'...[Here's] the visceral truth at the center of [football's enormous popularity]: "It's people thinking they're watching a bunch of barbarians beating on each other," says Jeremy Shockey, the New York Giants tight end. It is bloodlust, built into the fabric of a sport.

..."People want to see violence," says [a player], "and every collision in the NFL is violent." Football without concussive hits is Ultimate Frisbee.

..."Most people sit back and look at it and think, They're animals," [says another player]. "They look at us like we're animals for entertainment."

...Then there is the defensive player's perspective. "It's the most perfect feeling in the world to know that you've hit a guy just right, that you've maximized the physical pain he can feel," says Giants All-Pro defensive end Michael Strahan. "It feels like every muscle in your body is working in unison, and all your energy goes into his body. You feel the life just go out of him. You've taken all of this man's energy and just dominated him."

..."The long runs, the touchdowns and all that, that's the glamour, [a player says.]... But the game is about taking a man down, physically and mentally."

... On the one side, you have doctors and officials trying to protect players. On the other side, you have players trying to take an intensely violent and physical game to higher levels of violence and physicality. Wedged in the middle is the billion-dollar relationship between the NFL and the fans who drive its popularity and crave the very acts that make the game so dangerous.'