1-3-23 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 2

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Visit BetterHelp.com slash positive and save 10% on your first month. If you're feeling down and having trouble getting up in the morning, here's a tip. Brush your teeth.

That's it. Often when we wake up, our brains go into planning mode, which leads to overthinking and stress before our head even leaves the pillow. Something simple like brushing your teeth can break that cycle and jumpstart your day. This tip was brought to you by BetterHelp Online Therapy, which connects you with a licensed therapist via video, phone, or online chat.

Visit BetterHelp.com slash positive and save 10% on your first month. A couple pieces of information that we can pass along. Number one, the Bills' plane has arrived back in western New York, so they were late in taking off and leaving Cincinnati, maybe waiting for players like Staphon Diggs and others who went to the hospital to UC Medical Center to check on their teammate, DeMar Hamlin, the second-year safety, who was a sixth-round draft pick, just 24 years old, and had stepped into a prominent role.

A prominent role because of injuries earlier in the season, and he was second on the team in tackles and was really enjoying the opportunity to live out his dream with a team that could very well end up in the Super Bowl. But all of that pales and becomes so unimportant in the wake of the events of a few hours ago in Cincinnati. So the Bills are back in western New York. We do not have any update on the game. There will be no update on the game, only that it's been postponed.

So not canceled, but postponed according to Commissioner Roger Goodell. DeMar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest. He was revived on the field with life-saving measures. As you can imagine, the medical teams that are there, both from the teams themselves as well as independent, did everything that they possibly could to make sure that it was not only safe to get him to the ambulance. They tried the first time and had to put him back on the field, but that they could get him to the hospital where he could receive the best care available. So the Bills have returned back to western New York, but DeMar and his family remain at the Medical Center in Cincinnati. He is currently sedated and listed in critical condition.

So that's what we can pass along about DeMar. And over the course of the next several hours, only because I am, as usual, blown away by the generosity and the support and the way that we as humans and Americans respond, there's not a whole lot else we can do, right? We want to do something. There's not much else that we can do besides donate money. As you check out social media, whether it be Twitter or Facebook or Instagram or any of the others, you'll see that people are praying. People are asking for support. People are showing their emotions and also showing how much this has gotten to them personally.

Right? So that's one thing that you'll see all over social media now. Jim Kelly, never before have I ever witnessed anything like this.

The game doesn't matter. Josh Allen asking for prayers for our brother. Joe Burrow and the Bengals captains getting together, leaving their locker room when the game was suspended and going to the Bills locker room to check on their counterparts.

Again, tell me when you've ever heard of anything like that. And so there's so much emotion. It brings us together. We as sports fans and as human beings, we want to do something. We can't fix it.

And it's really hard to sit around and wait. And so instead, we figure out a way to make a positive impact elsewhere. And it happens to be the Chasing M's Foundation Community Toy Drive. And I can't tell from this particular GoFundMe page whether this is an annual event or whether this was a 2020 event. And maybe Jamar has started to raise money in a different way, but this GoFundMe page is still live. $3.1 million. $3.1 million.

That's where we are right now with nearly 121,000 donations. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. You can find me on Twitter, ALawRadio.

I'm offering updates too. And then also on our Facebook page, After Hours with Amy Lawrence. But the latest from the Buffalo Bills is that Jamar suffered a cardiac arrest.

His heartbeat was restored on the field. And he is currently sedated and listed in critical condition at the UC Medical Center. Hey, Jay, I need you to come here real quick, please, and take my phone. You'll understand when you get it. It's a fluid situation, so we're trying to provide as much information as we can. If you want to respond and communicate there.

Thank you. So we're giving you the latest as it comes in. The statement from the Buffalo Bills was issued about an hour ago, and in the wake of that, we now know that the Bills team plane has arrived back in western New York. And as I say, I'm blown away by Jamar Hamlin's foundation and the money that is being donated even now at this hour on the East Coast.

It's well after three o'clock. So you can find us on Twitter or Facebook, or the number is 855-212-4227. Even as we talk about whatever else is happening in sports, which seems to pale in comparison, the theme from the NBA, from the NHL, from other sports is also prayers for Jamar, thoughts for Jamar. I've heard it from LeBron James, from Klay Thompson, from Donovan Mitchell, from Doc Rivers was another one. And also the NFL trying to set the record straight about their actions in the wake of Jamar's injury. So we will let you hear from Ian Rappaport who is part of that Troy Vincent conference call when we have an opportunity.

