What happened on Monday night was tragic. Everyone can agree a person having a freak heart attack is a tragic occurrence. These things happen in life and sometimes they happen in professional sports. We were all pulling for Hamlin to recover. It was a sad situation that caused a lot of stress and worry. But that didn't make sad quitting in the middle your job a smart or mature decision. The reality is that it was a childish decision made by men unwilling to face the adversity of their sadness. Adults know, or at least used to know, that sad quitting your responsibilities in a situation that is beyond your control is the wrong thing to do. It doesn't resolve the problem and shirking responsibility never helps the situation, it only hurts. This is why, hard as it may be in this situation, facing your responsibilities as an adult is the best decision. It is the right and the mature decision that has been proven over time. Quitting the game isn't a method of treatment for an injured player and doesn't do anything to help that player recover. The other men still had a commitment and professional responsibility to achieve. I understand that its hard being sad, but part of being an adult is having to overcome that situation. Sad, even tragic things that we cannot change, will happen in life and a mature person endures with their responsibilities. They don't quit. Its a lesson in life that a person learns to grow from. Children quit in these situations and need to be taught its wrong and only leads to negative outcomes. It was sad when Tua was having seizures on the field. It was sad when Dennis Byrd was carted off in traction. It was sad when Brett Farve's father died the day before his game. Why did Farve play? He could have taken the game off in that case and everyone would have understood. A father is much closer than a team mate. But he didn't quit for two reasons. The first is that his father would have wanted him to play. The second is succumbing to sadness and missing the game wouldn't bring his father back. Just like quitting the game wouldn't have healed Dennis Bird, or Tua, or Damar Hamlin. There are those that suggest it was the best solution for the players mental health. This is completely wrong. Pacing around for hours being sad and worrying about a situation that is beyond your control isn't good for a persons mental health. In fact, it further traumatizes the person. The best solution would be to endure with your responsibilities to occupy your mind which also allow a person to slow process an uncontrollable situation. There is plenty of time to embrace sadness when your responsibilities are finished. Enduring with their responsibilities and being productive would have been much more beneficial to their state of mind. In the long run, quitting hurt he players more than helped them. It also didn't help Damar Hamlin. Some get this goofy notion that continuing the game would have somehow been disrespectful to a football player, and an adult, because he went down. In fact, the opposite is usually true in this situation, and in Hamlin's case for two big reasons. The first thing Hamlin asked was, "who won the game". Its great that the sound bite contained the more important message, "that he won the game of life". That is truly great. But its also not the answer to the question he asked. The answer to his question is, "when you went down we all quit". As a former college player I can assure you that no football player wants to hear that. Not just because of their love for the game. But because they don't want that distinction. They don't want their tragedy to define their career or them as a person on center stage. Like it or not, that is currently the role he's been placed in. Sure they appreciate the support, but they don't want the distinction. In the long run, quitting didn't do Hamlin any favors. Finally there is the damage to the league. Being part of a league means each team has a set of responsibilities thay have to achieve for the overall good of the rest. If a team fails to accomplish their basic responsibilities they harm not only themselves, but the overall league. Sad quitting now has us facing unbalanced and on the fly rule changes. Someone is going to have to pay a price for the quitting. This calls into question the legitimacy of the 2022 season. As adults of the past already knew well, quitting when you feel sad and helpless only has negative effects. It doesn't help anything. It didn't help the players mindset. It didn't help Hamlin. And it didn't help the league. It was a choice that only had bad outcomes. This is why we teach our children to endure through these situations as part of being an adult. Sure children will quit. But adults have to do the smart thing, which is also the right thing - the responsible thing. It might be tough, but that is part of maturity, and parting of growing. Its perfectly fine for people to be sad. Its perfectly fine for football players to cry over tragedy. But when the situation moves out of your control you have to dry your tears, collect yourself, say a prayer, put your helmet on, and go finish your job like an adult. Sad quitting like a fragile child will only generate negative outcomes, and sets a bad example for the children.
oucy started a very interesting thread. I still think cancelling the game was the right move. We are human and so far no NFL player died on the field and Bills-Cincy game was closest to that happening.
Chuck Hughes of the Lions died on the field in 1971 after a hit from Dick Butkus. I actually met a guy who was in attendance for that game ….
