SPECIAL INVESTIGATION: PSYCHO ATHLETES! SUPERJOCK SYNDROME CONFIDENTIAL

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REVEALED! From the files of top shrinks — Why sports monsters can’t control their violent aggression off the field in a gripping ENQUIRER investigation!

The NFL is the National Sports League from Hell!

That’s the conclusion of experts who were horrified by the brutal video footage of football hero Ray Rice punching his fiancée in an elevator.

“We can no longer deny or minimize the severity of this problem,” sports psychologist Dr. Mitch Abrams, who works with pro athletes, told The National ENQUIRER.

Rice is far from alone on the league’s list of felons. An astounding 185 NFL players have been arrested for violent crimes since 2000. Two recent stars, Rae Carruth and Aaron Hernandez, are in prison on murder charges, and San Francisco 49er Ray McDonald was arrested on Aug. 31 for allegedly battering his pregnant fiancée.

In an ENQUIRER interview, the late psychologist Dr. Joyce Brothers labeled the problem “Superjock Syndrome” after O.J. Simpson was tried for the murder of his ex-wife in 1994. “These athletes are conditioned to deal with any obstacle by physically overcoming it with aggression,” she said. “And this training frequently extends to their personal lives.”

The damning video showing Rice pummeling his now wife, Janay Palmer, led to his belated firing by the NFL – and has raised questions about the league’s rampant culture of violence.

Commissioner Roger Goodell was sharply criticized for his initial wrist-slap, two-game suspension of Rice. He denied the league ever saw the video, which has now been revealed to have been in the NFL’s possession since April 9. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see Goodell go,” a league insider told The ENQUIRER.

To stem the problem, Dr. Abrams says violent players need to receive “severe punishment” rather than repeated second chances. “When you are in a part of society where violence is not only tolerated – but accepted – it makes it harder for these guys to understand why they do it,” he explained. “They need to take ownership of their behavior if it’s ever going to stop.”