But producer Jay is working on, well you tell me, are we? Okay, so any minute now I think we're going to have someone else jump on the phone here. Sal Cappaccio sent me a text, he's the Buffalo Bills sideline reporter, and he sent me a text to say that he was back and was in western New York and would have a couple of minutes when he was driving home. So we're right now kind of waiting for him to make sure that we can get him on the air.

And I don't want to start anything else before I do that. But if you're just joining us and you didn't hear about what happened on Monday Night Football, the game was very early in the first quarter. The score was 7-3 or something like that, or it is 7-3.

And Jamar Hamlin made a tackle, this was in the opening quarter on Monday night, and then even as he stood up, it was a routine moment, and then he fell backward and that's when everything changed there in Cincinnati. So Sal Cappaccio is with us now here on CBS Sports Radio. And Sal, I'm just going to jump right in. Where are you, and you're able to tell us at least the latest that you've heard, right? Yeah, I just got off the team plane.

I travel with the team. I'm the radio sideline reporter, as you know, Amy, and I'm just driving home. And I got in my car, I turned on, I heard you, and you know, you and I, we've developed friendship over the last few years. I haven't done anything on air really after this tonight, and I just wanted to kind of talk with you about it, with your listeners, and just give an update if you wanted it, you know?

Yes, please. And I appreciate that. I'm sure it's been extremely emotional. I just want to say really quickly, I actually heard you at the end of your broadcast with Eric and Bill's radio network and your sign-off, and I just remember thinking, wow, it's so odd, right? We should be in the middle of a game, maybe it should be halftime now, and they're signing off.

I heard Westwood One do the same thing. So I did hear you a couple of hours ago. So what have the last few hours been like, Sal? Really just surreal, obviously. A lot of emotion, a lot of confusion from a lot of people. We don't know what's going on. Everybody's wondering what's going on with Tamar, obviously.

That's first and foremost in everybody's mind. I will tell you, when the game was postponed, even from a person who... My job and then getting home, what's going on? Are we staying here? Are we not staying here?

Are we going to the hospital? Are players going to the hospital? Getting on the plane and coming home, everybody was just more concerned about Tamar than anything and wanted to be with him, I guess, if you could. And I know a lot of staff members did. Sean McDermott did, Brandon Bean did. But everybody came back on the plane, the Bill's team members, except for Tamar, obviously. I was told Brandon Bean is still at the hospital with him.

So is his mom and dad, Tamar. And obviously, there's fans out there. There were some fans at about here at 2.45 a.m. outside the Buffalo Airport, outside the security perimeter, showing their support.

There were about 20 or 30 fans that I saw. But really, it was just a lot of emotion, a lot of confusion more than anything, I would say. I know that the team plane is kind of sacred, and I wouldn't want you to violate any type of your confidence there with them.

You're around these players all the time. But as much as you can, what was the atmosphere like on the plane? Just quiet. Just somber. You didn't hear much. But it's late. It's been a long night. Obviously, everybody's concerned about Tamar. But more than anything, I will tell you, though, that a lot of times it's like that anyway when it's just quiet and people try to get work done or sleep or something, especially if they're at a game. But it was definitely you could feel that it was weighing on everyone.

I would just say it that way. Sal Capaccio is with us from Western New York, where he just sent me a text and offered to come on and share what he knows. The update from the Bills is that Tamar suffered a cardiac arrest, but he is sedated and is in critical condition, still in Cincinnati. He's a second-year player. He's just 24 years old, Sal. What kind of a young man is he?

What kind of a guy is he? So funny. I was thinking about all that on the way back tonight. I have two funny stories about Tamar that will give you some insight on that. Number one, Tamar took over relief for Micah Hyde when Micah got hurt. He's been starting for Micah Hyde ever since.

