I have loved football as an almost mythic game since I was in the fourth grade. To me, the game wasn't even grounded in reality. The uniform turned you into a warrior. Being on a team, the mythology of physical combat, the struggle against the elements, the narrative of the game.

Life is good. Football is better.

I think in the NFL knowledge is power, and you try to get the knowledge by whatever means.

I never thought of what I was doing as a way to sell the NFL. I was making movies about a sport that I loved, about players and coaches that I respected. I wanted to convey my love of the game through film. And most artists convey their love through art. And my art and my love was expressed through film.

But I can tell you this: Nothing will happen up there that can duplicate my life down here. That life cannot be better than the one I've lived down here, the football life. It's been perfect.

I don't go to games as much as I used to because of the NFL's Sunday Ticket. So I'll watch the games, take notes.

The importance of an artist is bringing new signs into a language.