There’s this old, maybe apocryphal story about men sentenced to die by combat in Roman times. In the center of the arena, they would look up to the emperor, who was watching the proceedings, and they would say, “Ave Imperator, morituri te salutant.”
Hail, Emperor. Those about to die salute you.
We are surely not the first to compare American football to the sport of gladiator fighting, and we will not be the last, but the comparison is still striking. Both are (or were) violent, brutish sports, captivating a national audience, with the competitors putting their bodies and lives on the line to earn fame and fortune.