The post starts with a false statement. Hamlin didn't have a heart attack he had a cardiac arrest. While a cardiac arrest comes as a result of a heart attack it can also come as a result of other things like trauma... which is what happened. A heart attack comes as a result of blockage the rest is just silly. They didn't stop the game to help anyone. They stopped the game because the players didn't want to play after watching their teammate nearly die right in front of them.
Brook, part of being human is overcoming adversity. It has always been known that shirking responsibilities when you feel sad and helpless will only lead to bad outcomes and wont help anything. Being human doesn't mean allowing sadness to create bad outcomes. Quitting the game didn't help anyone. It simply magnified the tragic. Yes as humans in life we will encounter pain, and sadness, and helplessness. But we also have learned that the right thing to do is to overcome it - not give into it and quit. The better part of being human is being responsible and strong when you need to be because its the right thing to do. Moping is childish and doesn't solve anything.
No need to apologize - a lot of people aren’t aware of that. Back in 1971 there was no social media obviously and I also don’t believe there is any existing footage of this event. But according to the guy I met the player collapsed - described very similar to Monday night - except it wasn’t immediate there was about a 2 minute delay - the game was halted as with every other injury - the player was carted into the locker room and the game continued. The fans in attendance had a sense it was not a normal injury and was very serious. Most did not find out the player actually died until they heard it on their car radios driving home.
Quitting didn't help anyone, it only inflamed an already bad situation. Children think sadness is a good reason to quit. Experience teaches that it has no positive outcomes, and the mature person doesn't allow uncontrollable circumstances to make them quit, because it only does more damage.
Not one player or coach was in the right mindset to finish that game and I can guarantee not one of them cares that some Joe Schmoe from a Jets message board thinks it was the right call or not. Definitely one of those times that it’s better to keep your mouth shut because your opinion is fucking stupid.
Sadness isn't an excuse to make bad decisions. Quitting didn't help one player, one coach, or Damar Hamlin. Its not an opinion. Its a fact of life. Since that fact of life is "fucking stupid". Why don't you give me an example of why your opinion is "fucking smart".
It's an interesting precedent to set. There have been many times when players have almost died or had to leave in an ambulance. I've never seen a game actually get canceled over it. The problem with the whole thing is that it creates an unfair schedule advantage for some teams going down the stretch in the playoff seeding. What they should have done was played the game Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest and moved their last game to Monday. Since they didn't, they should just declare Cincy the winner, since they were up at the time BOTH coaches agreed to stop the game. I don't like the neutral championship field idea. That screws the teams out of a lot of revenue for the game and it also screws the fans. I bet fantasy leagues are having revolts over this too. Many Leagues had their championship games that week.
These are different times for sure. This isn’t an era where you suppress your feelings, suck it up, and get back to Work. For better or worse, feelings always came last. Even when loved one died, we didn’t stop. We would have said, “Dad would have wanted me to open the store today.” Players back in the olden days didn’t even miss a game when their wives were giving birth.
There is a vast difference between seeing someone injured and seeing someone die; arguing they are the same for the sake of criticizing the players lacks any semblance of ability to form a logical position that reflects truth. Players accept injury as a risk to their career but likely don't think death is a norm of the game. At that point nobody knew if he was alive or dead -- that is why they weren't in the emotional space to continue the game. For all intents and purposes they saw him die and life saving measures were required to resuscitate him. I'd like to know the career that would make employees get back to work if a coworker died in front of them.
If one of my colleagues dropped dead in the middle of the day you can bet your ass the office would be closed for at least a week. Fucking stupid thread.
Wasn't there a study sometime ago that established Jets fans were the most educated fanbase in the league? What the fuck happened?
I'm not going to judge them, but imagine if all the police and firefighters went home after 9/11? Or imagine if all the nurses went home if a coworker passed away? There are many jobs where people still have to show up for work and continue working. The NFL fortunately isn't one of those jobs. I've seen a basketball game where the guys leg completely split off, they still played. It is what it is, but I would argue this might set a precedent where teams walk off the field when a major injury goes down. Of course you can argue this was different, but I remember the Steelers and Ravens still playing when many thought Willis Mcgahee might have died on the field.
There are many jobs out there where this is not the reality though. Maybe office jobs it's the reality but many jobs its not whatsoever.
