Sports journalists and folks gathered around the watercooler saturate Big Game commentary with war metaphors - probably not the best or most original of ideas. But if any athletic scenario begs for a battlefield comparison, it's the medical/training room at a Professional Bull Riders competition.

On the final day of a recent three-day residency by the Professional Bull Riders at the Mohegan Sun casino, videographer Peter Huoppi and I, as part of our latest Behind the Scenes adventure, were welcomed by the PBR's resident physician, Dr. Tandy Freeman, and his staff. We spent the day with them - both in the arena for the competition and before, during and after the event in the training room.

Here's some of what you'll see.

• These cowboys are brutally tough athletes for whom injury isn't an occupational hazard but a grim certainty.

• They absolutely play hurt - sometimes in grisly fashion - and the athletes' per capita high-pain-tolerance is astonishing.

• Eight seconds may seem no more than a blink-of-an-eye to you or me. Try spending it on top of a lunatic bull, though, and eight seconds stretches out like a semester of classes with a mean and bitter calculus teacher.

• The medical team at each PBR event is augmented by a local physician familiar with area hospitals and specialists. All are alerted ahead of time about the potential for high-traffic and potential broken bone/neurological situations.

• Unlike those professional sports whose athletes enjoy big contracts and guaranteed salaries, professional bull riders get compensated only when they win. And they can't make money unless they ride.

• If you're gonna tear your anterior cruciate ligament and your medial cruciate ligament during competition, it's maybe best to not keep it to yourself for three months while you continue to compete. On the other hand, how're you gonna win if you don't ride?