{"id":176851,"date":"2023-01-04T14:09:59","date_gmt":"2023-01-04T14:09:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/how-espn-were-sent-scrambling-by-damar-hamlins-sudden-collapse\/"},"modified":"2023-01-04T14:09:59","modified_gmt":"2023-01-04T14:09:59","slug":"how-espn-were-sent-scrambling-by-damar-hamlins-sudden-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/how-espn-were-sent-scrambling-by-damar-hamlins-sudden-collapse\/","title":{"rendered":"How ESPN were sent scrambling by Damar Hamlin’s sudden collapse"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n \n \u201cSports is important. And suddenly it’s not.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Those were the salient words of \u201cSportsCenter\u201d host Scott Van Pelt Monday night after Damar Hamlin suddenly collapsed on the field during the high stakes Bills-Bengals game. Within moments, Van Pelt knew that the injury was very different than those normally sustained on the football field.\n <\/p>\n \n ESPN quickly cut to a commercial break after the horrific incident left fellow players in tears as millions watched with bated breath at home. But inside the Washington \u201cnerve center\u201d of the venerable sports program where Van Pelt was monitoring the game, he had access to an internal ESPN feed that showed what was transpiring on the field.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt just so happened that the one screen I could see the reaction from the medical personnel and it was clearly not a typical response,\u201d Van Pelt recalled to me by phone Tuesday. \u201cI just said, ‘This seems really bad.’ And someone in the room asked me why. And I said, ‘Look at their response.’ We all just fell silent and were watching. And I was scared.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Later in the evening, after Joe Buck and Troy Aikman concluded their broadcast, hosting duties fell to Van Pelt. The game had officially been called, but little information was still known about the status of Hamlin, who had been rushed off the field to the hospital in an ambulance. Van Pelt, who normally hosts a fun, \u201cloosey-goosey\u201d style show focusing on the game’s brightest moments, was suddenly tasked with anchoring the biggest news event in the country.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI don’t work for a news network that covers traumatic events when they happen,\u201d Van Pelt noted to me. \u201cI’m supposed to come on when the game is over and talk about the great plays and it’s great fun. That’s what we do. And last night that’s not what we did.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Van Pelt added, \u201cThis is supposed to be a fun show. We are the diversion. There is a lot of serious bullsh*t in the world, but we are here for the fun. That’s what we do. But we are also capable of covering something serious.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Van Pelt said that before going on the air, he made the decision to focus strictly on the known facts. \u201cI kept leaning into what we know,\u201d he said. \u201cWe’ll deal in what we know, not in what we wish we knew or hope to find out. And the truth is, we knew very little.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The decision to engage in zero speculation meant that Van Pelt did not want to bring on a medical analyst or doctor to discuss what might have caused Hamlin’s sudden collapse, as other news networks such as CNN and MSNBC did during their breaking news coverage.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cMy personal preference was that I didn’t want to bring in a physician to speculate,\u201d Van Pelt told me. \u201cI totally see the other side, where a well-trained eye of a physician might recognize something that might totally make sense. But I just didn’t want to be speculating.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Instead, Van Pelt relied largely on a raw conversation with former NFL player Ryan Clark, who had also said a medical emergency while playing in the league. \u201cTonight we got to see a side of football that is extremely ugly,\u201d Clark commented to Van Pelt in a conversation that captivated viewers. \u201cA side of football that no one ever wants to see or ever wants to admit exists.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIn the absence of information, I felt that Ryan’s perspective and his words were just so powerful,\u201d Van Pelt told me, \u201cthat it was something that we kept leaning into, as well as any updates we could get.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Van Pelt said that when he was on air, he felt a sense of calm \u201cbecause the gravity of the situation was as clear as it could be.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n And while Hamlin on Tuesday remained sedated in a Cincinnati hospital, Van Pelt said he was proud of the coverage ESPN provided viewers.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe tried to be measured and tried to be respectful and do the best we could to share what we knew,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that’s what we did.\u201d\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" new York CNN \u2014 \u201cSports is important. And suddenly it’s not.\u201d Those were the salient words of \u201cSportsCenter\u201d host Scott Van Pelt Monday night after Damar Hamlin suddenly collapsed on the field during the high stakes Bills-Bengals game. Within moments, Van Pelt knew that the injury was very different than those normally sustained on the …<\/p>\n
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