Asked about it later Tatum just laughed. If "that's football" then you juvenile macho children can have it.
I was watching that game, the hit was legal but a bit out of line, the ball had gone past he could have eased up some instead of going full bore into a vulnerable players neck like that, it was a message hit. Then again now adays I’ve seen ref’s pull quarterbacks aside and let them know it’s maybe not such a good idea to lead a reciever into that kind of coverage. Football changed that day in august.
Plus Tatum never showed any remorse or even compassion.
Perhaps you might take a lesson from some of us "juvenile macho children" who know the difference between reality and old wive's tales.
I saw interviews game day (just after) and even years later (on NFL Films) when the extent of the injury was fully known, and Tatum was NOT laughing. Not in the slightest. Not either time.
You may have heard from some old wife that he was laughing, but probably you just made it up to suit your paradigm of what you believe football is about.
To give you the benefit of the doubt, maybe you remembered the George Atkinson interview (another Raider--one of the so-called "criminal element" in pro football in the early 80's) who laughed after being told he was being fined for a vicious cheapshot on Lynn Swann.
Or Jack Lambert saying that maybe QB's should be made to wear dresses.
I'm not defending the few Ray Lewis-type psychotic assholes of the pro football world (same percentage of pschotics as in any business or organization), but no one wants to hurt someone that badly in a football game.
Tatum expressed much remorse both times I saw him speak on the subject. He also said, hey that's football...