Sports & Entertainment Beat

Welcome back to the Spotlight and welcome to the year 2023.

As if we needed yet another reminder not to take anything for granted, keep our priorities in check (and other similar platitudes proven time and again over the last three years), we start off the year with sobering and gut-wrenching images of Buffalo Bills Safety Damar Hamlin’s tragic and unprecedented on-field injury during Monday Night Football against the Cincinnati Bengals. As players, coaches and millions of fans watched Hamlin collapse, require life-saving interventions and be taken out of the stadium in an ambulance following a hard collision with Bengals Wide Receiver Tee Higgins, the collective focus shifted (rightly so) from the football game to the well-being of Hamlin.  Eventually, after what felt like perhaps too much time, the correct decision was made to postpone the game so as to allow the teams to be there for each other and process the trauma.  Meanwhile, Monday’s events also served as a reminder of the ugliness of social media, as Hamlin’s injury opened up the Twitter cesspool to poor, unfortunate souls wondering about the plight of their fantasy football team, directing hate toward Higgins, and yes, even attempting to link Hamlin’s injury to COVID-19 vaccinations. On the other hand (apropos of a film that worked on, and finally got to see over the holiday break, “The Social Dilemma”), there was also glimmers of altruism in social media as a GoFundMe page for Hamlin’s foundation saw its children’s toy drive fundraising campaign balloon to over $7 million at the time of this writing (its goal had been to raise a mere $2,500). So for those looking for a silver lining to start the New Year, it’s the players, coaches and fans who deserve the spotlight.  

• • While short form video creation app TikTok wielded even greater influence on the music industry in 2022, the US Government issued an order banning the use of the app on Federal workers’ mobile devices. The official reason for the move is to protect national security but I suspect it may also be rooted in the desire not to expose the public to Supreme Court Justices’ choreography.
  • An NCAA Committee announced a proposal to expand its Men’s and Women’s National Championship College Basketball Tournaments fields from 68 teams to 90 teams. Great news for those among us (no one) who find filling out a bracket not to be challenging enough.
  • Although some songwriters may have made New Year’s resolutions to slim down, the Copyright Royalty Board’s decision to approve increased streaming royalty rates is sure to fatten their pockets.