The first thought that popped into my head as I watched Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin lying motionless on the field Monday Night was a conversation with the late Darryl Stingley two decades ago.
Stingley, the former New England Patriots receiver who became a quadriplegic after an infamous hit in 1978 when Oakland Raiders defensive back Jack Tatum smashed into him and severed two of his vertebrae, was talking to me about how fans so nonchalantly consume the violence of football.
“Sometimes fans have this mentality like they’re watching John Madden’s computer football,” Stingley said then.