that in your faith?
“If you’re feeling a calling, you have an outlet there to nurture that. The culture of football is very spiritual; I don’t think most people realize that.”
As to why:
“I’ve always said football’s a very spiritual game,” he said. “The game will bring you to your knees, so you might as well start there. It’s just because football’s so difficult, and the highs are high, and the lows are very low, and it’s so much work and grinding and dedication.
“You have to have a spiritual experience or awakening while you’re doing it. You just have to, otherwise it’s like you’re not even alive. Football brought me back to my faith.”
As always in matters of faith, the mainstream media takes its time figuring out what’s been right in front of its nose.
It Has Ever Been Thus
Tonight, my Seattle Seahawks won a game that helped pave the team’s way into the playoffs, and QB Geno Smith — like innumerable other players this past week and on this final weekend of the regular season — gave glory to God.
https://youtu.be/tZBnry2_C9g
Not everyone in professional football is Christian or even religious, and undoubtedly many non-Christians were among those who offered prayers, but Christianity and football have been intertwined since the sport’s earliest days.
I did a piece on the Catholic roots of the NFL, including profiles of three of the league’s founders, who were daily-Mass-going Catholics.
I’ll close with a snippet of one of my favorite football movies, Any Given Sunday, directed by that noted faith-based filmmaker Oliver Stone (kidding), featuring a locker-room talk to the fictional Miami Sharks from the team chaplain — a Catholic priest.
UPDATE: And this happened today, Jan. 9 (more details at the Twitter thread) …
UC Medical doctors said that #Bills safety Damar Hamlin has been released from the hospital and has returned to Buffalo. Incredible progress.
— Kellyanne Stitts (@KellyanneStitts) January 9, 2023
Image: Shutterstock
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