I remember one of the games several weeks ago, he had a nice game and the Bills won. I always do an on-field interview after the game. I find somebody to talk to. Usually Josh goes and does with CBS or one of the receivers or something like that. So I'll find somebody to say, I had a nice game and I ran up to Tamar and this has never happened because he hasn't played all that much. I said, Tamar, Tamar, do a post-game interview.

He looked at me like I had three heads. He said, no, no. He didn't want to talk.

I said, Tamar, you'd be literally the only person who's ever said no to me in this situation. He goes, oh, okay, I'll do it then. He was all business. He didn't want to talk to anybody on the radio about the football game. He just wanted to get in the locker room and celebrate.

So that was funny. I remember then also the week they played the Pittsburgh Steelers and Mike Tomlin in his press conference leading up made a reference to Tamar Hamlin. He said, whatever the area code is in Pittsburgh, I don't know off the top of my head, but he said he's that kid, whatever, 212 or whatever it is, area code. He said he's a Pittsburgh kid basically and he talked about him. So I went in and I saw Tamar in the locker room a day later and I said, did you hear Tomlin talk about you? And he said, yeah. He says, you just got a lot of respect for him. And he lit up for the fact that another head coach had something like that to say in his press conference to know about him and to mention him in his lead up to the game.

And that was cool. Tamar is just a really, really good person. And you can't say that enough. You've talked about the foundation that he has.

He's in his second year. He's found a way to do what a lot of these guys do in Buffalo, which is they set up these foundations. Charitable causes.

And I always tell everybody, Amy, as you know, we're not New York or Chicago or LA. What separates, I think, this team and this organization, these players from a lot of other players. And I know they do it in other cities, but almost like every one of these guys has something like that, that they connect to the city. That's what it's about. It's about connecting with these players and connecting with the organization.

And that's what Tamar did already in his second year. And he was already doing the toys and things like that for the kids. And you've seen the videos, you see the donations pouring in, but I'll tell you, he's all business. Like I said, when you talk to him in the locker room about football, he's all about ball. And he takes his craft seriously. He knows the situation he's in, filling in for Mike to hide what this season means to the Buffalo Bills.

And he goes out there and works his butt off every single day. When you got him to do the interview, did you get some good stuff out of him? I think so. It's usually like three questions like, hey, tell me about this.

You guys did that right? Once he's into it, he starts talking. And by the way, he's great when he talks. I don't think he loves doing it, but when he gets going with you, he's really good at it. And just a very approachable young man. I think because he's all about business and things like that, you know that when you talk to him that he wants to talk football. But then you see the other side of him.

You see those videos and you see him doing the things he does for his charitable causes and things like that. But it was just so emotional tonight. I shared on Twitter that his mom was down by the wall when he was on the field.

She came down. I was on the sidelines there and I saw a woman wearing a blue number three jersey and she said to security, she wanted to come down and be by her son. It's my son on the field.

And that just really hit me. I have a nine year old. He plays sports. I grew up playing football. My mom was involved in my life. I coached high school football.

I know what it means to have a parent that is concerned like that. And now you hear in the ultimate arena here in Monday Night Football in this situation where this was happening. I don't even think by that time we all knew the severity of it, but I remember that happening. The way that the stadium is constructed at Paycor Stadium is you couldn't get right down on the field. So there was a security guard there and then the Bills team chaplain was walking over. In fact, if I remember correctly now I think back, Dane Jackson, Dane actually played with DeMar at Pitt and he's one of his teammates here in Buffalo. He got the attention of the Bills team chaplain, pointed out DeMar's mom.

The chaplain went over there and talked and with security they got his mom to get to an area where she could come down and her and his dad joined the ambulance when it came off. Sal Capaccio is the Bills sideline reporter, is now back in Western New York after flying home on the team plane and is kind enough to call up with just a little bit of insight from behind the scenes. I don't want to keep you too much longer, Sal, but as you were there and as you say we didn't even realize the severity of it initially.

I hate to say this, but it's true. We've seen players, even this season, kind of stagger backward and fall over and generally your brain jumps to some type of a head injury or a hit to the head. At what point did you realize that this was something serious and different? So when the play was over, like you said, it was kind of a different injury. He got up and I didn't know who it was, but I did see, I specifically saw him fall and when I saw him fall he fell backward motionless.

