Faith and Football
You didn’t have to be a Bengals or Bills Monday night to see that harrowing clip of safety Damar Hamlin collapsing on the field.
That ghastly scene was replayed probably a million times over the next 24 hours as most of America waited for news of the young player from Pennsylvania.
As of this writing, 24-year-old Hamlin remains in critical condition, in a medically induced coma after an apparent cardiac arrest on the field.
What struck me, apart from the shock of seeing a superb athlete collapse after what looked like a run-of-the-mill hit in the game, was the reaction of the other players on the field.
At first they froze.
Then they were visibly distraught, pulling off their helmets, running their hands worriedly through their hair, several were crying.
These athletes knew this was no simple case of a player who’d gotten his bell rung and would be led back to the bench in a moment.
This was bad.
Then something else happened. The players - all of them, it seemed, from both teams - spontaneously fell to their knees and prayed.
In that moment, in the words of Irish poet William Butler Yeats, “a terrible beauty was born.”
This is especially true for young people.
According to Gallup, the percentage of Americans who believe God can hear prayers has dropped to just 4 in 10. That’s the lowest since the polling organization began asking about faith in 1944.
It didn’t look that way Monday night in Cincinnati’s Paycor Stadium. In fact, it looked as if 100% of the NFL players on the field believed in the power of prayer. Sportscasters were urging prayers and social media was filled with ordinary Americans asking everyone to pray for this young man.
The Almighty is where we instinctively turn when we feel helpless. And there was nothing to do but pray on Monday night.
Heisman Trophy winner and former quarterback for the Redskins from 2012-2015 summed up the mood of the country with his Tweet: