There is no threat of boredom in the control room today. The game turns into one of the hardest fought battles of the year. The lead changes hands five times in the first three quarters, and the blood flows freely. Harv Matision is penalized four times for stabbing after the whistle. Once more and he’ll be ejected from the game. Usually a free safety, he’s shifted himself to middle linebacker for this game to give himself more opportunities to harass T.K. Mann. He seems to be doing a creditable job. T.K. is having to call up every reserve of strength he has to fend off Matision’s wild, kamikaze attacks on him. T.K.’s been red-crossed six times for cuts, luckily for no more than one play each time. His blood loss is reaching the point at which his mediman can’t fortify him with rapid transfusions often enough to forestall a certain amount of weakening.

At the end of the third quarter, the Prospectors leave the street with a slim, two point advantage.

While the cameramen do follow their charges into the locker room, the timeouts are covered in silence to prevent the two teams from inadvertently or purposefully listening in on each other’s strategy discussions.

During this timeout, one control room monitor shows T.K. Mann lying prone on a training table. A trainer administers to him an injection of much needed coagulants and liquid nutriments. On another monitor, Eddie Hougart, Prospector halfback/deep safety, snoozes. On another, Bumbo Johnson, Minutemen halfback/deep safety, does pushups to keep from stiffening.

But the viewers at home see Harv Matision. He’s slumped in front of his locker. His left arm is bare, the protective pads have been removed. There’s a piece of rubber tubing tied around his bulging left bicep. In his right hand, he balances a hypodermic needle. He holds it up between him and the camera, pushes the plunger, watches a thin stream of clear liquid shoot out. Searching with his index finger, he finds the big vein in the crook of his inner elbow, massages it several times to bring it into better view, and jabs the needle home. Keeping his thumb across the plunger, he unloosens the tubing by jerking it free with his teeth. The camera zooms in for a close-up of blood mixing with the needle’s contents before the pinkish mixture disappears into his arm. The camera pans up to his face, a portrait of relaxation and rapture.