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ESPN Did Everything Right in Covering Tragic Damar Hamlin Injury

Also in Traina Thoughts: College basketball teams forgets something important; Ja Morant with the most boring play ever; football coach displays vile behavior and more.

Jimmy Traina

1. This is the first Traina Thoughts of 2023, so right off the top I want to thank you for reading as we embark on another year together. I’ve been writing Traina Thoughts every weekday since 2017, and before that I wrote Hot Clicks every weekday from ’07 to ’13, so I thank you for the continued support. I’ll never be able to express how appreciative I am for your loyalty.

Given that I was off earlier this week, I wanted to write a few things about the Damar Hamlin tragedy from Monday night. I’m actually happy I didn’t have to write anything about what happened in the immediate aftermath. It just wouldn’t have felt right to offer a review of ESPN’s coverage without letting things settle down for a couple of days as we wait and hope for Hamlin to show signs of improvement.

Before I get into anything regarding the media, I want to offer praise for all of the medical professionals who were working at the game and at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center who have attended to Hamlin. We still don’t know what’s going to happen, but all of those people had a part in keeping Hamlin alive in surreal circumstances, and they should be celebrated every day.

I said Monday night on Twitter that ESPN and all of the talent that appeared on air—Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Lisa Salters, Suzy Kolber, Booger McFarland, Adam Schefter, Scott Van Pelt and Ryan Clark—did as good a job as possible navigating coverage in an impossible situation.

So many people had opinions on what ESPN should’ve done. I saw people say it was in bad taste for them to air commercials. I saw people say they should’ve cut away from coverage and aired a replay of a bowl game. I saw people say it wasn’t fair that the talent had to keep the coverage going.

Anyone offering those critiques is just completely lost. This was a situation no one could’ve been prepared for. This was a human tragedy that became a national news story on live TV with very little known information. Plus, everyone had to wait for an official word from the NFL about what was happening.

The on-air personalities at ESPN had one job and one job only on Monday night: Don’t speculate. About anything. And they did not. All the broadcasters could do was tell us what they knew and give us the facts. The issue was that there wasn’t much news, so it seemed like we were in a loop of going from Buck and Aikman in the booth to Kolber, McFarland and Schefter in studio, where they kept repeating the same few updates. And that was fine. That’s what they should’ve done.

Once the severity of Hamlin’s injury was known, and it was clear he wasn’t suffering from a concussion or head injury, this became a news story. ESPN was responsible for covering it as such and did so in the best way possible.

Aikman, McFarland and Clark, as former players, were especially impactful when they spoke. Their voices were important throughout the night.

From a technical, live TV standpoint, Van Pelt was masterful in navigating coverage. He went over an hour without a commercial break, bringing in reporters, interviewing Clark and keeping viewers updated on what was known at the time.

2. Thursday morning, we got the update we've all been waiting for regarding Hamlin. Hopefully, he continues to improve each day and gets out of critical condition ASAP.

3. Since this is the first edition of Traina Thoughts since Dec. 23, I just want to plug some quality content you might have missed while celebrating the holidays. Right before the new year, I handed out the 2022 SI Sports Media Awards.

I also recapped the year in sports media with The Ringer’s Bryan Curtis on the SI Media Podcast.

And last week's SI Media Podcast was the third annual year-end roundtable with Good Morning Football’s Peter Schrager and CBS Sports Radio host Andrew Perloff.

You can listen to all SI Media Podcast episodes on Apple, Spotify and Google.

4. Wednesday’s Florida–Texas A&M game didn’t start on time because the Aggies forgot to bring their jerseys to the arena.

5. We usually highlight Ja Morant when he makes some spectacular high-flying play. We’re highlighting him today for doing the complete opposite during Wednesday’s game against the Hornets.

6. The only time I missed writing Traina Thoughts over the past two weeks was when I saw this video of Texas coach Steve Sarkisian acting like a nasty maniac.

I will root hard against Texas in every single one of its football games as long as Sarkisian is coach. What a disgraceful display.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: No more wishing anyone a happy New Year.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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