I'm not going to necessarily disagree with that because we do have players that are that way. I'm not sure if you've ever played football before on Friday nights but I would gladly practice 20 more times for just 1 game. There's nothing like it.
I could be in the minority though but in my opinion most American athletes like football for the sport. We didn't play out in the yard as kids because the girls were watching, we did it because that's the game we knew and loved.