This article is about the death of the author’s family member, which was reported on NBC 10 news on Jan. 27. These are the words of the deceased’s family member, a fifth grade student here at Conwell Middle Magnet School.
I was born in 2012. I grew up in a very bad neighborhood where there was a lot of gun violence and other violence that no one my age should know about.
At the beginning of this year, my older nephew passed away in a gun shooting. I found out by my mom calling me into her room. After hearing the horrible news, my brother and his girlfriend went to the hospital, and my nephew passed away.
Seeing him lying there deceased at the hospital really broke my heart and made my family devastated.
People think this world is a joke, but it’s not. It’s real to me, and people don’t understand what they’re doing to other people.
All I’m saying is stop.
There are several innocent people out here dying and getting hurt because people are making the wrong decisions. People really need to realize what they’re doing and how terrible they’re making this world.
I just want to live my life as a little kid and have peace. These days nobody can really have that because there are people out here making this world a bad place.
Graphic image created by K. Velasquez -82 – Photo images all rights reserved.
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!
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