Commentary by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — I love football. But there is a part of me thinking that the sport is one tragedy away from being seriously altered.

Thankfully, Monday night was not that tragedy. Buffalo safety Damar Hamlin is on his way to recovery, thank goodness, after suffering from cardiac arrest during the Monday Night Football game with the Cincinnati Bengals.

As much as we would like to blame the sport, it appears this was not an exclusive football injury. I’m hoping in the days ahead; we can specifically learn what caused Hamlin to collapse and nearly die on the field. There is speculation that Commotio Cordis is a possible culprit (see AP story here). Dr. Rod Passman, director of the Center for arrhythmia research at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, states:

“The condition only happens during a rare set of circumstances: when a sharp hit lands directly over the heart ‘at the exact wrong location at the exact wrong time’ during the heart’s rhythm cycle.”

According to the article, it probably occurs 20 times a year, and about 60 percent of those affected survive. The speculation is Hamlin could have had a pre-existing heart condition.

More than 365,000 people in the U.S. have sudden cardiac arrests in non-hospital settings each year, according to the American Heart Association. Survival depends on quick CPR and shocking the heart back into a normal rhythm, as reportedly happened with Hamlin.

The Hamlin injury could have happened in any sport where there is contact: basketball, baseball, wrestling, soccer, etc. And it most certainly can happen locally at the high school level.

The seven Sumner County school boards and administrators must review their emergency preparedness. In some cases, bigger schools, such as Wellington, should continue to employ full-time athletic trainers at sporting events. Smaller schools, which can’t afford such an investment, should make sure there is a medical professional at all sporting events.

Perhaps, the more of us who know CPR, the better.

The Wellington Fire/EMS will be conducting a free class for the public on January 24 at 6 p.m. at the public safety building at 200 North C. The class content will include two-hand CPR (non-certification), and how to help a choking victim and stop the bleeding. The class is open for ages 10 and up. To enroll, call 620-326-7443.

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The NFL has done a good job handling this situation – from its quick medical response to Hamlin, to its decision to cancel the game, to how it will handle the playoffs (more on this in a bit).

Still, let’s not paint the NFL as the good guys.

Sifting through the Internet chatter this week, I stumbled across this gem from Garrett Bush from the Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show:

Here’s the scary side of the Damar Hamlin story nobody but @Gbush91 wants to talk about. pic.twitter.com/X4Wgx0dXs4

— Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show (@ultCLEsports) January 4, 2023

Bush should get a raise or at least a gig on CBS Sports for that rant alone.

His best statement of the rant:

“This young man (Hamlin) is 24 years old, He has a contract for $160,000 for his bonus and earned $825,000 this year… He has been in the league for two years. That means if he never plays another down in the NFL he won’t get another check from the NFL. You have to play three or four years before you sniff a pension. So all this heart-warming prayers and condolences don’t do nothing for that boy’s mom, whose son who might need extensive care for the rest of his life.”

Bush would then talk about the NFL’s poor track record for disability insurance, the lack of reimbursements from the CTE lawsuit, and its chintzy pension policy.

Oh, and the Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula has a net worth of $6.2 billion.

Bush is right. The NFL owners don’t care about these kids. It is all about the money.

Again, I love the sport of football and will watch NFL games, shell out money for merchandise, possibly go to a game, play fantasy football, and bet on what might be tainted contests because I’m being entertained.

But the reality is bad people run the NFL. And there isn’t a damn thing we can do about it.

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Ok, shifting gears to something significantly more irrelevant.

You Kansas City fans bellyaching about the AFC Championship game being moved to a neutral site if the Bills-Chiefs play need to, well, zip it.

The NFL (the bad guys) did the right thing here. Yes, the Chiefs have the best record, only because Buffalo didn’t have the chance to match them. Also, the Bills beat the Chiefs in the one game they played this year.

But how fair would it be to make the Bills go to Arrowhead for a situation that wasn’t their fault?

Others are clamoring for a Cincinnati-Buffalo make-up game, moving the playoffs back a week, and using up the bye before the Super Bowl. Terrible idea.

Why should Cincinnati and Buffalo have to play four consecutive weeks to get to the Super Bowl when the Chiefs, with the bye, would only get two?

The best solution was to develop a compromise – give the Chiefs the No. 1 seed and bye but give the Bills a chance not to have to go to Kansas City in late January.

The neutral site is a great solution.

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