I got concerned right away. Now that's part of my job as a sideline reporter is to literally after every play just kind of scan to see if there's anybody who's getting up slowly, something like that. Well, I saw him fall. We didn't know who it was on the broadcast. We didn't know who it was initially because I think Jordan Poyer was there making the tackle and someone had said that Poyer was there, but he got up and then we couldn't tell. So that's what I saw, but then my next thing I saw was there were Cincinnati Bengals players immediately calling for someone to come off the sideline.

When you see that and you've been around enough, you know that when they know that quickly there's something wrong, there's something very wrong. So as soon as that happened, my thought was initially, of course, a neck injury, right? We saw that happen with, speaking of Dane Jackson, that happened to him on Monday night against the Tennessee Titans owner. And he went off in an ambulance and right away, you know, you see people calling for people. So that was what I saw. I saw him fall backward, motionless, hit the ground and he just wasn't moving. And Bengals players were calling for medical personnel to come out on the field. And what really struck me when I knew the time, Amy, that I knew that was the most serious something I've never seen before.

Bill's players went out on the field and the staff, everybody, every single person on the sidelines went out on the field and formed a huge circle with their backs to Damar and their fronts to the fans so that no one could see what was happening. And that's when I knew something severe was going on in that area. And then, you know, were they performing CPR?

That's what you think. And then sure enough, that's what was happening. I don't know that I've ever seen a sideline that was completely empty like that.

And that jumped out at me. As you point out, all the players had gone out to where the ambulance was, to where Damar was on the field. And I remember looking over to the sidelines, there's nobody over there.

There's nobody on the sidelines. And then even after the ambulance had departed the field, they all got together in a large group as a total team to pray. And seeing the video, it's very stark because you can see them all in one big group, even as the ambulance drives off toward the tunnel. So Sal, I imagine it was super emotional for you and there in the stadium. I really appreciate you taking a couple of minutes to call in. And we had been looking over your tweets, as I say, I heard you on the air. So I'd been also following your tweets as well. And as always, you do an amazing job, even though these are circumstances that no reporter ever wants to find himself in. So thank you, Sal.

No problem. Glad to be able to join you tonight, maybe give a little update from everyone. I know you've been keeping everybody updated on what the bills have said. So we're going to hopefully hear better news in the morning and good news.

And we're all obviously thinking about Damar and vote for him and his entire family. So thanks for having your phone line open and for giving me someone to talk to about this tonight. Oh, of course. And I'm assuming that you will be on the radio in Buffalo at some point tomorrow, too. You can find Sal on Twitter at Sal Sports. Thank you for the stories about Damar.

That adds certainly a different element since you know him personally. Thanks, Amy. Thank you, Sal.

Be safe. Really awesome insight from Sal Capaccio. He sent me the text, which is why I had Jay come in here and get the phone, because I was in the middle of talking and wanted to make sure that we would provide a forum to Sal. But having just got off the team plane, didn't want to be too invasive with my questions, but he did say the plane was quiet, though that's not necessarily different. But that there were multiple players and members of the Bills organization who went to the hospital. Everyone did end up taking that plane home and leaving behind Damar, as well as his parents. I'm so glad his parents were there. Could you imagine his parents being in western New York and not being in the stadium or not being available and having to travel to Cincinnati to be with their son? I was thinking that earlier when I found out that his parents were able to be with him in the ambulance. What a blessing that is that they were there for this game, because not only did he need their support, but for them to instantly be able to hold his hand and sit with him and now stay with him and to know that he's not by himself in a strange hospital bed. Gosh, I'm so glad his parents are there.

I know, again, if it were me, I would have a hard time leaving, but the Bills have returned home. We don't have any idea what the NFL will do about the game. It doesn't matter, but certainly it is something that the NFL even now is having to think about and how do you return to football. I would say it's also a blessing that there are no more games scheduled until Saturday, so that the NFL doesn't have to make any type of decision beyond, hey, we needed to postpone this game for now, that's all that matters. Troy Vincent, who is part of the NFL Brain Trust, did a conference call a few hours ago, I'm not exactly sure the timing. We heard a little bit of the reaction from Mike Petralio when he joined us from Cincinnati in our first hour, and Ian Rappaport was also offering details about the NFL's reaction and that conference call, so I want you to hear from him coming up. As I say, athletes in other sports are weighing in, not just on social media, but in their own press conferences like the NBA. Word travels fast. It's not just social media, but it's these athletes who recognize you're always one hit away, one difficult step, one collision away from something like this taking place. And so to hear LeBron talk about DeMar, to hear Klay Thompson who scores 50 plus points before he would ever answer questions talking about DeMar, not knowing him even, but just recognizing that this is the situation that professional athletes put themselves in.

