Member-only story

Hamlin’s Shocking Collapse Prompts Serious Questions

Bryan Winchell
7 min readJan 3, 2023
Damar Hamlin, the Buffalo Bills player who collapsed suddenly while playing.

Over the past decade as a blogger and as a former sportswriter in the United States, I’ve written a fair amount about football. My relationship status? It’s complicated.

And with the shocking, serious injury (death?) to Buffalo Bills defender Damar Hamlin a few hours before I posted this and the subsequent postponement of the game, like a lot of football fans, it’s hard to describe my mixed-up emotions. But I’m going to write from the heart and do the best I can because there are some things I feel I need to address.

In short, as a fan of this sport who continues to support it with my attention if not my money, I feel I owe some soul-searching to Damar Hamlin and all of the players who get hurt playing a game that is basically for entertainment.

Before I begin, first and foremost, I’m praying for Hamlin, his family, and his teammates. I know some of you don’t believe in the power of prayer and I’ve got no issues with that. I do, so I’m praying.

I’m also thinking of the players he was competing against on the Cincinnati Bengals. Serious injuries have always been a risk in the sport and there have been many harrowing moments of players down on the turf with teammates and opponents looking on with grave concern, but I don’t believe there’s ever been a game postponed because of a…

--

--

Bryan Winchell
Bryan Winchell

Written by Bryan Winchell

A Serious Fool who writes about: Personal/collective growth, politics, love of Nature/Humanity, Japan, podcasting, humor, and being a hippie in Service to Life.

Responses (3)