Far from a laughing matter.
Unbeknownst at the time, the most embarrassing moment of Pam Oliver’s accomplished career could’ve been a way more tragic event.
The biggest hit to the head by a football since ‘The Brady Bunch’ the internet virtually exploded in laughter at Pam’s misfortune. But now the New York Daily News has reported that Oliver did in fact suffer a concussion after the hard to watch hit:
Adrenaline got Oliver through the game telecast (“You don’t want to be wimpy, you just have to push through it.”), but in the car riding back to the hotel, when she began to relax, the slight headache turned into one of the pounding variety. She tried reconstructing what happened leading up to the moment.
Oliver had just finished doing an interview with referee Ed Hochuli for a piece she was doing on NFL refs for Showtime’s “60 Minutes Sports,” which airs Wednesday night, and returned to the sidelines. “That’s all I remember,” she said. “I asked the people around me, ‘What happened?’ They told me I just got hit in the head with a football.”
After waking up that Monday her head hurt so much she had to hold it. “The sensitivity to light started and some nausea too,” she said, “my whole body was sore.” Oliver went to the doctor. The CT Scan came up clean, but she was diagnosed with a concussion. Oliver spent the next five days in a dark room inside her home.
Oliver is finally opening up about what is obviously something extremely painful, both physically and mentally.
“I slept for hours on end. The minute you wake up you’re reminded. Your head is pounding,” she said. “I really could not take light — the light from the TV, the accent lighting. The sun was completely my enemy. My blinds were drawn. It was miserable.”
“I worried about my memory, but after five days things began clearing up,” she said. “I felt clear-headed and stronger, but the headaches still come and go.”
Pam will make her return to the sidelines on September 8.