Eagles light up Lincoln Financial Field for Damar Hamlin, Jason Kelce speaks

One of the reasons that we all love the Philadelphia Eagles so much stems from the fact that this organization has been the home to so many colorful and amazing people. We’ve seen gifted athletes with hearts of gold. We’ve seen and heard from so many people who have given blood, sweat, and tears to a game before replicating those efforts in their attempts to make the lives of others better, and guess what? None of that has changed.

From the owner’s work with his Eagles Autism Foundation to the charitable efforts we have seen from Birds both past and present, this organization is never short of a few characters with character.

Truthfully, that’s what has been on our minds this week as it has been hard to talk about games and football matters, especially seeing as how Damar Hamlin has been in a battle for his life at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. There isn’t much that many of us can do other than show our support through prayer, financial contributions, or public expressions of support via social media. Many have done what they can though.

On Wednesday, we were all given reason to smile as we learned that the medical professionals that were assigned to giving him care were all happy with the progress that they were seeing. On Thursday, reports began surfacing stating that he opened his eyes and that he had shown substantial progress, but the best news came when we learned he had recovered well enough to be able to ask the doctors who won on Monday Night.

Their response? Dr. Timothy Pritts said it best. Here’s a quote.

"We’re in the situation where we wanted to allow him to gradually wake up as the rest of his body was healing, and last night he was able to emerge and follow commands and even asked who had won the game. When he asked did we win, the answer is yes, Damar, you won the game of life."

“When he asked did we win, the answer is yes, Damar, you won the game of life.”

We can’t even begin to tell you how happy we are to know that. We are also encouraged by the overflow of love and support we’ve seen shown to him by others.

The Eagles show support for Damar Hamlin. Jason and Travis Kelce give phenomenal takes on sports/brotherhood on ‘New Heights’.

The outpouring of love and support for Damar has been tremendous. NFL teams unsurprisingly have shown solidarity, in one instance changing their profile pictures to Hamlin’s jersey number with the caption ‘Pray For Damar’.

Wednesday night was truly beautiful as the Eagles’ organization lit up Lincoln Financial Field to show support. Here’s a look and some of the reactions as news of  Damar’s progress made its way around the NFL less than 24 hours later.

Avonte Maddox and Damar Hamlin are truly close as both played for the University of Pittsburgh. The same is true for Damar, Eagles legend LeSean McCoy, and current tailback Miles Sanders. Shady has a great relationship with so many Panthers both past and present. Jason and Travis Kelce have to be commended as well.

They took some time on their highly-popular New Heights podcast to share some of their feelings. What they had to say deserves a listen.

That’s an awesome job by both gentlemen. This is why, for many Eagles fans, Jason Kelce is their favorite Bird of all time. He wears his emotions on his sleeve, and he does a phenomenal job of expressing himself.

Here’s perhaps the best story that we heard though

At some point, Damar Hamlin will walk out of the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. We have believed that for some time, and we become more confident in that theory as time passes. At some point, we’ll talk about his courage, and we’ll begin discussing NFL games again, but the love we’ve seen expressed from all fan bases will stay with us forever.

We’d rather that there had been another catalyst to unite us. No one wants to see another person suffer, but in crisis, we’ve grown closer. Hopefully, that will be the biggest lesson learned from this. We are all from different backgrounds. Often, we cheer for rival teams, but hopefully, the love will still permeate as we return to normalcy.