We cheer one player’s recovery and look away from the sport’s crippling ways
Damar Hamlin’s story has justifiably inspired many people far beyond the Buffalo and pro football communities. Many have remarked on the expert on-field and hospital medical care, the sense of community and common cause of players across all NFL teams, and the collective relief that a likable young star seems to have escaped a brush with death.
But it’s hard to fully rejoice in the remarkable recovery of the Buffalo Bills safety from his on-field collapse after reading last month’s article in The Boston Globe by Bob Hohler outlining the premature deaths and disabilities suffered by several members of the 2001 New England Patriots team. It’s easier to focus on the shining example of one player’s ongoing recovery than on the sport’s endemic physical and cognitive crippling of so many others.
In less than a week, the Hamlin story went from shock and tragedy to an NFL marketing campaign. His No. 3 jersey was emblazoned on signs and merchandise across the league. Maybe it would have conflicted with the NFL’s story line to have players don, for example, the No. 55 worn by Junior Seau, who had chronic traumatic encephalopathy and took his own life.
Roman gladiators greeted the emperor and audience with “morituri te salutamus”: We who are about to die salute you. The only difference between us now and those barbarous days is that, for the most part, the tragic results of our spectacles and circuses now happen off-screen.
Mark Lohr
Jamaica Plain
Football is one of our addictions, like cigarettes and guns
Consider three deadly addictions.
Cigarettes kill people. Though unconscionably late to the game, an aggressive and multifaceted public sector response has made impressive inroads, in spite of the deceitful and dishonest behavior of the tobacco industry.
Largely unfettered access to firearms, especially assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, has made the United States the mass murder capital of the world. The response? Thoughts and prayers for the families of the victims, many of them schoolchildren.
And now, highlighted by the near death from cardiac arrest of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin during a nationally televised football game and the multiple concussions this season for Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, we are reminded that football is an inherently violent game, with devastating short- and long-term consequences for many of its players, most of them people of color. The response? More thoughts and prayers, huge (possibly guilt-driven) contributions to charitable organizations, and a National Football League that still wants to play more regular season and playoff games, resists a second bye week for all teams, and asks teams to play games on Sunday and then again on Thursday nights, inadequate recovery time be damned.
Addictions, all three. And, especially in the case of guns and football, we appear powerless to resist the excitement of these deadly pastimes.
Michael Knosp
Melrose
"Opinion" - Google News
January 12, 2023 at 02:30PM
https://ift.tt/dayq5VJ
Damar Hamlin is a shining example in a tarnished pastime - The Boston Globe
"Opinion" - Google News
https://ift.tt/FhMacrs
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
No comments:
Post a Comment