...and the show must go on?

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/news/story?id=2781193

A player falls over dead while making a tackle, CPR is done on the field for 10 minutes and after a 25 minute delay, the game continues?

People in the ER have difficulty moving on to care for the next patient after somebody dies in the department. I guess our work isn't as important as football...sigh.

 

Did the Lions-Bears game stop when Chuck Hughes died on the field? Can't remember.

 

It did not.

There's a lot of debate about how this should be handled. The West Coast Conference game where Hank Gathers died was stopped and LMU declared the winner. They cancelled the Reds game where John McSherry died. But the Lions game went on, and didn't they also keep playing the arena football game where that one guy from the Los Angeles team died?

Probably the best case for stopping an event in case of fatality is that Vince McMahon didn't when Owen Hart plunged to his death at a pay-per-view in 1999.

 

Man, that's sad.

And it's a tough call, too. I'm on the fence. Call it, don't call it. I personally wouldn't have wanted to keep watching.

 

A lot of it depends on how it looked. Auto races have gone on after the fatal crash of a driver, because usually you don't see a horribly mangled body. Hank Gathers was desperately gasping for air at the end, so when they took him off the court NOBODY wanted to stick around. Tough call either way, though I'd err towards calling it and handing out refunds if needed.

 

How about when Paul Dana died last year during practice for an Indy race. That race went on. I think if it was Danica Patrick the race would have been run. If you're important they don't play; if you're just another pawn let's play two!

 

I was at Dodger Stadium the day that evil forces hypnotized Reggie Jackson and had him try to assassinate the Queen of England, and they didn't stop that game. I'll always recall the ebullient umpiring in that one.

 

Actually, they did stop the game. It was the seventh inning stretch and after Priscilla Presley was disarmed and they made up, all the fans left the stadium.

 

Hey, it's Enrico Pallozzo!

 

After 5 complete, that baby's official.

 

Fight cards continue even after a guy has been critically injured in the undercard. Again, fighters, like race car drivers, know the risks.