A crisis always brings out the best, and the worst, in people.  When tragedy strikes, some people come together and rise to the occasion, indicating there may be some hope for humanity.  Others run true to form, and use the tragedy to amplify their agendas and biases.  Such is the case with the  Damar Hamlin story.  Hamlin is a 24 year old defensive back for the Buffalo Bills.  Until January 2, like many people, I’d never heard of him.  Then fate intervened.  A player for the Cincinnati Bengals caught a pass.  Hamlin came in for the tackle.  The two made contact on what appeared to be a totally routine NFL play.  Hamlin stood up, then immediately collapsed to the field, bringing the game to an abrupt halt with 5:58 remaining in the first quarter.  Players surrounded Hamlin and medical personnel went to work on him.  Minutes ticked by while television commentators speculated on what was happening and what would happen next.  When Hamlin was removed to a hospital, and the teams left the field, the situation was transformed from football game into news event.  That transformation moved the event, formerly of interest only to football fans, into the realm of the jackals, whores and opportunists of the Lamsestream Media.  As I said at the opening, a crisis always exposes the good, the bad, and the ugly.  And that’s what we got.  When the teams left the field, nobody was sure what was happening.  It was a nearly unprecedented event.  And as in war, the first reports inevitably are wrong.  The TV commentator reported that the teams had been given 5 minutes to regroup before the game would resume.  The NFL immediately denied that, but some blasted the league for insensitivity.  After about an hour, it was announced that the game would not resume.  The NFL cancelled the game thereafter.  What wasn’t known at the time the game was suspended was that Damar Hamlin had suffered cardiac arrests, and was revived by the medical team.  He went to the hospital unconscious, and in critical condition.  Under those circumstances, neither team was willing to resume the game, and of course, they made the right decision.  But having devolved from a football game into a scandal, the bad and the ugly immediately went to work.  There were calls for the head of whoever told the teams to resume the game.  Nobody had, but that didn’t matter.  Some of the most repugnant comments came from that noted group of football analysts, the witches of The View.  Joy Behar blasted conservatives and heterosexual men for  supporting “tackle football.” (Is there any other kind?)  “45% of Americans think that tackle football is appropriate.  Heterosexual men voted the most support for kids doing football.  And conservatives were more likely to support youth tackle football.  Just saying.”  Then, exposing her ignorance and innate racism, Behar suggested people play golf or tennis instead of football.  Right.  All the poor black guys playing football should just go to their country clubs for a round of golf.  And if only 45% support “tackle football,” why does the NFL generate $18 billion a year in revenue and why have 30 of the top 31 all-time highest rated TV broadcasts been NFL “tackle football?”  The only thing Joy Behar and football have in common is that her skin could be used to make the ball.  Not to be outdone, that other irritant named Joy, Joy Reid, chimed in, describing the incident as, “yet another tragic reminder of the inherent violence of the sport and the humanity of the young men who put their health and safety on the line for the NFL’s modern day gladiator spectacle.”  If football was slow and completely safe, nobody would watch it.  And by the way Joy, some of us never questioned the humanity of the players. As for “gladiator spectacle,” the gladiators were slaves forced to fight to the death.  NFL players assume the risks for an average salary of $2.7 million, more than 50 times what the average firefighter gets for doing his inherently dangerous job.  Of course, race had to be injected into the debate.  A Scientific American article claimed that the NFL’s violence disproportionately affects Black men.  As scientists, the authors might have noticed that, as more than 60% of the players are Black, it’s not surprising that most injuries are suffered by Black players.  The article claimed that through the process of “racial stacking” coaches racially segregate by playing position and put Black athletes at a higher risk.  Citing Damar Hamlin’s injury, the article claimed that Black men’s athletic labor sustains this brutal system.”  Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy was quick to respond.  “As a black man and former NFL player I can say this article is absolutely ridiculous.”  A commentator for The Daily Beast argued that, the fact it took an hour to suspend the game proved that the NFL doesn’t care about Black players.  This, of course, is nonsense.  As noted above, during that first hour after the injury, nobody was sure what was happening, and since this is only the second time in 52 years that something like this happened, there was no protocol for what to do when a player’s heart stops.  In 1971, when 28 year old (White) player, Chuck Hughes, died on the field, they took him away and the game went on.  But enough bad and ugly.  We also got some good.  Damar Hamlin rapidly improved, and as this is written, he’s at home in Buffalo.  Damar’s first question upon regaining consciousness put the lie to the notion that pro football players are no more than thralls forced to labor for a  brutal spectacle.  The first thing Damar wanted to know was, “Did we win?” That Hamlin was more concerned about his team and his teammates than himself showed his character and his spirit.  While so many NFL players engage in self-aggrandizing stunts, Damar exhibited an “Old School” attitude that put me in mind of Vince Lombardi’s favorite motto.   Damar Hamlin embodies that sentiment.  It’s a testament to his devotion to his Christian faith and his commitment to his family, who were at his bedside when he regained consciousness.  Damar attended Pittsburgh’s Central Catholic High School, and although he could have gone anywhere, played college ball at Pitt.  He explained why, “Staying close to my family and then having my little brother around so I could be a role model for him.”  And sometimes tragedy motivates good deeds.  Damar was trying to raise $25,000 for gifts for underprivileged kids.  At last report, his “Go Fund Me” site had received $8 million.  And the response from the NFL has been uplifting.  Last weekend, all the teams wore apparel supporting Damar. The NFL players and team staffs, understand the risks inherent in pro football, and they closed ranks to pay homage to one of their own.  They are the only people qualified to decide how the game should be played.  But perhaps Theodore Roosevelt said it best: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”  Amen.  Let’s all keep Damar Hamlin in our thoughts and prayers, and hope that this extraordinary young man makes a full recovery.