football | Conwell Cougars Blog

by K. Velasquez-83-CCB Student Columnist

***Graphic Art Created By E. Vega 72 and K. Valasqeuz 83*** –**CCB Staff**

Well… They lost. Eagles fans around Philadelphia are still salty about their 35-38 loss against the Kansas City Chiefs in the epic showdown

That doesn’t stop the football, however. There is still more sports to be played.

Instead of the Philadelphia Eagles, we have the Philadelphia Stars. Instead of the Kansas City Chiefs, we have the St. Louis Battlehawks. In fact, this is the second time that these two leagues try to start a league besides the NFL: The XFL and USFL.

The USFL was around in the 80s and was once extremely popular with many famous players and celebrities going into the league. The XFL was made in the 2000s and quickly devolved due to low attendance.

In 2020, The XFL restarted and began making better moves than its counterpart.

However nobody knew how to run a league in a whole pandemic so the first season of its return was cancelled.

It led to the relaunch of the USFL

The success overshadowed the XFL and its predecessors. It was one of the first times when a spring league actually did well in its first season (Besides the Arena Football League and FCF – Fan Controlled Football) and it was a sensation as the first championship was a showdown between the Philadelphia Stars and Birmingham Stallions in which the Stallions won in a close 30-33 game. It was also the first of four straight championship losses by a Philadelphia Team that year.

But anyways, hype was up for the league’s next season as even the MVP in the league was getting known in the NFL. The XFL game came back with … The Rock?

But anyways, so far the XFL is doing exceptionally well with many Internet sensations being created off of the creative rules and teams in the game of the XFL.

The USFL is also being hyped up with its next season starting on April 15, 2023.

Editor’s Note: Have an idea for a student column? Email Mr. Dungan at gdungan@philasd.org

Edited by A. Peralta-83 – Posted by K. Velasquez – 83-CCB Staff

Student Columnist: K. Velasquez – 82

To start this column of mine, I need to go back to Oct. 24, 1971.

It was a Lions’ game, a player by the name of Chuck Hughes was player for the lions in a game against the Chicago Bears. During a play in which quarterback Greg Landry threw an incompletion down 28-23, Hughes collapsed on the field. Hall of fame linebacker Dick Butkus was near and requested help.

Hughes didn’t make it. He was only 28.

Science has changed since 1971. The NFL learned after its mistakes and successes kept advancing their goal of making the rough sport of American Football safer. Who knew that more than 50 years later, another close call approached. A safety for the Buffalo Bills would unfortunately have to take this call.

Damar Hamlin was a starter safety coming into the week 17 matchup against the mighty Cincinnati Bengals. The Bills was coming off of a 35-13 win against the 3-11 Bears and was hoping to prove themselves as a Super Bowl contender.

Damar Hamlin had 6 total tackles and was doing pretty good. Before the game started Hamlin was even practicing during the game and was pretty stable.

Bills 7 Bengals 6 First Quarter

During a passing play, Quarterback Joe Burrow passed to his Receiver Tee Higgins. As Damar Hamlin went in for the tackle, he experienced a blow to the chest.

Damar then stood up, took 2 unstable steps, and collapsed.

The blow turned Damar into a cardiac arrest and his systems shut down. Time was ticking as he was in critical condition at the time. CPR was administered and the game was suspended.

At the time of this column’s publication, it is still unknown how the cardiac arrest happened but this is the most accurate statement I have which can also be proven by many other sources. Damar Hamlin was in the hospital and in critical condition but “improving.” As of Jan. 5, Damar is finally awake and is being asked about the game. An absolute miracle for the family, team, and fans.

His GoFundMe as of Thursday Jan. 5 is more than $7 million. I really do hope he survives this however we cannot be so sure so soon.

Thoughts on the situation

Many people want to have the NFL take more away from tackling and focus on health. However Football is a tough sport, The aspect of Football is the tackling and the whole base of Football is about the tackling. The History of why football was made is based on tackling a person with a ball.

Its only been 51 years since the last recorded death. In soccer according to the FIFA Sudden Death Registry, 31 players died in 2021, meaning that football in fact is safer than their counterpart soccer.

Damar was hit at the perfect angle and the perfect part and the perfect time. It was no ones fault. No one to blame. The only way to double down on tackling is if more players turn out like Hamlin. If not then there nothing to worry about.

The Bills will play the Wildcard round on sunday against the rival Miami Dolphins at home 1 pm ET. Stay tune for the next Retrospective on the NFL Playoffs!

Have an idea for a student opinion piece or column? Contact Mr. Dungan at gdungan@philasd.org or stop by room 205 and pitch your idea!

Posted by CCB Staff