Fragile

Good morning folks. Apologies about delays to the season review. I got half way through the last post and ran out of steam so I took a break to walk the dog and watch the Euros. The match I watched was Denmark v. Finland. And after watching Christian Eriksen collapse on the pitch and the scenes of his rescue I was too shaken to pick up the pen again. I know a lot of folks have had their say on this topic already but I’ll add a few thoughts.

First, I want to wish Eriksen and his family a speedy recovery. I can imagine what they are going through. From the crushing feeling in your gut when someone you love nearly died to the fear of the unknown: why did this happen? How will he recover? The world is turned upside down and it’s the loss of what you thought was “normal” which is one of the hardest things to get to grips with.

We are such fragile creatures. Think of the millions of things our bodies have to do perfectly every minute of the day to keep us alive. Any small blip in the operation and we are gone. That’s what we saw when Eriksen collapsed, that fragility and the moment that life leaves the body. And I will never forget his eyes, the light was gone, he was staring off into space.

But while death is always just a moment away we are also powerful creatures. The Danish players forming a wall around Eriksen to provide him a modicum of privacy was a powerful reminder of the role we all play in protecting each other and keeping each other alive. I know that there’s a myth here in the United States about the “rugged individual” – that someone just needs to be tough and that they can survive alone. It’s a myth which denies reality. Watch any season of Alone and try to pretend that we don’t need other people. Even the most skilled survivalists struggle against the elements and nature. And these folks have an out at any time: a sat phone which they can use to call aid.

No, we need each other. Individually, we are fragile; together we are strong. And that Danish wall was the perfect emblem of our collective strength.

As was the outpouring of support and love from his friends and football fans all over the world. At its best football has the power to bring people together. I wish that it didn’t take a tragedy (or near tragedy) to remind us of this. I would love it if we all approached these tournaments and football in general as something more inclusive, more beautiful. That’s a silly dream for an old man to have because we live in such divisive, selfish, and angry times. But even just empathizing with others is a step in the right direction.

Which brings me to the director of the “international feed” and UEFA. After Eriksen collapsed, I watched the TV feed for about 5 minutes. I was slightly peeved that the camera operators kept trying to zoom in on the “action” but kept watching because I wanted a happy ending. I wanted Eriksen to give us all a thumbs up or something that let us know he was going to be alright. But that didn’t happen and the director doubled down on the spectacle – zooming in on Eriksen’s partner, and leering over Eriksen as the doctors performed CPR. I was disgusted and switched off the coverage. I couldn’t sit there and watch this evil invasion of his privacy.

I know that we live in a time where no one has privacy. I know that there are awful people out there who whip out their phone and zoom in on every tragic incident. I know that people love to slow down at every car accident to catch a glimpse of gore and pain. But I don’t want that in my football. And I love how Philippe Auclair put it: the director forced the viewers to become voyeurs. It was against my wishes. I didn’t need to see Eriksen’s partner. I didn’t need zoom shots of CPR. And, in fact, European law forbids such disgusting invasions of privacy. I’m curious to see what ramifications come from this.

And I know that various broadcasters (such as ESPN here in the states) were obligated to take the feed that they were given but the Danish broadcasters switched over to an image from a drone over the stadium. And I believe that ESPN could have cut to their emblem. And if they weren’t allowed to do that, they should be allowed to do that in the future. We need safeguards in place for broadcasters to cut away from horrific scenes. Not because I live in a fantasy world where people never suffer but because I have intimate knowledge of human suffering and don’t need to be reminded of it, especially as it effects one man and his family.

And UEFA. According to reports from within the Dutch Danish camp, UEFA pressured the players to finish the match by giving them just two options: finish the game then or come back on Sunday and finish the game (they actually offered a 3rd option: lose the match 3-0). We know that UEFA doesn’t care about the players, the fans, the clubs, or pretty much anything that isn’t “making money” but this was a particularly heartless message from UEFA.

And so we are back to square one. We see the beauty of humanity as expressed by the Dutch Danish players surrounding Eriksen. We have our collective strength reaffirmed through the outpouring of love and support for Eriksen from all corners of the globe. And we have the greed and ugliness of humanity on display as well. Can we at least try to do more of the first two and less of the last two? If we don’t, we aren’t going to make it much longer as a species.

Qq

P.S. – apologies for using Dutch when I meant Danish. I would plead being an American and how stupid we are about other countries but there’s really no excuse.

14 comments

  1. Just curious – were the reports about UEFA’s three ‘generous’ offers from the Dutch or Danish FAs?

  2. Ericksen’s situation was sobering. Till that moment I’d only known him as a player of a rival team. I too, ignored the TV reports once I’d realized the gravity of the situation. Having witnessed and been a part of several similar events during the past seven years– I had no urge to watch. Literally turned the TV off. Kept up with reports online.

    Established in 1981, there’s a well-organized 50+ Senior Softball League in the county where I live. Played in it for about 10 years. About 400 (mostly) men and women from age 50– on up to late-80s play two nights a week in several divisions year round. There were a large contingent of retired firefighters who played. About 10 years back they began an annual tradition of training everyone in all the league’s divisions in current CPR techniques prior to each Summer season. The training and equipment was comprehensive. Both our fields kept a maintained defibrillator in each scorehouse. We developed a set of procedures and had them printed and laminated in 11×17 format– stored with the device. When an event occurred we’d assign a 6-person team. One to call the instructions to the person administering CPR. Three went to the gates of the park where the EMTs might arrive through any one of them– to direct them to the fourth, who would lead the ambulance or firetruck straight to the location of the stricken individual.

    In 2014, a close friend and teammate suffered a heart attack just after completion of the late game. Everything worked like clockwork– we had EMTs on the scene within 10-12 minutes. But in that interim– we performed CPR with the device. He was taken to a hospital about 3 miles away– where he was in stable condition later that might.

    The next Summer (2015) we saved two more players who had suffered heart attacks using the same methods. The ER docs at SW Memorial Hospital had humorously communicated to us– that if someone was going to be stricken– the next best place to being in their ER– was at our softball fields. It really was an amazing string of events.

    Until that Winter. We had another friend go down who had had a history of cardiac ailments.. We initially thought we had stabilized him– when the EMTs arrived and moved him by stretcher to the ambulance. But the vehicle didn’t move. As an officer of the league, the communications director, I was hoping to learn of our friends’ condition. Approaching the ambulance, peering in the side door left ajar– I truly wish I’d chosen not to. A memory I’ll carry with me. One that may never take its leave. There is nothing you might wish away more– than having witnessed a friend’s demise first-hand.

    Those who would promote voyeurism at a level as with Christian Ericksen’s event– are just ghouls. Modern culture has become so desensitized to gore and killing. The representations of it in media inch ever closer to reality in its display.

    I’m thankful that Chritian Ericksen– was where he was– when this occurred. Thankful that medical professionals were close by– and referee Anthony Taylor reacted so quickly. Moments were of the essence.

    Also pleased with the universal and genuine outpouring of good wishes toward Christian.
    A small light in an otherwise dark series of events.

  3. Hey Tim, saw your Twitter tweet. Trust you’ve got strategies to cope with painful memories.
    Try to lean in, identify the emotions and pursue them..or not. Another time. “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof”. Sometimes for me repressing emotions is scarier than feeling them.

    Indeed all the good and some bad were on show on the pitch in that 15 minute period. Focus on the love and care on show there. Let’s all magnify it by living it ourselves.

    Thanks. Keep on keeping on.

  4. Well described sequence on Eriksen. Decency prevailed where it should — including in your living room — but except at UEFA.

    UEFA, IOC, theyre all alike. They care only about money.

    IOC is in the process of ramming an olympic games — an about 5 weeks’ time — down the throat of a Japanese public that does not want it. COVID is resurgent in Japan, and no matter how many precautions they take, bringing 40,000 athletes and officials from all over the world into the country is a big risk.

    Dick Pound said that it’ll take armageddon to stop the games. Here’s hoping that the mother of all variants doesn’t emerge.

