"There's so much built up about team camaraderie and sacrifice, and football is such a tough man's game," Polamalu told the Dan Patrick Show.
"I think that's why it's so popular, why so many blue-collar communities and people feel really attracted to it, because it's sort of a blue-collar struggle that football players go through in terms of the physicality of the game and the commitment you need. ... It's that commitment you need to play football. You feel sore, you're beat up, you're injured, you're legitimately injured, most people may take three months off to work in an office, we choose to play the next week."