NFL players live in a distinctive world of their own, a social sphere George Koonce calls "the bubble." It's an apt shorthand for saying that players are immersed in a cultural, structural, psychological, and experiential world that insulates them from many mundane aspects of everyday life. The NFL may be the most totally encompassing of professional sports institutions. It provides year-long training regimens, training camps away from all distractions, team facilities that cater to every need, and rules dictating behavior, comportment, and attire, both on and off the field. NFL players gladly hand over their lives because there's so much at stake: the dream, the money, the fame, the belonging. Life inside the bubble instills a powerful "NFL player ethos" that comprises a unique worldview, a set of habits and expectations, and way of life that can't be matched. Of course, life in the bubble isn't uniform. Players differ and teams treat them accordingly. Conditions vary over time. Back in "the day," the NFL was less professionalized and certainly less lucrative, but the bubble was there, even if it wasn't totally encompassing. No description of a social world can be complete, so what follows is a brief sketch of life in the NFL, its culture, and the player ethos that constitute the bubble. It comes with a reminder: like all bubbles, this one is fragile. The average NFL career lasts only 3.5 years.

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