  5. UEFA is bogus in this regard, as in so many others. Witness not just this event, but Dortmund having to play after the bus bombing. That said, seems like some responsibility also falls to the national federations, who need to stick up more for their players.
    The easiest and fairest thing to do would have been to just declare it a draw and move on to the next match.

    On a different note, Tierney injured again. Hoping this doesn’t become a Ramsey/Diaby situation. But a backup there certainly would seem to be the highest priority we have this summer. Can’t understand why there are so many rumors about right-side central defenders. While the ones we have may not be Van Dijk(though it’s not inconceivable Saliba could get there), they aren’t awful, and we have plenty of them.

  6. Great post again Tim.

    Thoughts and prayers for Christian Erickson and family. A frightening and thought provoking event for everyone. Football is wonderful entertainment but there are many things which are much more important in the grand scheme of life. All the reports I have read indicate he is stable and should recover. Hopefully whatever caused this is something that can be easily treated so it won’t recur.

  7. He probably had a ventricular tachycardia that degenerated into ventricular fibrillation. Even people with structurally normal hearts can have random VT events that usually happens in the context of some intense provocation. Playing for his country in the rescheduled Euros after a month or so away from matches might qualify. Given his age and many years of competitive football under his belt, this is probably a completely random event rather than something congenital.

  8. On a less somber note I have watched a 4 minute YouTube compilation on Ben White and can confidently say I’m all in and it’s money well spent. Ok, hear me out.

    First, his quickness and agility recalls vintage Laurent Koscielny. Do you miss Koscielny? I do. That quickness allowed us to play high up the pitch and led to multiple second chance opportunities as he denied out ball after out ball. Arsenal need that kind of defender in order to sustain attacking zone time and commit more bodies forward.

    Second, his ability to move the ball with his feet jumps off the screen. That means becoming more press resistant and placing more stress on the structure of teams that try to squeeze up the pitch. It also opens up more opportunities for attacking players as the defense collapses around the defender who just broke the line.

    I don’t know if Ben White will do all of these things at a high level (I am acutely aware of the limitations of YouTube complications) or if he will work out at Arsenal but it’s clear to me that the profile of defender that he is is something we’ve lacked for a long time.

    1. Probably the most sensible take I’ve read on Ben White to Arsenal. Also like the idea that he can deputize as a DM. Playing multiple positions helps achieve a smaller squad size, possibly reducing overall outlay to the club.

  9. I had conflicted thoughts about weighing in on this because I know it goes against the grain here, but I think the outrage is a bit of an overreaction. As a teen I spent many hours on rotten (dot com) and ogrish trying to find the most gruesome and explicit ‘real’ deaths and none of them disturbed me much. The whole spectrum of human emotion includes those with a morbid curiosity or fetish but does that make them any less human? I think ‘desensitised’ is such a dismissive word, that neglects to take into account that people have different levels of tolerance to all human experience.

    I’ve seen videos of far worse things than zooming in on a heart attack victim, yet I still have empathy for same, and most people would describe me as an extremely relaxed and ‘chill’ individual.

    Yes the football organisations and camera crews might’ve been angling for something shocking but shock is relative and I believe many people would’ve said the same thing about most sexual proclivities a decade ago.

    Don’t look down on people that have a different viewpoint is what I’m basically saying. I didn’t enjoy seeing Christian basically die, but I don’t think anyone needs to be shielded from it for a perceived sense of higher morality. If you don’t want to see it or don’t agree with it, look away, which applies to all forms of opinion or entertainment.

      1. Appreciate the reply, as reductive as it may be (and I realise this thread is dead now).
        Death is not an opinion, thanks for that non-sequitur, but it has become entertainment, first virtually in video games and now in real life on our screens, for over a decade.
        The point wasn’t that we should all cherish the newfound normal of morbid curiosity, but that maybe we just have to accept that this is life now; we accept the worst along with the best of the human experience.
        I realise I’m in the minority (although I believe more people agree but have shame in agreeing) but I just think, leave everything out in the open and it’s up to the individual to view or not view the truth.
        Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t.

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