A Grip on Sports: Don’t expect the NFL to do anything this week but roll on
A GRIP ON SPORTS • The upcoming weekend will be tough. But only if the NFL does what the NFL does, steamrolling everything in its path and keeping on schedule no matter what.
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• Most football fans – heck, a large part of America – were watching Monday night when Buffalo Bills’ safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field. And many more have followed the aftermath.
Hamlin is still hospitalized in critical condition. His outlook is unknown but nothing directs our view toward a positive one at this point.
And yet the NFL looks to be rolling on.
Despite having one of its players lying in a Cincinnati hospital, family nearby, with his life in the balance.
Despite others players and their representatives sharing their feelings, not just for Hamlin but for their selves, their teammates, everyone who plays the game. For them it’s hard to want to get back on the field and hit each other. Not after what happened Monday night.
The specter of the game’s violence was embodied in that one hit, those two steps, that one fall. For everyone who plays the game, it’s no longer a what-if – if it ever was.
The game is dangerous. Exciting, fun-to-play, fun-to-watch. Popular. But it’s dangerous.
Sure, injuries are part of the deal. Rare is the NFL game without some sort of major one. And yet the life-threatening aspect rarely, if ever, is acknowledged. The players avoid thinking about it. They couldn’t play otherwise.
The league can’t afford to recognize it, and we mean the “afford” literally. The financial foundations of the professional game could teeter and fall if it did.
But Monday night everyone had to look into the abyss that accompanies the game. For years, we’ve seen the long-term damage, the CTE, the depression, the increased incidence of suicide. But that’s not today, nor tomorrow, for the players. It’s down the road. And that road isn’t on their map. At least that’s how they see it. Or are forced to see it.
A peer making a normal hit and minutes later fighting for life? That’s different. That could be anyone. Anytime. Anywhere.
Hard to ignore, right? And they aren’t ignoring it in any way. There have been calls for the league to push this week’s games back. To give everyone a chance to breath. To come to grips, mentally, with what happened.
That isn’t going to happen.
Funny, we’ve read many comments about the “average person’s workplace” and how such a thing wouldn’t stop the factory or mine or whatever from opening the next day. What a crock. If a machine fell on a worker at the national conglomerate’s plant down the street, you don’t think the Feds wouldn’t be all over it? The state labor folks as well.
But the NFL, one of the nation’s most profitable businesses, doesn’t seem to have that worry. It’s just a game, right? In a sense, sure. A game, however, with inherent dangers for the workforce. They can’t all be eliminated. And that’s what the players, the fans, the owners, everyone with an interest in the league, were forced to confront Monday night.
It wasn’t pretty. No one wanted to stare. To watch. To deal with it. But it’s there. Always has been. Always will be, no matter the final outcome for Hamlin.
Hopefully it will be positive. The young man deserves nothing more. All he was doing was what many thousands of young folks did over the past few months. Playing football. Enjoying the game. Entertaining us.
His peers will be back on the field this weekend. They’ll be throwing themselves around, trying to extend their season or their career. After every collision they will get up, head back to their side of the ball and prepare to do it again.
Unless, like Damar Hamlin, they can’t.
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WSU: How is the current state of college football different than just a few years ago? Well, one difference is most every day there is something to cover concerning the transfer portal. Colton Clark has a story today concerning a reserve player entering it. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and college football, Jon Wilner grades every school’s season in the Mercury News. … Washington’s doctors have an automatic response is player goes down. Everyone does. … Though Deion Sanders brought his quarterback son with him to Colorado, others are ready to play the position if need be. … No matter how well USC’s quarterback and offense play, the Trojans have to fix their leaky defense. … Decisions loom for Utah. … An Oregon State quarterback has made his decision. … In basketball news, Wilner has his power ranking for the conference. … We can pass along a women’s basketball notebook as well. … The defense hasn’t been good enough for Colorado. … Arizona is concerned with Washington’s zone defense.
Gonzaga: After the nonconference season, the Zags aren’t the leading contender for the national title anymore. At least not in the eyes of the oddsmakers. Jim Meehan shares that information in this story. … He also has another piece on when Curtis High star Zoom Diallo is planning to visit Gonzaga. … Elsewhere in the WCC, is the recent success of BYU’s teams real or a mirage? … The NCAA would like to see expanded playoffs in all sports, having 25% of teams taking part in the postseason. In basketball, that would mean about 96 participating in March Madness.
Preps: Dave Nichols was out last night, covering Mead’s return to action against visiting Ridgeline. … He also put together this roundup of Tuesday’s night games throughout this part of the state.
Seahawks: We linked quite a few stories above concerning Hamlin if you are interested. As for the Hawks, they had to make a roster move yesterday due to Jordyn Brooks’ knee injury. … Cody Barton will be in Brooks’ spot this week.
Kraken: Seattle fell behind early but roared back to defeat the Oilers.
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• Maybe the NFL will prove us wrong today. Postpone this weekend’s games. Eliminate the extra week before the Super Bowl and give the players a chance to come to grips with what happened. But we don’t believe it will. Until later …