Generally it doesn't come down to life or death or critical health, but there is always the chance that it could, and tonight it did. You can find me on Twitter, ALawRadio, I'm passing along updates as I see them, sharing some of the Bills players tweets as well, and also updates on this Chasing M's Foundation. I wish I knew the reason for the name, maybe at some point we'll find out, but DeMar Hamlin's Foundation, people are blowing it up still, his GoFundMe page. Again, my thanks to Sal and also to Mike Petralia, it's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio.

You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Furrow back to throw on second and three, crossing route caught by Higgins, he's at the 50, lowers the right shoulder and makes it to the Buffalo 48. Safe deep to DeMar Hamlin, taking the hit from Higgins, and now he's not getting up.

A 13 yard gain. So again, the Bills medical team has come out to take a look at a defensive player, and they are calling for a cart or a stretcher, I believe. Very quickly after he went down, personnel began frantically waving to bring out a stretcher. Here comes the ambulance backing in from the tunnel onto the football field. And the entire football team is off the sideline. The entire Buffalo Bills football team is in a circle around the ambulance and their fallen teammate. And looking away. Yeah, and some don't want to see what's going on down there.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. We shared with you the call from the Bills radio network, and then Sal Capaccio reading the statement from the NFL when the game was officially postponed. Now you hear the Bengals version Dan Hoard and Dave Lapham and as Sal Capaccio just told us here on After Hours, initially, even though it is his job and he's field level. Initially, he didn't know which player had gone down either, and so they were trying to figure it out. But very quickly, the Bills teammates and even some of the Bengals you may have seen that Joe Burrow went over to embrace Josh Allen and to stand next to him for support. Josh had red eyes and he was in shock and clearly had been shedding tears and a lot of the Bills players couldn't watch what was happening behind them, but also Joe Buck made the point on the ESPN broadcast that they couldn't get their TV cameras in there.

And it seems like it was fairly intentional by these players to protect their teammate, to protect their brother, DeMar Hamlin. If you missed it, the update from the Buffalo Bills just before we went on the air about 90 minutes ago is that DeMar suffered a cardiac arrest and that he was revived. His heartbeat was restored on the field. He was transferred to the UC Medical Center for further testing and treatment.

As of just before 2 a.m. Eastern time, 2 a.m. Cincinnati time, he is currently sedated and listed in critical condition. And once again, just want to say a sincere thank you to Mike Petralia from the Bengals perspective, the Bengals sidelines, and then Sal Capaccio who had landed back in Western New York with the Buffalo Bills on their team plane and shared his perspective, but also some insight into the second year player who's been thrust into a national spotlight for all of the wrong reasons. Even though he's had one heck of a season as the Bills still have so much to play for, but football becomes unimportant on a night like this one. I've mentioned this conference call with Troy Vincent multiple times. Mike Petralia referenced it as well just to provide some insight into what was happening behind the scenes with the NFL because the league has been roundly criticized for not postponing the game right away.

Well, Ian Rappaport summarizes this call with Troy Vincent from the NFL league office. On this NFL conference call you just mentioned with several top league officials, there was no discussion of DeMar Hamlin's health. That was not what this was about. There was no discussion about football.

I'm sure there will be at another time. That was not what tonight was about either. This was about the events of tonight, how it happened, why it happened and walking all of us through essentially what we saw on the field today and why the decisions that were made were made. First of all, Troy Vincent, one of the NFL's top executives described himself as traumatized by these events. As I can say, no doubt we all were watching. He was in constant communication with Roger Goodell, with officials on the field, with both coaches. He said they realized extremely quickly the game was not the most important thing.

