Darryl Stingley

Today Darryl Stingley passed away in a very sad turn of events for fans of the New England Patriots.  At age 55, the former Pats receiver died from what was said to be bronchial pneumonia, quadriplegia, spinal cord injury and coronary atherosclerosis.  Now I am not a doctor but I think it is clear that the serious injury he suffered during that game in 1978 at the hands of Raider DB Jack Tatum ultimately caused his death almost 30 years later.

 When a receiver goes up for a ball with a defender within hitting range he knows that he will get punished as soon as he comes down with the ball.  Yet any receiver that shies away from making that catch wouldn’t be a receiver for much longer in the NFL.  Look at how Terrell Owens was criticized for the dropped passes that he committed, some of them in the face of oncoming defenders.  Violence is part of the game and, consciously or subconciously, I think that is a large part of why we like the game so much.

 But the fate of Darryl Stingley makes you think, is it really worth it?  Football players’ contracts are already without a guarantee.  In other words teams do not owe their players the full money stipulated in the contract if the player has a career ending injury.  They could cut the player if his performance temporarily lags from a minor injury, not owe him any further money and avoid salary cap penalties at the same time.  Now while this might make good business sense for the owners, it certainly puts the whole enterprise on shakier moral ground. 

I love football and am not seriously proposing that the sport become softer or two-hand touch or anything, but I hope that that pads and braces could evolve to eliminate further Stingley incidents.  Accidents happen but mean spirited players should be punished, if not physically by other players, then monetarily by the league.  Certainly I spurn awards named after them, such as the Ohio State “Jack Tatum Hit” award given by coach Jim Tressell in 2001.  I also hope that the debate on guaranteed contracts could resume since the NFL is the only professional league without them.

But above all  I offer condolensces to Darryl’s wife and kids and to all those like Darryl who have been paralyzed playing the game we all love.