http://www.startribune.com/sports/vi...166658046.html
NFL and pain: Fleeting glory, bodies past repair
Article by: DAN WIEDERER , Star Tribune
Updated: August 22, 2012 - 6:51 AM
" For years, players under pressure to play have taken painkillers. The repercussions have set off alarms in the NFL."
" The ending came quietly.
On New Year's Day, after 13 seasons, Jim Kleinsasser played his final NFL game, spending the three last hours plowing into whatever defenders got in his way.
The Vikings tight end never touched the ball. He simply did what he'd been conditioned to do over the 181 games of his career: Sacrifice his body for the good of the team.
As part of that routine, before suiting up to be a battering ram, Kleinsasser took a pregame painkilling injection of the anti-inflammatory drug Toradol. "
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