That's what so, so much of the theme of tonight was the game was not the most important thing. Essentially he asked both coaches, get a pulse of your players, explain to us basically where they are. How is DeMar?

How are the players? As Vincent said, neither coach was talking about resuming the game nor were the players. As he said, quote, how do you resume after such a traumatic event? There was also discussion on television, on the broadcast about a five minute warmup that the players were given. Troy Vincent said he didn't know where that came from. He described that as insensitive as far as the medical attention that DeMar Hamlin received. Donna Ponte, another top league official said there could not have been more collaboration between all parties, medical and otherwise on the field and both teams also. For instance, Bengals ownership was down in the field in the locker room and attending to, to some of the, the players and other officials who were kind of dealing with and processing this kind of a show of collaboration there. Jeff Miller, another top league official and communications person who was on this conference call said the emergency action plan that was in place tonight that we saw with the ambulance coming with medical professionals attending to Hamlet immediately is something they practice once a year in every stadium.

He described it as terrific collaboration between the team medical staff, independent medical providers and everyone involved. Ian Rapoport giving us some of the details from that conference call with top league officials. Troy Vincent's a former player himself. And so you can imagine that for him to watch this happen with a young man of just 24 years old who's only in his second year in the league was definitely emotional and traumatizing. As we saw it on the faces of the Bills and the Bengals and that was really the first indication to me that this was something more than I'm hesitant to use the phrase what we're used to, but we do see this on a periodic basis.

We've seen it with Tua, Tango Veloa, we've seen it with others where there's a hard hit generally to the head or to the neck area and because of some of these hits to the head, players have extreme reactions. It's not something that we never see, but in this case when the cameras were focused on the faces of the Buffalo Bills and the concern of the Bengals and when they had formed this almost impenetrable ring around DeMar Hamlin and around the medical team. And when you could see their reaction to what they were witnessing and what they were hearing, it became very evident that this was something the players themselves had not dealt with before.

And that's when I knew something else was going on here. We're not talking about a potential concussion or concussion symptoms. Not to say that they are hardened to those or that they don't matter. Only that these players and fans have seen that happen before and they generally will call for help of course, will lift their teammates up, help them get off the field, make sure that they get the concussion testing and they're into protocols. And they'll go back to playing because that's what they have to do. And again, just some grace for the NFL in this case, because it's unprecedented, because there's no blueprint, because they haven't dealt with something like this before. I've never heard of CPR being administered on the field.

I know that we've had situations, extreme situations in other sports with athletes who collapsed thinking of basketball, thinking of soccer. In the high profile, all-access world of the NFL, this is extreme. And so the NFL wanted to get it right. And you know the league is very careful about how it responds because they recognize the situation and the spotlight that they're in. Every little action the NFL takes, whether important or not, is scrutinized a bazillion ways to Sunday. And so I can understand them wanting to make sure that they talk to everyone involved.

Roger Goodell was not there on site, but he ultimately got on the phone with one of his employees and then that phone was passed back and forth from Sean McDermott to Zach Taylor. I think you also really can see the support inside this football fraternity. And yes, I know there are women in this group as well.

It's tight-knit. They all understand what it requires of them to be out there on the field. They all know that they're one hit away, one moment away from a serious injury.

In this case, a cardiac arrest. It became evident very quickly that football didn't matter to them either. Word spread through the NBA where there were some pretty insane individual performances and yet on the minds of LeBron and Klay and Donovan and Doc Rivers. Damar Hamlin.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. It's clear that it matters to you. So for that reason, it matters to me. And also, I'm blown away by what's happening with Damar Hamlin's GoFundMe page. It's obviously still operational. It was established going back two Christmases ago and I don't know when his most recent toy drive was. I can check his Twitter actually and see if there are any updates from this holiday season. But the donations are continuing to pour into his GoFundMe page.

There are thousands and thousands of comments. Love and prayers from Seattle. I am inspired by Damar Hamlin. I am praying for his quick and complete recovery. Love and prayers from Pats Nation.

This is God at work uniting people everywhere through prayer, love and support. Kimberly says, Steeler Nation is praying for you. All of Bengals Nation is praying for you so hard right now that you get through this. Another one, sending love from One Pride, which is of course the Lions fan base.

