With the increasing popularity of so-called reality TV and the cultural ascendance of unscripted drama--from "The Amazing Race" to "American Idol," from "Survivor" to "The Biggest Loser"--I started to realize a curious small truth: Football is our true reality TV, and our most fascinating unscripted drama. I had seen football movies like "Varsity Blues," where the final victory was a foregone conclusion. In the actual game, anything can happen. An interception or a turnover, a miscalculated on-side kick, can turn a game upside down.

I realized that football defines itself through series of paradoxes. It represents a kind of utopian view of America, where people work together toward a common goal, a world without rancor or racism, a peaceable kingdom …where men are broken and battered in ferocious combat every week...