Fans see pumped fists and bumping chests during the game itself, and think football is an event of brute conflict. Obviously, that's a factor. But before the game are extraordinary periods of cooperative work. There's perhaps 1,000 hours of preparation for each hour of play, and almost all the preparation must be done jointly. Football players and coaches spend more hours together, in complex social settings, than the players and coaches of any other sport. The ability to get along with others is more important to football than to any sport. Some star basketball players barely speak to their teammates. In football, even the most renowned star must be a good teammate and must interact constructively with everyone in the locker room down to the lowliest player, or the game simply cannot be won. There's a reason towns view the success of their high school football teams, and cities view the success of their NFL teams, as symbolizing the town's and cities' prospects – because football cannot happen unless large numbers of people get along. And we're entering a world in which it will matter more than ever that large numbers of people get along. Football teaches that very thing.

                            - Gregg Easterbrook ("The Tuesday Morning Quarterback")