I agree the violence is sickening but they do it for the big bucks.

It was a highly unlikely occurrence, exactly the right place on the black body, exactly the right force because the black body hit a hard object, at exactly the precise time in the cardiac cycle.

This kind of weird occurrence can happen to any footballer tacking another. Or lax player who gets hit in the chest with a ball or from being checked, or boxer, or b-baller randomly pushed or baseballer hit by a ball or tagged in a weird way. It's a property not of black bodies but human bodies. It's more likely to happen to a black body because the NFL is 57.5% black according to the Sauron-Internet and I suspect that they're less likely to be kickers and QBs, non-tackling sorts of players.

doesn't illustrate it in the way being suggested -- because the specifics of the cause of his cardiac arrest, if the cause is even known to his treating physicians, are not public knowledge at this time.

There is a lot of talk about commotio cordis in the media, but none of his treating physicians have publicly attributed his cardiac arrest to that (unless I missed it) and that is a diagnosis of exclusion -- meaning he needs to be worked up for other possible causes of cardiac arrest and not just jump to "the tackle he performed caused it", i.e. post hoc ergo proper hoc. The public doesn't know why he had a cardiac arrest, and his doctors may not either yet.

By all means, let's talk about how professional sports commodifies bodies and generates life-long debilitating injuries, and in regards to the NFL especially exploits people of color in this manner. But let's not undercut that conversation by focusing on topical but erroneous anecdotes in the lede.

Too many armchair doctors making a diagnosis. We need to wait and see what his doctors say.

For anyone that has hunted deer with a shotgun using slugs, we understand the concept of shocking the heart. In my mind, this is exactly the same type of thing that happened to Hamlin. Add to it, the timing and location of the hit, and the beat of the heart, then it's easy to understand why he had a cardiac arrest.

Charles Hughes.

Most injuries in professional football come not from being hit by someone else but from the effects of a huge body on the skeletal and muscular frame. When you play football there is no end of twisting and sudden turning and stops. When someone who weighs 350 pounds is doing that it imposes enormous stress on various joints of the body. That is where almost all the injures come from.

I wonder if the author has ever seen a football game.

His death had almost nothing to do with football. He was almost untouched on the play during which he died. He was a decoy.
A DB put a hand on him as he cut, but it was less than a push. Butkus was 20 feet away when Hughes just collapsed. Butkus was the one who knew something big was wrong & began frantically waving in help from the benches.
I have the same question about the author.

that's not there. White players get hurt too, as do AAPI, Latino American and any other ethnisity too who play the game.

The thing is, it's a kids' game, it's fun to play when you're a kid then as the better players play in organized football as they progress in school, the possibility of playing it professionally for big money becomes a real thing...for all the players, not just the Black ones. And injuries are a part of it. That's undeniable.

There is racism in football, in the opportunities in the coaching, ownership/management ranks but not who gets injured.

There was a time when Black players weren't given oppotunities to play quarterback but that's gone by the wayside because Warren Moon, who had to play in Canada to get the opportunity, and others, excelled at the position and now nearly had the starting QBs are Black.

And yes, the equipment is there to promote safety.