Its a gladiatorial fantasy fueled by money and violence, disguising itself as a character-building exercise for the very youth and talent it shamelessly exploits and then cripples for life or cavalierly discards when no longer profitable. And the extravagant salaries that are paid to the few stars that survive this meat grinder are supposed to justify the entire rotten structure.

It is a machine of many moving parts, not just the NFL, but the owners, the sponsors, the affiliated businesses that feed off the frenzy by dealing with every aspect of marketing the sport and its merchandising. And the tendrils don't stop with the professional teams, it dominates the entire higher educational establishment in this country, and extends all the way to the base of a massive, nationwide farm system attached to American education like a parasitic organism, from colleges to high schools and even further--all the way to Pop Warner. And the fans share as much of the blame as the fat-cat suits that gorge themselves on this limit- and pointless industry. Bread and circuses, the Blues and the Greens, the whole decadent structure has centuries of "tradition" behind it.

Greedy bosses, strutting coaches, self-important administrators, spoiled thug stars, crippled players; domestic violence, shattered knees and brain injuries are just the tip of the iceberg. Penn State football proved that even serial child rape wasn't enough to keep the coaches and fans from trying to cover up and looking the other way, wishing the critics would just go away and leave their precious football alone. Remember those State College students rioting when they found out their beloved pervert coach was busted by the vice squad and the whole PROGRAM was revealed as a nest of vipers desperate to keep the blood and money flowing indefinitely, no matter who was destroyed.

Hey, don't get me wrong. I love watching the game. Its just the people in it that I can't stand.