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Football fans grapple with violent side of a beloved sport

Buffalo Bills' Damar Hamlin is examined during the first half of an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Monday, Jan. 2, 2023, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean) Youth players with the Gulf Coast Sharks Youth Football Club playing a tackle football game on Sept. 10, 2022, in Gautier, Miss. The league's founder, Joel Fields, said youth football leagues are often unregulated. Some leagues allow children as young as five years old to play tackle football, he said. (Joel Fields via AP) Youth players with the Gulf Coast Sharks Youth Football Club playing a tackle football game on Sept. 10, 2022, in Gautier, Miss. The league's founder, Joel Fields, said youth football leagues are often unregulated. Some leagues allow children as young as five years old to play tackle football, he said. (Joel Fields via AP) Youth players with the Gulf Coast Sharks Youth Football Club shake hands following a tackle football game on Sept. 10, 2022, in Gautier, Miss. The league's founder, Joel Fields, said youth football leagues are often unregulated. Some leagues allow children as young as five years old to play tackle football, he said. (Joel Fields via AP) A sign sits along a fence outside UC Medical Center where Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamiln remains hospitalized, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023, in Cincinnati. Damar Hamlin has shown what physicians treating him are calling “remarkable improvement over the past 24 hours,” the team announced in a statement on Thursday, three days after the player went into cardiac arrest and had to be resuscitated on the field. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)
Football fans grapple with violent side of a beloved sport