Others, a Vikings fan. Damar, you're in my prayers. So many people not only reaching out to support his Chasing M's Foundation, but also posting sentiments and prayers. Love from Texas, prayers for complete healing. Kansas City Chiefs Kingdom, sending love your way. Prayers and love for Damar, his family and the Bills community from Cincinnati and Tennessee. Your story is not over, young man. Buffalo loves you, Damar.

Get well soon. And so I could go on and on, but my point is only that these are coming from all over the country, from other football fan bases who are concerned about Damar. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio, Gale on his website, Carolina Panthers fan wishing you the best in your recovery. So as I've read through some of the comments, I'm also watching the donations skyrocket now at $3.13 million and individual donations are nearing $122,000, meaning that's the number of donations that have been made. And so I'm just fascinated by it.

I'm proud of humans, football fans specifically. This is how we can make a difference. Chuck is listening in California. Chuck, welcome to After Hours. Our phone number is eight five five two one two four two two seven. And then on Twitter, you can find me a law radio as well as on our Facebook page.

After Hours with Amy Lawrence. This happened to pop up on Twitter. And it looks like it's some type of an interview that was done on MSG, which is a state network in New York. And yes, Buffalo is actually part of New York. It's western New York.

But it's Damar Hamlin, the second year safety for the Bills, talking about making it to the NFL. Like I can't even describe it, but I cherish it every second that I can, you know, every second of every day. We just had our prayer, our DB prayer we do every Wednesday outside. He was next to me and I just grabbed his hand a little bit harder just because, you know, you never know when like the last day could be that you get in the experience, something like this, you know. So I'm just I'm cherishing it every moment I can.

That's poignant. In the wake of the events in Cincinnati on Monday night, it's clear it means something to Damar Hamlin. He's not taking it for granted. He was a sixth round draft pick out of Pitt, and he was a highly recruited player at the college level. A dream come true for him to be able to participate not only with a team that has championship aspirations, but to get to start and to be making such huge contributions for the defense. His players or his teammates, his brothers, obviously shaken by what they saw and were unable to continue playing football. And I'm glad that the NFL made the choice that it did. And it wasn't that long before the news was making its way to other sports, too, like the NBA, where LeBron James is one of multiple players who had a huge individual performance and yet was reacting to Damar. My thoughts and super prayers goes up to the skies above for that kid's family, for him, for, you know, that brotherhood of the NFL and everybody a part of the NFL family. It's definitely the right call by either whoever made that call, Roger, Roger Goodell, or whoever had an opportunity to the authority to make that call to suspend that. The safety of our players in all sports is always the most important.

So, you know, it was a terrible thing to see. And I wish, you know, nothing but the best for that kid, for the city of Buffalo, for the franchise of the Bills. And like I said, for the rest of the NFL, too, as well, and also the Bengals that was there, you know, playing in that game.

So I'm a huge fan of the NFL, I'm a huge fan of football. You know, you never want to see anything like that happen, even in the type of competition that they're playing in. Prayers out for him.

Boy, that's tough. It's tough when you see that in sports or in anything, so that's a hard one. Just two of the members of the NBA community who were weighing in, and news definitely travels fast, not only because all of these athletes have access to social media, but because they hear it from friends, from family members. I know that my family, who was watching the news on Monday night, saw the update about DeMar, and they went back and they watched what had happened. Initially, part of a tackle got up, seemingly just a routine play in the first quarter of a Monday night football game, and then DeMar fell backward, and right away it was apparent by the reactions of both the Bills and the Bengals that this was something serious, it was something different, and ultimately the game was postponed.

We'll give you more reaction from the NBA world and the latest that we know. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. If you're feeling down and having trouble getting up in the morning, here's a tip. Brush your teeth.

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This is your operating system talking, not your computers or your phones, but your internal human operating system. I'm feeling a little overloaded. Here's how you can ease my stress. Close your eyes or softly gaze at something in front of you. Now inhale for four counts. Exhale for six. Keep repeating. Much better. Longer term, there's BetterHelp Online Therapy. They'll match us with the licensed therapist we can connect with via video, phone, or chat. Visit BetterHelp.com slash positive and save 10% on our first month.